Interview News

Larry Slezak Interviewed on WGLT's Jazz Next Podcast

Source: Kari-On Productions
June 15, 2009

WGLT’s Jazz Next podcast featured an interview with Larry Slezak in last week’s episode! Listen to it here About WGLT WGLT Music Director and Jazz Host Jon Norton and Arts Editor and Jazz Host Laura Kennedy share their jazz picks in this weekly podcast. Listen for up-and-coming artists and tunes deserving a bit more attention. You’ll also learn a little about the artist and with this weekly podcast, you’ll stay on top of what’s happening in jazz. About Larry Slezak ...

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Bill Anschell: The Hardest-Working Piano Man in Seattle

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
June 15, 2009

Simple or elaborate, this is what Anschell does best. In any given year, his arrangements or compositions might be on any one of a dozen albums, most not his own. His music even made its way to the television shows “The West Wing” and “The Wire.” But for his latest album, “We Couldn’t Agree More,” released last month on Origin Records, Anschell didn’t arrange a single note. Every song is a standard, unrehearsed, with few details discussed in advance, and ...

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Keyboardist Craig Taborn Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 15, 2009

There is no place for fear or doubt in pianist Craig Taborn's playing--such states are banished from a mind that seeks to explore the musical possibilities of each moment with maximum freedom. Taborn's improvisational playing is a continual creation where the journey is the thing, and words like beautiful, ugly and mistake have virtually no meaning. True improvisers like Taborn, with the ability to take the leap into the unknown, have always been a fairly rare breed.

From early collaborations ...

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Five Drummers Whose Time is Now

Source: Michael Ricci
June 12, 2009

Drumming is jazz’s foundation, but it’s also where the music makes its deepest adjustments. Ten years ago jazz suddenly started to sound different, and drumming had a lot to do with it. Not everything, but a lot. At the time Nasheet Waits, Rodney Green, John Hollenbeck, Eric Harland and Daniel Freedman were among those developing their own identities but also connecting everything through groove and pulse: making traditional jazz rhythm fit with free improvisation, Afro-Cuban music, funk, Middle Eastern music, ...

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The Soul of Michelle Shocked

Source: JamBase
June 12, 2009

By: Nancy Dunham

Michelle Shocked Michelle Shocked wasn't born in the right year.

At least, that seems the metaphoric reason that she hasn't received the warm societal embrace enjoyed by so many activist musicians - Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan - that came of age or at least prominence in the 1960s.

The problem arguably is not the passion, musical chops or intelligence Shocked brings to the battle ...

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Photostory3: Zoot Sims

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 12, 2009

After Dave Pell's remarks Monday about Zoot Sims and his influence on West Coast jazz, I thought it only fitting to ask photographer Paul Slaughter to tell us what was going on when he took this fabulous image of the expressive tenor saxophonist:

“I remember this night well. The photo was taken on Sunday, September 19, 1971. I was photographing at the 14th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival. Back then, official festival photographers were few, and we were allowed terrific access ...

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Interview: Dave Pell (Part 3)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 11, 2009

Dave Pell is perhaps best known for his octet, which he has led with an ever-changing roster of top musicians since 1953. The idea was to match a front line of horns consisting of trumpet, trombone, tenor sax and baritone sax with a rhythm section of piano, guitar, bass and drums. On paper, what Dave wanted to do with the octet seemed odd: Record little-known songs of popular Tin Pan Alley composers. Naysayers in the early 1950s wondered why anyone ...

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Interview: Dave Pell (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 10, 2009

After relocating to Los Angeles in the mid-1940s, Dave Pell   joined Les Brown's band in 1947. In the early 1950s, when Dave wasn't playing in the band, he was developing a more linear West Coast sound in jam sessions with other jazz musicians. To earn a few extra bucks, Dave also began photographing his musician friends at record dates and in clubs. The musicians trusted him, and Dave had complete access.

One of Dave's most famous photographs was for the ...

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