Interview News

Hot Rize: From Old Grass to New Grass

Source: JamBase
July 29, 2009

By: Kathy Foster-Patton

Hot Rize original press shot (L to R) Scap, Sawtelle, O'Brien, Wernick Those were heady days, back in the '80s, when Hot Rize toured across the country giving their all to make it as working musicians. Bandmates Pete Wernick (banjo), Nick Forster (bass), Tim O'Brien (mandolin) and Charles Sawtelle (guitar) came together in 1978 and toured until 1990. They continued to play together sporadically ...

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Art Pepper: Art History

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 28, 2009

Art Pepper is one of only a handful of jazz artists whose life story is perhaps as well known as his recordings. Thanks largely to the publication of Straight Life in 1979, a searing autobiography written by Pepper with his literary wife Laurie, Pepper's music has much greater meaning and dimension today now that the back-story is known. One of the earliest no-holds-barred, tell-all jazz books, Straight Life detailed Pepper's passion for jazz, his plunge down the rabbit hole of ...

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Guitarist Vic Juris Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
July 28, 2009

Vic Juris is one of the premier jazz guitarists in the business today. Perhaps less known than some of his peers, he is nevertheless admired by all of them and has accumulated, since his emergence on the scene in the 1970s, an impressive portfolio of live performances and recordings. His international career has included associations with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Phil Woods, Jimmy Smith, Don Patterson, Sarah Vaughan, Michel Legrand, Chico Hamilton, Dave Liebman, Gary Peacock, Richie Cole, Mel ...

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Maxmus: Nu Jazz Project Brings Artists Together

Source: Michael Ricci
July 27, 2009

Composer and collaborator Max Makin's music project 'Maxmus' brings together a wealth of musical talent from across the world. This accomplished guitarist and composer from Luzern, Switzerland has created a number of unique works. With a diverse range of musical partnerships ranging from samplists, flautists, vocalists and bass players his music is a diverse mix of Nu Jazz and more traditional guitar pieces. The music of Maxmus would fit perfectly in the world of film and television soundtracks. Something Max ...

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Singer Kurt Elling Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
July 27, 2009

When Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane recorded their one and only album together they created a moment that shaped the art of vocal jazz. An instant of beauty transformed into history. Despite a bias towards the original recording, after listening to Kurt Elling's lustrous and drawn butter version, it was clear the past could be silenced to make way for innovation. This is Elling's first recording since his hit, Night Moves (Blue Note), in 2007. To say that this album ...

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Can Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang Smash Musical Barriers?

Source: Michael Ricci
July 26, 2009

The walls separating jazz, classical and pop music have been weakening for years, but they're about to be dealt another blow. For when a revered jazz musician partners with a star of classical music in an openly populist program, the ghetto-izing of our musical culture faces another setback. That's precisely what jazz icon Herbie Hancock and classical phenomena Lang Lang had in mind when they conceived their joint world tour, making its American premiere Tuesday night at the Ravinia Festival ...

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Sad, Violent, Obscure Saga of Jazz Singer Jackie Paris

Source: Michael Ricci
July 26, 2009

Stumbling upon a talent as imposing, magnetic, and seemingly unflawed as that of Jackie Paris prompts both exhilaration and unease.

A jazz singer whose career spanned the 1940s through the '70s, Paris seems to have been everywhere and nowhere - singing with jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, recording highly acclaimed albums, but constantly missing the career boat, often by a hair. He remained so obscure that he appeared, literally, to die before his time: One notable jazz dictionary says ...

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Weekend Extra: Larry Bunker's Dream

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
July 26, 2009

Larry Bunker's versatile drumming, vibes playing and skill as an all-'round percussionist put him in demand by jazz players, symphony conductors, film and television studios, and singers. He worked with an array of artists that included Gerry Mulligan, Pierre Boulez, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Gary Burton and Michael Tilson Thomas. In the mid-sixties, Bunker (1928-2005) took time to fill an ambition. For years, he had dreamed of playing with Bill Evans, and for a year or so left ...

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