Interview News

Interview: Lou Donaldson (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 21, 2010

Lou Donaldson helped invent two major jazz movements. In 1952, he led a Blue Note recording that became one of the earliest hard bop sessions. The date included Blue Mitchell, Horace Silver, Percy Heath and Art Blakey. Seven months later he recorded with trumpeter Clifford Brown. Then in 1957, Lou began recording a series of albums with organist Jimmy Smith that popularized the sax and organ trio sound. Throughout the 1960s, Lou's merging of the hard bop feel and r&b ...

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Ernest "Ernie" Ranglin in Demand at 78

Source: JamaicaMusic Offbeat
June 21, 2010

Ernest 'Ernie" Ranglin O.D, Jamaica's legendary guitarist who pioneered Jamaica's fertile reggae and ska scene of the late 1950s and early '60s and who's celebrated for his fluent and versatile guitar style, coupled with his arrangement skills is in constant demand at 78 (June 19. In recent years, Ernest Ranglin has gone back to his roots and has made various cross cultural collaborations and concept albums including Below the Bassline on which he covers some of the greatest ...

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Jazz Legend Herbie Hancock Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Source: All About Jazz
June 21, 2010

In a career now entering its sixth decade, pianist Herbie Hancock has covered more ground than most. He was a key member of trumpet icon Miles Davis' heralded quintet of the 1960s, with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. He was a key part of the nascent fusion community in the late 1960s/early 1970s, performing on Davis' seminal In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969) and his own funkified classic, Head Hunters (Columbia, 1973). He went on ...

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Jazz Pianist Aaron Parks is Back on the Farm -- The James Farm

Source: Michael Ricci
June 19, 2010

When exactly the jazz pianist Aaron Parks became a prodigy is unclear, although he fit the description by the time he enrolled, at age 14, in the University of Washington to study music. Now 26, what Parks remembers more clearly is the day, about four years later, that it seemed his time was up, when someone much younger than he sat in front of him and played the piano.

James Farm: Matt Penman, Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Eric Harland

“I ...

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Jambase Questionnaire: Reed Mathis

Source: JamBase
June 18, 2010

Welcome back to JamBase's baker's dozen of probing, wide-ranging questions to the bright lights in the jam scene (and beyond). Last time we heard from Keller Williams and upcoming installments will include The Black Seeds, Scott Metzger, Plants and Animals and more!

Few would argue with you if you said Reed Mathis is one of the bassists of his generation. More than once I've had friends seeing him play for the first time make Hendrix comparisons, and there's more than ...

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The Truth About Joe Maini

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 17, 2010

If you're a careful reader of West Coast jazz-album liner notes, you've likely come across Joe Maini's name. The alto saxophonist is rather obscure today, but back in the 1950s and early 1960s, he was one of Los Angeles' busiest and most distinctive studio musicians, sitting next to Charlie Parker in Gene Roland's Band That Never Was and recording with Clifford Brown, Shelly Manne, Kenny Drew, Zoot Sims and many others. Maini also appeared on dozens of major small-group and ...

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Interview with the Clayton Brothers

Source: Michael Ricci
June 17, 2010

ArtistShare recently spoke with John and Jeff Clayton about their upcoming ArtistShare fan-funded release “The New Song and Dance". The first part of this interview is now available on “The New Song and Dance" project experience page and features John speaking about the songs and dances that influenced his compositions on the upcoming record. With topics ranging from Duke Ellington to Stevie Wonder to the “crazy pants dance" seen at jazz festivals around the world you won't want to miss ...

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Are You a 'Jazz Nerd'? Jason Marsalis Revisits and Clarifies the Term

Source: Michael Ricci
June 17, 2010

In the wake of causing a minor firestorm in the online jazz community last month with a playful video decrying the influence of “jazz nerds," drummer Jason Marsalis emailed me a clarification this morning that both expands on the definition, shares his inspiration for the video and offers further talking points that amount to a calling for a truce in the so-called Jazz Wars.

As a few commenters on the post argued, the crux of Marsalis' issue with so-called jazz ...

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