Interview News

Drummer Mickey Roker Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
January 18, 2010

Drummer Mickey Roker is a mainstay and icon of the jazz world, having a played with Dizzy Gillespie, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Lee Morgan, and many of the other signature groups of modern jazz.

Yet he has always maintained his Philadelphia roots, and is and has been a regular at Ortlieb's Jazzhaus in that city for many years. Still active as a drummer and a mentor, he has witnessed and been part of the jazz world in action for over ...

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Bob Freedman on Maynard Ferguson

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 16, 2010

Bob Freedman is a composer, arranger, pianist and reed player. In the early 1950s, he played alto sax with trumpeter Herb Pomeroy's big band in Boston, writing a good chunk of the orchestra's arrangements. Since 1960, Bob has arranged for more than 30 jazz and pop stars, including Ron Carter, Billy Joel, Joe Williams and Sarah Vaughan. He also has written for television and the movies. On the bling side, Bob shares a Grammy Award with Quincy Jones for The ...

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A Saxophone is Her Only Constant

Source: Michael Ricci
January 15, 2010

Some young jazz musicians find their style and move in lock, stock and barrel, making little refinements over the years but basically keeping their place. Ingrid Laubrock, a German saxophonist who started her career in London and has spent the last 15 years playing there, sounds happily unsettled. On tenor and soprano, shes omnivorous and pointed, slouching and precise, humorous and austere. She doesnt stay very long within standard jazz idioms, or even some of the favored nonidiomatic languages of ...

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Leftover Salmon: Celebrating 20 Years Part 4

Source: JamBase
January 15, 2010

By: Michael 'Jersey' Gerity

Download the final part of our Leftover Salmon Celebrating 20 Years sampler here.

Every once in a blue moon, a group of musicians will get together and find that they have unleashed a spark of musical and personal compatibility that will not only change their lives but the many lives of the people around them as well. They might not see the longevity of what they are creating at that point, but as the years roll ...

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Interview: Sammy Nestico (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
January 14, 2010

The first thing you notice about Sammy Nestico when you speak with him is his jolly nature. There's a distinct twinkle in his personality, like that of a storybook toymaker. It's a trait that goes beyond charisma. Sammy's generosity and positive spirit are embracing and motivating Yet neither quality has distracted him from his work or purpose: churning out swinging arrangements for big bands. Clearly, laughter and kindness are secrets to a long life and rewarding career.

Over Sammy's seven-decade ...

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Charlie Hunter: A New Beginning

Source: JamBase
January 14, 2010

By: Jarrod Dicker

Charlie Hunter by Greg Aiello

Charlie Hunter can do it all. Creating an instrument that translates all his musical desires, Hunter simultaneously plays bass lines, rhythm guitar and lead with incredible ease; making him one of the most exceptional jazz players currently on the circuit.

Recently departing from the group he co-founded, Garage A Trois, Hunter went right back to work on a new album and ...

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TJAY Reveals His Almost-Baseball-Career on the Brink of the Release of "Take a Seat"

Source: Michael Ricci
January 14, 2010

New York, NY -- After announcing the early release of his new album “Take a Seat," singer-songwriter TJAY wowed fans with a special interview and performance on the internet TV show “Rew and Who." Viewers saw TJAY perform in an intimate setting, and heard the upstate-New York native speak for the first time about his unique history as a record breaking baseball player at Binghamton University, his experience with the Major Leagues, and how he got into music. TJAY, known ...

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Tubaist/Noted Physician Eli Newberger Profiled at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
January 13, 2010

Such is the nature of jazz tuba that few prominent players are household names outside their genre. Can you name “the Art Tatum of the tuba" or a “the Clifford Brown of the tuba"? Many of these instrumental performers are part-timers. Only, don't tell Eli Newberger that jazz is his secondary field: it ranks solidly in a two-way tie with his role as physician, lecturer and consultant in pediatric matters.

AAJ Contributor Edward Bride spoke with Newberger and his wife, ...

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