Reanimating Conversations Past

Interviews come and go. You sit with an artist and then you depart, go on your way. This column is about musical conversations past, many with artists who are no longer with us, some still around. In every case, what follows are complete interviews, not the word-counted versions that showed up in various publications; or, in a few cases, interviews that were never published. Personal flourishes also add a new dimension. The names are likely familiar to All About Jazz readers. One might say they constitute a kind of hall of fame of (mostly) 20th-century artists who've made their mark on the culture, legendary, Big-Time. Enjoy. Have fun. I sure did.

Woody Allen: All Stick, No Schtick

by John Ephland
November 3, 2026

When I look back nowadays, the timing of my interview with comedian/filmmaker Woody Allen ("All Stick, No Schtick"), now turning 91, couldn't have been worse. In fact, I felt that way from the beginning, when I pitched this story at DownBeat, published in their October, 1993, issue. But, I had been a fan of his movies for many years, and I wasn't going to let circumstances surrounding his personal life get in the way. (The controversy involving his former wife, ...

John Scofield: Meant To Be

by John Ephland
October 5, 2026

When John Scofield and I met, in his Vancouver hotel room in June, 1990 on the occasion of the fifth annual du Maurier Ltd., International Jazz Festival, the conversation started with talk of his then-current band and his Blue Note debut, Time On My Hands (Blue Note Records, 1990). By this point, Sco, who turns 75 in December, had been covered by DownBeat extensively, my interview adding to the burgeoning crop. To recap: In the '70s Sco had ...

Charlie Haden: Anatomy of a Jazz Classic

by John Ephland
August 31, 2026

It was a phoner from the suburban Chicago offices of DownBeat to bassist Charlie Haden in L.A. Our talk, which was held on September 15, 1991, was periodically interrupted by his needing to say, “Hold on one second." The occasion? The 30th anniversary of the release of saxophonist Ornette Coleman's groundbreaking LP Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. To this day, though, I do not recall this interview ever being published at the magazine. And to think that I talked with ...

And His Name Was Max

by John Ephland
July 27, 2026

This interview was conducted during the Chicago Jazz Festival on August 31, 1990. A favorite topic: musicians who dedicate their artistic lives to the spirit of collaborations. When I was writing about Max Roach in the late 1980s, I was astounded by how many projects he seemed to be simultaneously engaged in. A giant among giants when bebop was on the march during the 1940s, Max would go on to perform with all manner of musician through the ...