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

Saxophonist Pete Robbins Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: John Kelman
August 24, 2010

Pete Robbins is all about balance, in temperament and as an artist. He produces a polished sound on his alto saxophone, with a light tone betraying corners of darkness and complexity. Already an accomplished leader at 31, he grafts his sound onto ensembles of varying sizes with aplomb and equanimity. His style as a leader is distinctive. Just as distinctive are the contributions of his disciplined band members, heeding Robbins' swift directives but always sustaining a fine weave of individual ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Guitarist Ximo Tebar Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: John Kelman
August 18, 2010

Musician, producer and director of his own music school, Ximo Tebar stands out as the main jazz figure in Valencia, Spain. His music and talent, however, have also given him an international stature as an excellent guitarist and composer. His frequent collaborations with some of the finest musicians in the jazz scene, the stylistic variety of his recording and his admirable work capacity make Tebar an artist worth following. His recordings can be divided in two categories: those focused on ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Bassist Jeff Berlin Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: John Kelman
August 16, 2010

Through the course of a four-decade career, Jeff Berlin has refused to end his musical quest. He crafted a popping, percussive style so thoroughly ingrained in the recordings of the 1980s, it's nearly ubiquitous. His work with Bill Bruford, whom he met during a stint with Yes, led to further innovations in playing. More recently, he's been developing a contrapuntal style of playing that allows him to approach bass guitar as a pianist, adding harmony and melody to his steady ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Great Stuff

Source: Riffs on Jazz by John Anderson
August 15, 2010

Stuff Smith, born on this date in 1909, was one of the three great pre-bop jazz violinists (along with Joe Venuti and Stephane Grappelli). In an era when the violin was considered a bit old-fashioned sounding for jazz, Smith's playing was more raw and rhythmic, using a more Texas blues feel to knock any whiff of stale classicism out of his violin. Born Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith in Portsmouth, Ohio, Stuff's father encouraged him to play classical violin, but he ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Remembering Abbey Lincoln: August 6, 1930 - August 14, 2010

Source: Dee Dee McNeil
August 15, 2010

I met Abbey Lincoln in the early 1970's in Watts and interviewed her for the Soul and Jazz Record Magazine in 1976. Here are some excerpts from that interview. You may not recognize the name “Aminada Moseka" but the moment you see those bright, brown eyes twinkling from beneathe a cluster of beaded braids; as soon as she smiles that warm, honest, pleasant way; as immediate as her words and meanings plunge the space between us with wisdom, that's when ...

Continue Reading

Interview

An Educational Conversation With Jazz Trumpeter and Teacher Ralph Alessi

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner
August 14, 2010

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi has carved out an excellent reputation for himself since moving from California to New York in 1991. His music tends to walk a fine line between outright avant-garde and modern bebop, creating challenging music that never loses a sense of swing or groove. This is once again apparent on the brand-new 'Cognitive Dissonance,' his seventh album as a leader. When not helming his own small groups, he can be found playing with Ravi Coltrane, Uri Caine, Don ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Startup Stories: Brenden Mulligan of Artistdata (2/2)

Source: HypeBot
August 14, 2010

This post is from Hilke Ros (@colorlessgreen) at Motion Music Manager. (Part 2 of 2) This is the second part of an interview with Brenden Mulligan, the founder of ArtistData. The interview is part of a series about the founders of internet & music startups. The basic idea is that people who have an idea about building a project around music and internet are driven by a strong passion about their project, much the same as musicians are passionate about ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Annette Aguilar (Part 3)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
August 14, 2010

A move into life as a mature musician requires a mental shift in a lot of ways, forcing a musicians to look a little bit deeper at the world around them. They need to look beyond the day to day gigs and think about the things that really inspire their musical world. Ambition needs to drive them to pursue these inspirational elements and bring them into their musical world. The ability to mix and match elements intelligently and present an ...

Continue Reading