Interview News

Photostory11: Lester Young

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 26, 2009

Lester Young was the first jazz musician photographer Herb Snitzer captured with his camera. In fact, the image you see here of Young outside the Five Spot in New York is the first jazz photograph Herb ever took. Writer Nat Hentoff has called this image by Herb “the quintessential Lester Young photograph." This photo and the ones that follow were made in October 1958 by Herb on assignment for Metronome magazine.

All of Herb's photos of Young are at once ...

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Take Eighty-Five

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
November 26, 2009

If Paul Desmond had lived, he would be 85 years old today. The last birthday he celebrated fell on Thanksgiving, 1976. For the occasion, Devra Hall cooked a turkey dinner for Desmond and her parents, Jim and Jane. She took the photograph that afternoon. Here's the story of the end of that part of the day, told by Devra in Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond.

The Baroness of Be-Bop - Nica and Monk: A Lyrical Love Story That Plays so Right

Source: Michael Ricci
November 26, 2009

Juicy and jammed with side men and side dishes, “The Jazz Baroness" has all the meat and the trimmings that make it a thanks-worthy special this holiday season on Nov. 25 on HBO2. And what better to sip at this service than vintage Rothschild. That's what viewers get in this un-be-bop--believable docu which details the Jew and the Monk: the backbeat of Baroness Pannonica ("Nica") Rothschild, whose fiscal and aesthetic support of the ascetically surnamed music master Thelonious Monk provided ...

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Take Five: Geoff Lapp

Source: Jazzblog.ca by Peter Hum
November 26, 2009

If you were to spend just a bit of time poking around geofflapp.com, you might think that the Montreal pianist was one of these 20-something musicians who is new to the scene but has plenty of Web mojo. His site links to his Facebook and Twitter accounts and indeed, via song.ly, he tried this year to promote Canadian jazz by directing people to hosted MP3s by Canadian jazz musicians. At his site,  Lapp a listening room with tracks from his ...

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"My Brother, Don Sleet"

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 25, 2009

Last week I posted about star-crossed trumpeter Don Sleet [pictured] and his sole leadership album All Members. Within an hour after my post went up, a reader sent along an email suggesting that I alert Don's brother, David Sleet. So I sent along a note to the email address the reader provided. David responded shortly, saying he enjoyed what he had read. Then we updated some of the information in the post to ensure its complete accuracy. Before we parted, ...

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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Live Wires

Source: JamBase
November 25, 2009

By: Dennis Cook

As you dig into the story behind the jams, check out these sweet tracks from the Live Anthology now:

“Nightwatchman" from 6/30/81, The Forum, Los Angeles, CA “Here Comes My Girl" from 3/6/80, Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK “Mary Jane's Last Dance" from 9/21/06, Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Gainesville, FL

Tom Petty by Steve Wilson “I'm Tom Petty and behind me are The Heartbreakers. We're going to have a good time tonight. ...

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Philadelphia Radio Icon Bob Perkins Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
November 25, 2009

"It's BP with the GM!" That's how the famed and venerable jazz disc jockey Bob Perkins signs on the air, with the code for “Bob Perkins with the good music." And it's not just a slogan. Perkins has a way of selecting jazz that resonates with his listeners' tastes and represents thoughtful choices on his part that invariably convey something important about the music. His program always flows along and entices the listener. As he himself notes, his trade secret ...

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Ubiquitous Bassist Christian McBride Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
November 24, 2009

Christian McBride has, over the course of the past two decades, emerged as one of jazz's leading bassists, equally comfortable in the fusion territory of his recent tour with Chick Corea and John McLaughlin's Five Peace Band as he is a more straight-ahead session, like his own new release, Kind of Brown (Mack Avenue,. 2009).

He's been the bassist of choice for a remarkable range of artists, from Dave Brucbeck and Freddie Hubbard to Pat Metheny, Diana Krall and George ...

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