Interview News

Galactic: A Long Time Coming

Source: JamBase
March 5, 2010

By: Wesley Hodges

Galactic These are epic times to be in New Orleans, and that may be the understatement of the young decade. Although Carnival season officially got under way in early January, the full-bore pandemonium that generally commences the last week leading up to Mardi Gras Day got a considerably early start this year as the Saints finally ascended to the pantheon of NFL glory, winning their first ...

Continue Reading

Ex-e.s.t. Bassist Dan Berglund Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Source: All About Jazz
March 3, 2010

Bassist Dan Berglund became known as one-third of Swedish jazz superstar group e.s.t. (Esbjrn Svensson Trio), with CDs including From Gagarin's Point of View (ACT, 1999), Good Morning Susie Soho (ACT, 2000), Strange Place for Snow (ACT, 2002) and e.s.t.. Live in Hamburg (ACT, 2007)--one of The Times UK's top albums of the last decade--culminating in Leucocyte (ACT, 2008). The trio's steady rise in the jazz sphere was abruptly truncated by pianist Svensson's tragic death in a scuba diving accident, ...

Continue Reading

Korean Jazz Singer Youn Sun Nah Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
March 2, 2010

Since she moved to Paris in 1995, Korean jazz singer Youn Sun Nah has won over French and Korean audiences alike with her rather special voice; dramatic, sensuous and bluesy, it is a tantalizing cross between Bjork and Melody Gardot. Hers is a jazz soul.

For years, she led the Youn Sun Nah 5Tet and has recorded a half-dozen CDs. The most recent, Voyage (ACT, 2009), sees her backed by some of Europe's finest jazz musicians, including Ulf Wakenius, Lars ...

Continue Reading

Correspondence: Breitenfelds

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
March 2, 2010

As a young adult, Paul Breitenfeld adopted the last name Desmond. Over the years, to amuse himself and confound others, he concocted several reasons for the change. He sometimes said he did it because he thought that in the event that he ever made records, the shorter name would fit better on 78 rpm labels. In truth, the inspiration came when he and his friend and fellow saxophonist Hal Strack were at Sweets Ballroom in Oakland, California. Hal's story is ...

Continue Reading

Creators of "Chaography," a New Kind of Jazz Film, Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
March 1, 2010

Who wants to see a movie about jazz musicians that tells a good story, accurately portrays the lives of musicians and contains good, happening music?

Show of hands not necessary. Skepticism understood, based on past history.

Yet that's exactly the lofty goal of young filmmaker Doug Chang, a jazz fan who is hoping to start filming the project by mid-2010 or so. The story will be fiction, but loosely based on five jazz icons. The music will be original, composed ...

Continue Reading

Trombone Shorty Bursts onto National Scene

Source: Michael Ricci
March 1, 2010

In 2010 alone, 24-year-old New Orleans singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist and all-around musical powerhouse Troy “Trombone Shorty" Andrews has signed with Verve Forecast Records and performed on Good Morning America and ESPN's SportsCenter in the run-up to the Super Bowl. He has seen recordings he contributed to earn a Grammy award (Buckwheat Zydeco's “Lay Your Burden Down") and an Oscar nomination (Dr. John's “Down In New Orleans" from the hit Disney film 'The Princess and the Frog'). He has taped two appearances - ...

Continue Reading

Weekend Extra: Desmond Speaks

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
February 28, 2010

After three years of keeping his alto saxophone in the closet, in 1974 Paul Desmond finally succumbed to the exhortations of the Canterino family and agreed for the first time in a quarter of a century to play a club date as leader. The Canterino's club, the Half Note, had moved from lower Manhattan to Midtown. The new proximity was an important factor. “After all," he told me, “It's only a couple of blocks away. I can fall out of ...

Continue Reading

Bobby Shew on Buddy Rich (Part 3)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 27, 2010

Bobby Shew turns up on the tastiest recordings. A long-time jazz trumpeter and studio musician, Bobby has a warm, solid tone and gracefully hits all the right notes with understated clarity and confidence. In the 1970s and 1980s, Bobby recorded extensively with the bands of Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin and Louie Bellson. More recently he has recorded steadily with big bands in Los Angeles and has led many small-group recordings. Bobby built his chops while playing first trumpet in Buddy Rich's ...

Continue Reading