Interview News

Trumpeter Scott Tinkler Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
August 4, 2009

Bassist/composer Lindsey Horner recently said, “I think one thing that has really changed in the past quarter century is that the music has become so broad, so truly international and genre-encompassing that the days when jazz was one very definable, finite thing are well and truly gone." These remarks also serve to introduce this interview with the Australian trumpeter Scott Tinkler. The recent emergence of a small cadre of Australian jazz artists has yet to gather the notice of, say, ...

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Drummer Weasel Walter Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
August 3, 2009

There aren't too many musicians who bring intensity to the music like drummer Weasel Walter, who has consistently been releasing extreme, vicious and dense free improvisation as a leader since the middle of the decade, mostly on his own ugExplode label. But Walter's history is a lot more varied than free jazz, as he was the fulcrum of the no wave/punk/experimental/free-form band the Flying Luttenbachers from 1992-2005. Since moving to Oakland, California from Chicago in 2003, he's split his time ...

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Assembly of Dust: Required Listening

Source: JamBase
August 1, 2009

By: Court Scott

Though certainly excited at the prospect of a new disc from Assembly of Dust (AoD), I was both dubious and curious upon learning the recording, Some Assembly Required (released July 21 on Rock Ridge Music) (JamBase review here), has at least one guest musician on each of the album's 13 tracks. Other bands, including Galactic and Keller Williams have done similar projects with From the Corner to the Block and Dream, respectively, and were met with mild ...

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Interview: Big Jay McNeely (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 1, 2009

Talking to Big Jay McNeely on Wednesday gave me tremendous insight into a period of jazz that has always puzzled me: Namely, the years between bebop and hard bop. I've always wondered how r&b split off from jazz at the end of 1948, why teens loved the music so much in the early 1950s, and what role, if any, r&b and subsequently rock 'n' roll played in stealing jazz's popular thunder. Much has been made of jazz's abandonment of the ...

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Interview: Big Jay McNeely (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 31, 2009

Last Sunday I wrote that Big Jay McNeely viewed himself in the late 1940s as a new breed of jazz musician. A reader posted a comment in response, chiding me for saying so. After scouring books on Big Jay, the reader wrote, he couldn't find any reference to the r&b musician's jazz roots or how he viewed his place in jazz history. The writer added that I had jumped to conclusions and took a parting shot at Big Jay. Now, ...

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Vocalist Steven Santoro & Ahmet Ertegun

Source: Dawn Singh Publicity
July 31, 2009

Vocalist Steven Santoro has an impressive biography that includes a rich background in music education and performance. A native of Massachusetts, Santoro graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in African-American music and jazz. His early interests in big band charts and swing provided a solid footing in jazz, but he also enjoyed sitting down at the piano and composing and he eventually merged into the world of pop. His exceptional vocalizing and composing caught the ears of ...

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Interview: Med Flory (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 30, 2009

Throughout the 1950s, saxophonist Med Flory was known in jazz circles for his aw-shucks demeanor and aggressive ambition. After moving to Los Angeles in 1956 with his wife and singer Joan Fry, Med began landing a steady stream of work in the TV and movie studios of Burbank and Hollywood. He also continued to play in Ray Anthony's big band, freelance in small groups, and lead his own orchestras on record dates. When you talk to Med, you start to ...

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Interview: Med Flory (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 29, 2009

Med Flory is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Supersax, the commercially successful reed ensemble started in 1972 that plays transcriptions of Charlie Parker's solos. But before Supersax, Med was one of the most dynamic alto saxophonists, arrangers and bandleaders on the New York and Los Angeles scenes in the 1950s. If you listen to his leadership recordings from the mid- and late-1950s or his work with Terry Gibbs and Dave Pell, you'll be taken aback. I certainly was. ...

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