Interview News

Bassist/Producer Tshaka Mayanja Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
October 29, 2008

'Jazz' and 'Uganda' are rarely used in the same sentence. This little country in East Africa does not have much of a jazz tradition to speak of, let alone write about. Aside from international artists, the likes of Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela, as well as specially arranged cultural exchanges by the American, German and Dutch embassies, there has been, until recently, little to speak of locally.

All that is starting to change, for a variety of reasons. Somewhere in ...

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Saxophonist Greg Osby Interviewed at AAJ...And More

Source: All About Jazz
October 28, 2008

For over two decades Greg Osby has been at the forefront of modern jazz. As a composer and player he breaks new ground, challenging audiences and the establishment with his complex, propulsive, and ever-evolving music.

Never one to mince words, Osby has built a reputation as a blunt spokesman willing to tell it like it is, whether discussing the state of art, his personal development, or the less appealing aspects of the music business. Now, launching a new label, Osby ...

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Trumpeter Randy Brecker Interviewed at AAJ...And More

Source: All About Jazz
October 27, 2008

"My father told me when I was five or six years old--he grabbed me and said, 'the trumpet is the greatest jazz instrument.' And I think he was right," says Randy Brecker, a trumpeter known the world over, it seems, regardless of the style of music he plays, inside and out of the jazz world.

Brecker has always been busy, either on his own projects or with others, by not only leading his own fine groups, but also by being ...

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Underyourskin Interviews: Will Calhoun and Corey Glover

Source: All About Jazz
October 25, 2008

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Drummer/Vocalist Grady Tate Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
October 22, 2008

Grady Tate, 76, is best known as one of the most beloved, consistently dependable session drummers since the 1960s. He's the steady pulse on the famous version of Benny Golson's “Killer Joe," from Quincy Jones' Walking in Space (Verve, 1969), where his hi-hat groove and snare drum rim shots on the four, in tandem with bassist Ray Brown's big-toned walking, formed the backdrop for the head and solos by Hubert Laws and Freddie Hubbard.

He was the house drummer for ...

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Guitarist Jimmy Herring Interviewed at AAJ...And More

Source: All About Jazz
October 21, 2008

Jimmy Herring has transitioned from an underground favorite to one of America's elite guitarists. The resume is now a dream, progressing from GIT to ARU, Frogwings to the Allman Brothers, Jazz is Dead to Phil Lesh and then on to the real thing--the actual Dead, if you will. Herring is the archetype for the melody-drenched lead man that can take it to far off galaxies. Somehow, nobody plays like Herring, but he's always capable of reminding sometimes huge audiences exactly ...

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Pianist Satoko Fujii Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
October 20, 2008

For pianist Satoko Fujii, 50 is the new 20.

That refers to her age, although you could almost believe it refers to the number of albums she's released in 2008 alone. Fujii appears on four records this year: a trio session called Trace A River (Libra, 2008); a quartet session with her band ma-do called Heat Wave (Not Two, 2008); a session with a completely different trio called Cloudy Then Sunny (Libra, 2008); and an album with the band Gato ...

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Why a Folk-Rocker Switched to Jazz

Source: Michael Ricci
October 18, 2008

It wasn't all that long ago that Chantal Chamberland was known for singing folk-rock as part of acoustic duo Open Mind. But the Quebec-born, Dundas-based chanteuse is on her fourth jazz album, The Other Woman, just nominated for three Hamilton Music Awards. Bolstered by a fine complement of local jazz musicians, such as pianist Robi Botos and trumpeter Guido Basso, the disc showcases her sultry pipes on standards such as “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" and “What ...

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