Interview News

Singer/Songwriter/Pianist Matt Cusson Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
October 21, 2009

When Matt Cusson was barely three years old something was already starting to unfold within the little corners of his young heart. Genius usually visits early in life, and never leaves those who have been pampered by its delicate spell. It watches them grow. It teaches them how to walk, and laugh and create pure magic out of thin air, always leading their way. It allows them to chase their dreams as if they were stubborn butterflies daring the Sun, ...

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Guitarist Oz Noy Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
October 20, 2009

Oz Noy's Schizophrenic (Magnatude Records, 2009) is the perfect moniker for the Israeli-born, New York-based guitarist. With an array of influences ranging from Charlie Parker to Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Noy melds elements from funk, rock, blues and jazz into his own unique, personal take on modern instrumental music.

Noy's solos seem to be in constant flux as he weaves in and out of hard-driving rock grooves, jazzy based harmonic progressions and rhythmically complex, often lightening fast, improvisations. ...

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Interview: Jimmy Heath (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 20, 2009

Tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath is best known as the timeless anchor of the famed Heath Brothers band. When Jimmy's brother and bassist Percy died in 2005, Jimmy and drummer Albert “Tootie" Heath continued on, and their most recent album, Endurance, is a perfect example of how greatness only improves with age. On the CD of originals and standards, Jimmy exhibits a firm, smoky sound while Tootie's touch remains shrewd and motivating.

Jimmy's career began in the mid-1940s, and he played ...

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Jazz Guitarist Joe Morris Does It His Way

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner
October 19, 2009

By Tad Hendrickson A jazz artist who balances a sharp ear for melody with an intellect inspired by improvisation's outer reaches, Joe Morris is part of a community of musicians who play what has been called the downtown jazz, avant-garde, free jazz or even just free music scenes. Since he began performing on guitar in 1975, he's carved out a reputation for himself that is up there with innovative guitarists including Derek Bailey, Eugene Chadbourne and Marc Ribot. Always in ...

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The Jazz Hang: Sandy Cressman and Homage to Brazil

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
October 18, 2009

Sandy Cressman is a San Francisco jazz vocalist, who has devoted the majority of her career to the study and performance of Brazilian music. This Saturday, Sandy will be appearing at along with the Jovino Santos Neto Trio and together they will perform her Homage to Brazil- a musical journey through the world of Brazilian jazz at Bakes Place. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sandy about her career and about Brazilian music. She was warm and ...

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Monk's Moods

Source: Michael Ricci
October 18, 2009

Thelonious Monk, the great American jazz artist, during the first half of his junior year at Stuyvesant High School in New York, showed up in class only 16 out of 92 days and received zeros in every one of his subjects. His mother, Barbara Monk, would not have been pleased. She had brought her three children to New York from North Carolina, effectively leaving behind her husband, who suffered bad health, and raising the family on her own, in order ...

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Johnny Mandel on Streisand (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 18, 2009

Everyone in the music business loves Johnny Mandel, from jazz artists and pop singers to record and movie producers. It's easy to see why. As one of America's most gifted composers and arrangers, Johnny has spent much of his 65-year career making bands, singers and musicians sound superb. When Johnny writes a song or orchestral score, you can hear the history of American popular music in his melodic and harmonic choices. What's more, Johnny can craft an arrangement so it's ...

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Johnny Mandel on Streisand (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 18, 2009

Table your politics and any pre-conceived notions about Barbra Streisand. In fact, forget everything you know about her. If you can do this, you'll find that her new album, Love Is the Answer, is a beautifully crafted document of vocal warmth and arranging. Rather than turn out another battleship-sized production that winds up too many miles from your heart, Streisand here is intimate, familiar and downright cozy. To be fair, the new album's seductive power owes a great deal to ...

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