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

Interview: Steve Knopper of Rolling Stone and Appetite for Self-Destruction (PT. 4)

Source: HypeBot
August 20, 2010

Read Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3 Kyle Bylin: In a desperate attempt to preserve existing cultural and social norms or potential damage to the current social institution, the traditional record industry has gone to war with everything from the phonograph to player pianos to home-taping, claiming that these new technologies would effectively kill of music. All of these innovations, only re-engendered enthusiasm for music. How might the record industry be better off if they had let any “would-be" ...

Continue Reading

Interview

All About Jazz Celebrates the North American Release of Nils Petter Molvaer's Hamada

Source: John Kelman
August 30, 2010

When released internationally in 2009, Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær's Hamada was heralded as “anything Molvær has done before," with its “stunning growth and unexpected directional shifts" making “Hamada one of Molvær's most moving and challenging records to date." (John Kelman , All About Jazz). To celebrate Thirsty Ear's North American release of Hamada on August 31, 2010, All About Jazz is providing a bevy of features: Read AAJ Contributor Paul Olson's in-depth 2006 interview with Molvær, Nils ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Interview: Steve Knopper of Rolling Stone and Appetite for Self-Destruction (PT. 3)

Source: HypeBot
August 19, 2010

Read Part 1, Read Part 2 Recently, I spoke with Steve Knopper, who is a Rolling Stone contributing editor and author of last year's book Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age. His great tome is now available in paperback. This interview is first in a series that I conducted for an essay of mine titled “Chaos We Can Stand" and Knopper was kind enough to share his perspectives on some of the ...

Continue Reading

Interview

My Weekend with Elvis

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 19, 2010

Last week over lunch, my editor at the Wall Street Journal asked me to travel to Memphis for the weekend to cover Elvis Week. I've long wanted to attend the event marking the anniversary of the rocker's passing. I was never a big Elvis fan beyond the 30 # 1 Hits CD. I had always assumed there was something oddly Gothic and sticky about the whole obsession. But I was curious. The more my editor and I talked, the more ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Seca and Lucas Cutaia: The Thelonious Mystique

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
August 18, 2010

There are no jazz club owners in New York like Seca and Lucas Cutaia, the brother-proprietors of Thelonious. They're good businessmen; they're chummy with nearly every player on the scene; and they moonlight as rock musicians. One could be forgiven for initially mistaking them for too-hip-by-half DJ-impresarios, but the truth is that they're far more interested in the music than the scene, and they're fiercely committed to their club, not the search for the next hot spot. The brothers hail ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Richard Nant: Berklee and the Group Concept

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
August 18, 2010

Trumpeter and percussionist Richard Nant grew up in the mountainous province of Cordoba, studied at Berklee with Guillermo Klein and Juan Cruz de Urquiza, and leads one of Buenos Aires's best and longest-running jazz groups, Argentos. Eric Benson: When did this jazz movement start? Richard Nant: It's hard to find the point of departure. There was a point of departure for me. Guillermo had another. But at some point our paths met. That was in Boston at Berklee. EB: You ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Juan Cruz de Urquiza: Quinteto Urbano and Beyond

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
August 18, 2010

In the late 90s and early aughts, trumpeter Juan Cruz de Urquiza led Quinteto Urbano, one of the bands that inaugurated the new Argentine jazz. He remains one of the most prominent players in Buenos Aires. Eric Benson: What's changed in Argentine jazz over the last ten years? Juan Cruz de Urquiza: A new kind of musician has appeared who's concerned not only with being a good improviser and a good craftsman, but also with composition, with exploration, with searching ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Pipi Piazzolla: Rhythm Class

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson
August 18, 2010

Pipi Piazzolla is the leader of the band Escalandrúm, a damn fine drummer, and probably the most omnipresent musician on the Buenos Aires scene. Want to find Pipi? Go to Thelonious and he'll probably being playing, regardless of which band is on stage. Eric Benson: Escalandrúm changed its sound in the early 2000s. What was the change? And why did you decide to undertake it? Pipi Piazzolla: I'd been playing with Guillermo Klein for two years, and we'd been making ...

Continue Reading