Interview News

Eddie Benitez: Visions of Angels

Source: Michael Ricci
September 23, 2009

By MaryEllen O'Brien An interview with renowned World Music/New Age Jazz guitarist Eddie Benitez is never a one track conversation. Like the many intriguing tracks on his new CD, Visions of Angelss, a conversation will take off in many directions, always with passionate views and, well, the company of angels if we are to take Eddie at his word. I was invited to interview Eddie at HGI Studios in Phoenix during the making of Visions of Angels, released on September ...

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Nathan Moore: Tip of the Iceberg

Source: JamBase
September 23, 2009

By: Andrew Bruss

Nathan Moore Everything about singer/songwriter Nathan Moore is befitting of a modern-day troubadour. Whether it's his background, his nomadic lifestyle, his onstage persona or his speech patterns, Moore comes off as a man who was born for his craft. His latest release, Folk Singer (released August 18 on The Royal Potato Family - see our review here), is a bare-bones collection of old-school folk songs that ...

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Interview: Don Friedman (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 23, 2009

Pianist Don Friedman arrived on the New York scene just as Bill Evans was making his mark as a solo player. Both were classically trained, both had similar sounds, and both played and recorded with bassist Scott LaFaro. But where Bill was Euro-centric, influenced primarily by George Russell and relatively conservative in his approach, Don was more experimental and had more Bud Powell and Red Garland in his attack. While Don's style and sound was close to Evans', he favored ...

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Trumpeter Theo Croker Interviewed at AAJ

Source: Michael Ricci
September 23, 2009

If you've never seen Theo Croker before, he's a pretty easy one to spot. He's the one with the trumpet by his side at all times. The neat dreadlocks and mischievous glint in his eye are also dead giveaways. Having grown up in the U.S. in a musically oriented family, Croker was introduced to the world of jazz and the blues at a young age. He picked up the trumpet at 11 and has been a virtuoso ever since, recording ...

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Photostory9: Dizzy Gillespie

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 22, 2009

In the summer of 1965, Dizzy Gillespie performed at the Newport Jazz Festival and then played a series of club gigs in the Northeast. In August, Gillespie appeared at the Showboat in Washington, D.C. During his engagement, a note was passed to him from a woman in the audience. The note asked if he would consider playing a morning concert at a local public school. The note included the woman's phone number. Never one to shy away from winning young ...

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Vibraphonist Stefon Harris Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
September 22, 2009

Authenticity is a special word for vibraphone wizard Stefon Harris when it comes to his art, which springs from the tradition of jazz music, but is approached through a modern lens that takes into account the sounds and perspective of 2009.

He has enough audacity--also a special word for Harris--to say it clearly, to elucidate what he is going for in his music. And he has enough audacity on the bandstand to go for it.

Harris recently released Urbanus, the ...

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Iconic Saxophonist Ornette Coleman Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
September 21, 2009

"Some people think of music as being on some higher level," Ornette Coleman says by phone from his apartment in New York City. “But basically it's the human being that receives the pleasure from sound. Not from the argument over what it is."

There are a lot of questions about Ornette Coleman and the music he makes. Talking with him, trying to parse these questions, can be a learning experience in many ways. Simply put, Coleman isn't like most other ...

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Jazzy a Graders

Source: Michael Ricci
September 21, 2009

By Claude Wilson The jazz genre appears to lure and engage more musicians that are academics than any other genres, at least of popular music. Recently the United States (US) National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released survey results suggesting that jazz musicians are largely male, middle-aged and well-educated. “The study shows that jazz musicians tend to be male and well educated, with about 45 per cent holding a bachelor's degree or higher," says the NEA. And, likewise, many women ...

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