Interview News

Reedman/Composer Matt Renzi Interviewed at AAJ

Source: Michael Ricci
August 11, 2009

Matt Renzi is a multi-reedist, best known for his tenor sax playing and clarinet (his two main horns), but who has a knack for picking up other instruments as needed such as oboe, piccolo and flute. His New York City-based trio has been well-recognized for its group improv and composition and has recorded several CDs. Performing internationally, it tends to push the limits of music that is simultaneously structured and wide open.

AAJ Contributor Blaine Fallis interviewed Renzi after reviewing ...

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Michael Houser: 7 Years Gone We Remember the Lingering Lead

Source: JamBase
August 11, 2009

By: Kayceman

Michael Houser: 7 Years Gone - We Remember The Lingering Lead January 6, 1962 - August 10, 2002

It's hard to believe Michael Houser and his lingering lead have been gone for seven years. As we remember the original lead guitarist for Widespread Panic we thought there was no better way to honor the man than to see him in action. Enjoy the burn...

New Orleans 2001 (10/27/01): We start with what just might be Panic's ...

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Jazz Music and India, by Madhav Chari

Source: Michael Ricci
August 10, 2009

Madhav Chari a Jazz Pianist and Composer says “Make friends with the music, and do not worry about the “structure" of the music: just taste it for now." Jazz music is one of the most important artistic contributions of humankind in the modern era, and one of America's greatest contributions to the world of art. One of the guiding features of jazz music is improvisation: the art of spontaneously creating sounds in real time. Improvisation within jazz music is not ...

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Vocalist Lainie Cooke Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
August 10, 2009

When Lainie Cooke sings, the heart sinks in poetry made music; air seems to stop to avoid interrupting the flowing of such a magical, beautiful voice. She fills the barely-noticeable silence between notes with a voice that caresses the heart. Her life has been a jazz-bound adventure inspired by an early need to entertain others, landing her in New York City at a very young age.

It's Always You (Harlemwood Records, 2008) is only her second studio album in a ...

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Sun Spin: Journey

Source: JamBase
August 10, 2009

On A Very Phish-y Weekend Around JamBase We Revisit A Distinct But Oft-Forgotten Ancestor To The Jam Scene

While the name Journey has become synonymous with The Sopranos finale, Will Ferrell movie gags and full-tilt mainstream pandering like “Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" and “Open Arms," in the band's initial years they were a full-blooded quartet with a strong jazz-fusion streak wedded to hard rock bravado, open-ended compositions and simply ridiculous technical chops. Journey's opening trio of albums, released ...

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Improvised Silence Amid the Sounds

Source: Michael Ricci
August 8, 2009

The drummer Tyshawn Sorey confounds easy assumptions, including the assumption that because he is a drummer, his own music should favor the drums, or the assumption that because he plays jazz, all of his music should sound like jazz. His new band is a trio with guitar and bass, but its pretty far from any standard model with that setup. The group played its first gig ever on Wednesday at the Stone; Mr. Sorey is the guest programmer at that ...

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Pirate Troubadour Roaming the Seas of Improvisation

Source: Michael Ricci
August 8, 2009

THERE was a time when Papo Vazquez, an Afro-Puerto Rican trombonist, did not understand jazz. Blame it on John Coltrane, whose classic 1961 album, “Live at the Village Vanguard,” landed in Mr. Vazquez’s record collection when he was 14. “That was the second jazz record I ever owned,” Mr. Vazquez, 51, said at his apartment here. The first was J. J. Johnson’s “Blue Trombone.” Jimmy Purvis, a trumpeter Mr. Vazquez met in the North Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up, ...

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At Age 82, Still Serving up Jazz with Soul

Source: Michael Ricci
August 8, 2009

THE alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson burst on the jazz scene around 1950 with a bebop style that many listeners likened to Charlie Parker’s. A few years later, he adopted a more basic blues approach that evolved into a popular, and profitable, jazz corollary to the work of soul singers like James Brown. Today, at 82, he remains a leading exponent of this soul-jazz approach. But even at its bluesiest, his playing remains informed by bebop. If the economics allowed it, ...

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