Interview News

A Bill Evans Addendum

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
September 22, 2010

Thanks to Jan Stevens of The Bill Evans Web Pages for pointing the way to a revealing interview with Evans the year before he died. Ross Porter (pictured), then of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, talked with the pianist at his home and in his car as Evans was driving to a medical appointment. Evans is articulate about his career, his musical goals and his associates, including Miles Davis, Philly Joe Jones and Scott LaFaro. He does not dwell on his ...

Continue Reading

Marc Ribot Taps Into Lyricism for His Solo Guitar Soundtrack to Nonexistent Movies

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner
September 24, 2010

There are few musicians that have worked in a wider and more creative catalog of material than Marc Ribot. As a sideman, the guitarist has backed singers including Tom Waits, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, Richard Hell, Elvis Costello and Norah Jones, not to mention John Zorn and vast array of avant-garde jazz musicians. His own material tends to be wildly eclectic: He's probably the only person who will ever record an Albert Ayler tribute for solo guitar for Atlantic ...

Continue Reading

Liberace, Las Vegas and Me

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 23, 2010

On Friday, at the crack of dawn, I was on a Delta flight from New York to Las Vegas. The Liberace Museum had just announced it was closing in October, and I was on assignment for the Wall Street Journal. Mind you, I have never been a fan of Liberace's music. I didn't dislike him when he was alive or his brand of classical music “with the boring parts left out," as he used to say. Like you, his music ...

Continue Reading

An Interview with IMSTA President Ray Williams

Source: We All Make Music
September 21, 2010

This Saturday, September 25, the International Music Software Technology Association, or IMSTA, will hold its third annual IMSTA Festa at the School of Audio Engineering in New York. Whether it takes place in Tokyo, Berlin, or New York, each Festa gives the world's top audio software companies the chance to offer their wares, in some cases for free (all attendees get $100 worth of free software), and discuss the changing industry they work in. In addition to the free goodies, ...

Continue Reading

"Track Your Favorite Bands and Never Miss Them Live." an Interview with Michelle You of Songkick

Source: HypeBot
September 21, 2010

(Part 1 of 2) Recently, I spoke with Michelle You, who is cofounder and Head of Product at Songkick; the live music database and concert alert system. In this interview, You talks about the challenges of raising awareness about her company and it's services, how they're making it easier for people to keep up on your favorite live shows, and the tribal aspects of concert goers. Kyle Bylin: To this day, I still remember my first concert; it was Ozzy ...

Continue Reading

Kora and Oud Explorer Kane Mathis Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: John Kelman
September 22, 2010

Seattle's Kane Mathis is one of the world's leading performers on the kora, the distinctive (usually) 21-stringed West African harp instrument that is the major instrument of the Mandinka people of Mali; the Malian equivalent of the Western keyboard. Mathis has studied the instrument since the age of twenty, making several trips to The Gambia to learn from the hereditary musicians of the area. Now, he is the kora instrumentalist in Seattle's The Kora Band, a five piece jazz group ...

Continue Reading

Bassist/Vocalist Esperanza Spalding Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: Big Hassle
September 21, 2010

Fans of classical music and jazz have argued about music for years. If Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Duke Ellington had ever met, they may have looked at each other in awe—right before debating about bars and notes and solos ... and, perhaps, the music would have been flowing just as easy as words. Esperanza Spalding's Chamber Music Society (Concord Records, 2010) has found the perfect shelter for both classical and jazz music. There is something about the delicate sound of ...

Continue Reading

Legendary Cuban Pianist Chucho Valdes Interviewed at All About Jazz...and More!

Source: Lip Service Media
September 20, 2010

For his first album in seven years, Chuco Valdés returns to the group format, expanding his longstanding quartet to an even more powerful septet. The legendary Cuban pianist and founding member of Irakere has been touring the world in support of Chucho's Steps (World Village, 2010), and will welcome Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra to Cuba next month, where Valdés will premiere a new version of Misa Negra, with new trumpet parts written especially for Marsalis.

To ...

Continue Reading