Interview News

Scott Robinson

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
May 28, 2010

On a collection of horns that amounts to an instrument museum, Scott Robinson plays every style of jazz from traditional to free. One night he might be with the cornetist Jon-Erik Kelso playing music inspired by Bix Beiderbecke, the next anchoring the floating impressionism of Maria Schneider's orchestra. His arsenal, dozens of instruments, ranges from the slide soprano sax to the contrabass saxophone. It includes the theremin, the normaphone and the bass marimba. He plays all of those and more, ...

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Anglique Kidjo & Henry Rollins Interviews

Source: All About Jazz
May 28, 2010

Henry Rollins Interview

Thess interviews are part of the book project “Under your skin" which includes Interviews with David Murray, Ornette Coleman, Chuck D - Public Enemy, Taj Mahal, Yusef Lateef, Melvin Gibbs, Bob James, Dave Abbruzzese, Zap Mama, Les Nubians, Lydia Lunch, Lee “Scratch" Perry", Mike Stern, ...

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Drummer Eddie Marshall Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
May 26, 2010

Legendary drummer and composer Eddie Marshall has been kicking hard for more than 50 years. He has played in R&B bands and in different types of jazz combos, in collaboration with musicians including Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, The Pointer Sisters and Dionne Warwick, among others. Furthermore, he's recorded his own music [Holy Mischief (Ruddy Duck Records, 1998)], played with younger musicians and taught music classes in different places.

AAJ Contributor Josep Pedro spoke with Marshall about ...

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Pianist Bill Carrothers Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
May 25, 2010

A conversation with pianist Bill Carrothers reveals an unusual man; one who is to-the-point and forthright to a fault, perhaps, and one who's words spill from his mind unfiltered by anyone's expectations. Much the way his playing on Joy Spring (Pirouet, 2010)--a celebration of the music of hard bop trumpet icon Clifford Brown--seems to spill from his fingers. It's a conversation that careens from jazz, global warming and baseball to home restoration projects, the difficulties of reroofing his Mass City, ...

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Johnny Mandel's Shadow and Smile

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 25, 2010

There's something about watching Johnny Mandel rehearse a big band that takes your breath away. Yesterday I had the rare pleasure of watching Johnny conduct the DIVA Jazz Orchestra in advance of their performances tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York (go here for information and reservations). [Photo of Johnny Mandel conducting The Shadow of Your Smile by Marc Myers]

This is the same Johnny Mandel who wrote blockbuster arrangements for Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Chet ...

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The Miles Davis Online Interview: Jeff Bridges

Source: Miles Davis Online
May 24, 2010

(Artist Series, Volume 9)

As I had mentioned in the previous Artist Series post, I have a thing for tracking down Miles Davis-inspired artwork on Flickr. And once again I recently stumbled upon a great-looking oil painting of the jazz icon this particular artwork courtesy of Jeff Bridges.

There's a superb collection in the Flickr gallery of drawings, paintings and sculptures Bridges has created over the last 30 years; definitely work a look. Of ...

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Catching up with Greta Matassa

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
May 23, 2010

So far this year, Greta Matassa has sung with the Spokane Jazz Orchestra in the Bing Crosby Theater, performed in the Muckleshoot Casino and the Edmonds Center for the Arts, packed the house at the Ballard Jazz Festival, and hosted a weekly gig at Tulas.

In July, she will sing the national anthem before Seattles Fourth of July fireworks show one fun thing after another, she said and in September, she will be in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato ...

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Interview: Buddy Collette (Part 4)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 24, 2010

In 1953, a full year before the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, Buddy Collette and other California musicians helped end the “separate but equal" practices of the American Federation of Musicians in Los Angeles. For decades, there were two union locals in the city--one for whites and another for blacks. Buddy, like many musicians at the time, viewed the split structure as unfair. Respected for his musicianship and his engaging, relaxed personality, Buddy was instrumental in helping ...

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