Interview News

Photostory14: Jonah Jones

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 24, 2010

Trumpeter Jonah Jones began recording in 1936 and worked steadily in Cab Calloway's band between 1941 and 1950. In the 1950s, Jones recorded mostly for Capitol, churning out themed albums with crisp jazz renditions of standards. I love this photo of Jones by Hank O'Neal because it captured a certain melancholy in Jones' eyes while the plastic on the chair abstractly symbolizes Jones' lengthy pop recording career. Hank picks up the Jonah Jones story:

Elliott Brood: Stranger Than Fiction

Source: JamBase
January 22, 2010

By: Sarah Hagerman

And how we love the evening The gaslight flooded streets We pour into the dance halls The floors jump through our feet

Elliott Brood If the geographic west has long been settled, the idea of the west remains strong, whispering its promises in everything from country songs to road movies. It is still an imaginative place where we long to ...

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Jazz Pianist Hiromi Travels Light on Her New Solo Album

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner
January 22, 2010

By Tad Hendrickson

About a month ago, I reviewed an Oscar Peterson tribute that took place at Carnegie Hall. It was a night of wonderful music from pianists Kenny Baron, Roger Kellaway and Hiromi Uehara in solo performances. The darling of the night was the Japanese lady who came off as a sort of jazz artist as anime with her funky blouse, sneakers and a ponytail that whipped around as she played. More important, her chops were electrifying for their ...

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Interview: Gunther Schuller (Part 4)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 22, 2010

Gunther Schuller has composed more than 160 original classical and jazz-classical works. In 1994, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Of Reminiscences and Recollections, a memorial composition for his wife, Marjorie Black. Gunther also is the winner of many other awards, including Columbia University's William Schuman Award for lifetime achievement in American music composition. And then there are the two Grammy Awards--one for best classical liner notes (Footlifters, 1976) and best chamber music performance (Joplin: The Red Back Book, 1974). ...

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Compatible Quotes: On Bud Powell

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 22, 2010

No one could play like Bud; too difficult, too quick, incredible!--Thelonious Monk Bud is a genius.--Charlie Parker Bud is a genuine genius.--Duke Ellington He laid down the basis of modern jazz piano.--Dizzy Gillespie Bud was the most brilliant that a spirit might be, a unique genius in our culture.--Max RoachHe was the foundation out of which stemmed the whole edifice of modern jazz piano; every jazz pianist since Bud either came through him or is deliberately attempting to get away ...

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Interview: Gunther Schuller (Part 3)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 21, 2010

Between 1955 and 1957, Gunther Schuller participated in three fascinating jazz recordings: the Modern Jazz Society (Verve) with John Lewis, Gigi Gryce's Nica's Tempo (Signal) and Birth of the Third Stream (Columbia), which featured music recorded at the 1957 Brandeis Jazz Festival. Each explored jazz-classical concepts, though Nica's Tempo owed more to the linear sound of Gil Evans and Tadd Dameron than pure classical motifs.

In Part 3 of my four-part interview series with Gunther, the composer, arranger, French hornist ...

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Interview: Gunther Schuller (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 20, 2010

The more Gunther Schuller explored the New York arts scene in the late 1940s, the more he gravitated toward jazz. As a young, advanced French hornist with the city's Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Gunther related completely to the creative enthusiasm, explosive excitement and brilliance of the bebop musicians he heard in the clubs and in concert. When Gunther toured with the orchestra during this period, he spent much of his spare time listening to jazz musicians at nearby clubs.

In December ...

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Kim Burrell Relaunches Career at Bet Honors

Source: Michael Ricci
January 20, 2010

Primarily known as a Gospel Jazz Artist, Kim Burrell could be considered one of the hardest working vocalists in her industry with more than 180 performances in one year. For Ms. Burrell, this New Year will represent many new platforms for her career not only as an incomparable vocalist, but as an entertainer whose brand value is swiftly moving to the center of pop culture. On February 1st, BET Networks will air it's 2010 BET Honors program. Among several honorees ...

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