Home » Jazz News

Interview News

Timely announcements covering new album releases, tours, concert series, special events, job postings, crowdfunding campaigns and more. You can find more news by searching our website, viewing our news stream, seeing what's trending or reading our blog posts. Subscribe to our news RSS feed and/or embed AAJ news content on your website or blog. Learn about our news service here. Submit news here.

Interview

John Levy on Toni Harper

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 8, 2011

Last week, singer Toni Harper reflected on the albums she recorded with Oscar Peterson in 1956 and Marty Paich in 1959 and 1960. In 1963 she traveled to Japan with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. John Levy [pictured], Adderley's personal manager at the time, wrote me an email last week about that tour: “Cannonball and his group were contracted to do their first tour of Japan's major cities in 1963. When the Japanese promoters called me to complete the details, they ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Grammy-Nominated Composer Christopher Tin on Writing Music for Video Games

Source: We All Make Music
February 5, 2011

Christopher Tin is a quick study. Thanks to a chance connection at his college reunion, the Santa Monica-based composer recently got the opportunity to create his first video game score, and he made the most of his chance: “Baba Yetu," the theme of Civilization IV, is the first piece of video game music ever to be nominated for a Grammy (Tin's debut album, Calling All Dawns, which also features “Baba Yetu," was also nominated in a separate category). Though his ...

Continue Reading

Interview

4 Main Purposes of Hyperlocal Blogs [interview]

Source: HypeBot
February 5, 2011

This is part two of my interview with Jordan Stepp. She's Editor in Chief of Athens Music Junkie. Stepp started writing about the music scene in Athens, GA in 2008. Since she has interviewed and reviewed bands and artists from all ends of the spectrum, from R.E.M. and Widespread Panic to little indie startup groups. In this interview, Step talks about hyperlocal blogging and music piracy. The main challenges of the digital age are raising cultural awareness and fostering communities that ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Cab Calloway's Legacy

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 5, 2011

Having spent the day yesterday listening to Cab Calloway's recordings from 1930 to 1955, I began to wonder: Has Calloway been shortchanged? Does hip start with his records of the early '30s? Did he originate cool? Can jazz's with-it, knowing wink be traced back to his records of the early '30s? Calloway, of course, was the baton-waving bandleader with the tuxedo suits and tails, wide-brim hats, oversized mouth, unkempt hair and songs about Minnie the Moocher and Hi-De-Ho—all celebrated perfectly ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Wayne Wallace (Part 5)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
February 5, 2011

An artist generally spends their younger years building their artistic identity; once they know who they are they need to focus upon preserving their legacy. It's an important act that benefits both their current fans and future generations of musicians curious about their work. An insightful artist puts ample attention into creating a significant body of recordings, but they also need to look at the scene around them. A major collection of work will reflect the impact of the individual ...

Continue Reading

Interview

UYS: Greg Phillinganes & Narada Michael Walden interviews.

Source: underyourskin
February 4, 2011

Interview

Why Hyperlocal Music Blogs Matter [interview]

Source: HypeBot
February 4, 2011

Recently, I spoke with Jordan Stepp, Editor in Chief of Athens Music Junkie. Stepp started writing about the music scene in Athens, GA in 2008. Since she has interviewed and reviewed bands and artists from all ends of the spectrum, from local greats R.E.M. and Widespread Panic to little indie startup groups like Misfortune 500 to legendary underground artists like Pylon. In this interview, Step talks about hyperlocal blogging and music culture. Hypebot: Hyperlocal music blogs are important because they ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Wayne Wallace (Part 4)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
February 4, 2011

Some occurrences in our lives play such a serious impact upon our outlooks, that they forever change our perspective upon the future. For a musician, most of these events come through interactions with other people, most often when least expected. All of a sudden, the people surrounding the music become equally if not more important than the music itself, as tradition and culture wrap around the sounds associated with them. The deeper that the musician goes into the culture, the ...

Continue Reading