Interview News

Drummer Ravish Momin Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
March 3, 2009

Drummer Ravish Momin's Trio Tarana is one of the most consistently rewarding and intriguing groups to grace the roster of Portugal's Clean Feed Records. Formed in 2003, the group has notably featured violin and oud as its instrumental color of choice in staggeringly complex yet hard-swinging compositions. Momin--and Tarana--are a genre-fogging unit, blending jazz improvisation with forms from South and East Asia and North Africa. However, this mixing of genres is endemic to Momin's working methods and has expanded to ...

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Chico Freeman & Bobby Watson Interview

Source: All About Jazz
March 2, 2009

Chico Freeman & Bobby Watson interview This interview is part of the book project “under your skin" which will include Interviews with: Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman, Cindy Blackman, Taj Mahal, Yusef Lateef, Bill Frisell, Bob James, Skip Mcdonald, Erika Stucky, Living Colour, Dj Rob Swift, Marilyn Crispell, Dick Griffin, Billy Bang, Kahil El Zabaar, Michael Ricci - All About Jazz, Val-Inc, Esperanza Spalding, Eddie Henderson, Dinosaur Jr, ...

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Pianist/Composer Steve Kuhn Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
March 2, 2009

Whether it is in his trio, collaborating with vocalists or accompanying an orchestra, pianist Steve Kuhn has always managed to effortlessly defy and combine genres. Whether it is an older recording or one of his newer albums, an inherent ability to create melodic-based beauty makes his playing and compositions instantly identifiable.

AAJ contributor Maxwell Chandler spoke with Kuhn about his lengthy career, but with particular emphasis on his own writing, highlighted on the recent ECM box set, Life's Backwards Glances ...

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Interview: Billy Joel (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 26, 2009

Billy Joel's relationship with jazz fans has always been a bit tenuous. Much of the rancor dates back to Billy's 1978 album 52nd Street. With jazz on the ropes in the late 1970s, Billy's followup album to The Stranger featured the young singer-songwriter standing on the cover holding a trumpet and posing in a New York City alley. Though Freddie Hubbard played on one of the album's tracks, 52nd Street's cover sent an unintentional and chilling message: Rock's dominance of ...

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Interview: Billy Joel (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 25, 2009

At about 12:45 pm yesterday, my office phone rang. When I answered it, a voice at the other end said, “Hi Marc? This is Billy Joel." A friend had told me he shared yesterday's post with the famed singer-songwriter in Miami and that Billy might call to talk about jazz and Just the Way You Are. Big pause on my end as I scrambled to figure out a way to get the guy on the phone to prove he was ...

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Singer Lola Danza Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
February 25, 2009

Free jazz has wound its way through many permutations since arriving in the early '60s. An important custodian of its new directions is vocalist and composer Lola Danza, of Brooklyn.

Danza is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, Boston, and stayed in Boston for a few years after graduating, developing her approach to music before becoming completely “free" over the last three years.

Her latest album, Live Free (Evolver, 2009), is a live recording from a gig at Boston's ...

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Satoko Fujii Interview

Source: All About Jazz
February 24, 2009

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Guitarist Derek Trucks Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
February 24, 2009

Over the past few years guitarist Derek Trucks has been on the cover of Down Beat and Rolling Stone; he's been profiled in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal; he's toured with Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana; he's guested on recordings with J.J. Cale, Elvin Bishop, Buddy Guy, David Sanborn and Nashville dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas; and he's done a DVD with McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter, and Jack DeJohnette. A child prodigy, he joined Bob Dylan on ...

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