Interview News

Guitarist Lage Lund Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
July 28, 2010

Growing up in Norway, a young Lage Lund dreamt of moving to New York, though not to play guitar, but to break dance in the NY subway system. Luckily for jazz guitar fans, this dream was never realized. Instead, Lund picked up the guitar at the age of thirteen and hasn't looked back. Since then, he has recorded on numerous records as a sideman, released three albums under his own name, and won the most prestigious jazz competition in the ...

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Guitarist Steve Cardenas Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
July 27, 2010

Kansas City has had a long and storied place in jazz history. From Count Basie, to Charlie Parker and Lester Young, some of the best and brightest in the genre have either been raised or cut their teeth in K.C. While there seems to be an historical tinge to the city whenever its contribution to jazz is concerned, the Paris of the Plains still produces many top-notch instrumentalist and vocalists from its clubs, high schools and universities. With such a ...

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Sweet, Hot and Smooth Roots

Source: Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
July 10, 2010

Now, ladies and gents, the promised jazz cage scrap between Fletcher 'Hatchet' Henderson and 'Grapplin' Guy Lombardo, or should we say, the familias Henderson and Lombardo. It's tag team, as both come brothered-up, but Fletcher and Horace are outgunned by the Lombardo mob: Guy, Carmen, Liebert and Victor.Henderson does higher ed. and pledges Alpha Phi Alpha at Atlanta U. At the same time, the Lombardos rehearse a grammar school orchestra in the back of their dad's tailor shop. ...

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Singer Christine Tobin and Pianist Liam Noble Discuss "Tapestry Unravelled" at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
July 20, 2010

Christine Tobin is an uncompromising singer whose distinctive voice has graced the British jazz scene since the mid-1990s. Whether singing her own songs or interpreting the work of others, Tobin brings a unique sensibility to each number; creating atmospheric and, at times, emotionally intense performances. Liam Noble, one of the UK's most original jazz pianists, has worked with Tobin for some years as part of her regular band, as well as leading his own projects. Both performers can be expected ...

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Fairy Tales Can Come True ... It Can Happen to You

Source: The Augmented Ear by John Patten
July 9, 2010

Choosing to be a musician is a commitment for the long-term, especially if one aspires to be a jazz musician. For every Jamie Callum or Eldar, there are thousands of determined players woodshedding every day and dreaming of having a hit record.

They may have even already recorded the tracks that will break through--and don't know it. That's what happened to New Jersey pianist Joel Zelnik.

Zelnik is a regular performer in New York and Northern New Jersey clubs, where ...

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Other Places: Svend Asmussen

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
July 9, 2010

Jazz developed in the United States, but it has long been an international music and many of its most prominent players are from other countries. The Dane Svend Asmussen is coming in for even more attention than usual lately. Attention is far from new in the career of the remarkable violinist, but when a musician is halfway through his tenth decade and still swinging, he gets extra notice. One who notices is Will Friedwald. He writes about Asmussen in today's ...

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Drummer Muhammed Ali Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
July 7, 2010

Though not as well known as his brother, drummer Rashied Ali (1935-2009), Muhammad Ali spent the 1970s as one of the busiest drummers in free jazz, primarily working in a cooperative Paris-based quartet with saxophonist Frank Wright, pianist Bobby Few and bassist Alan Silva, and known as the Center of the World Quartet. Born in Philadelphia in 1936 as Raymond Patterson, Ali has worked with many of the preeminent names in the jazz avant-garde, including saxophonists John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, ...

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Farewell, Fred

Source: Master of a Small House
July 7, 2010

A previous post harboring hope now has as a sobering finality to it... Fred Anderson is gone. Details are widely available regarding the particulars of his passing so I won't dwell on them here. Despite best laid plans, I wasn't able to immerse myself in Fred's recorded work to the degree that I had planned. That disparity between intent and outcome got me thinking about cause and effect relationships and more specifically the death of a musician signaling a flurry ...

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