Interview News

Drummer Barry Altschul Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
February 19, 2008

Born in the Bronx on January 6, 1943, drummer Barry Altschul was quickly ensconced in the hard bop scene of the late 1950s, but it was a gig with pianist Paul Bley's trio that put him among the ranks in New York's burgeoning free-jazz scene of the next decade, one which resulted in tours of Europe and a slew of recordings with Bley.

Altschul also worked regularly with staunchly avant-garde reedmen Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers throughout the 1970s, though ...

Continue Reading...

Keyboardist Alan Pasqua Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
February 18, 2008

Any discussion of Alan Pasqua must start with at the scintillating beginning of his official discography. His first recorded performance featured the then 23-year-old wunderkind of Fender Rhodes on The New Tony Williams Lifetime's Believe It (Columbia, 1975). His first sounds committed to wax were texturized Rhodes thickening “Snake Oil," then shadowing its serpentine melody as stated by Allan Holdsworth, a guitarist seemingly stolen from the future by the unit's provocative leader, the now-legendary Williams. At that time, the drummer ...

Continue Reading...

Pianist Cyrus Chestnut Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
February 11, 2008

When the bespectacled man with the boyish round face sits down at the grand piano to play these days, listeners can still expect to hear the rich tone, jazz inflected with not only the influences of Fats Waller or McCoy Tyner, but also with a soulful element that comes from church roots. But some of the tunes that float through the room may harken back to another part of the listener's past. The music is jazz, but the familiar memories ...

Continue Reading...

Crossover Bassoonist Daniel Smith Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
February 5, 2008

The bassoon is an instrument that isn't a total stranger to jazz. Some have doubled on bassoon at times, but even that isn't often. Others have incorporated it into their compositions and arrangements. (See Michael Rabinowitz tear it up as part of the Mingus Orchestra some time). But it's reaching new places and new audiences with the “arrival," as it were, of Daniel Smith, a Brooklyn-born musician who reached acclaim with the instrument in the classical world and is taking ...

Continue Reading...

Saxophonist/Flautist James Spaulding Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
February 4, 2008

James Spaulding's pedigree is an impressive one. He has been called upon to add his touch on both alto saxophone and flute for countless classic 1960s Blue Note albums. Now, as a leader and owner of the Speetones label he continues to add to his rich legacy.

AAJ contributor Maxwell Chandler spoke with Spaulding about his long and distinguished career, his work on some of the classic Blue Note releases of the 1960s, playing with Max Roach, Sun Ra and ...

Continue Reading...

SmoothJazzNow Interviews Mark Rapp

Source: All About Jazz
January 30, 2008

When SmoothJazzNow requested an interview with jazz trumpeter Mark Rapp, he didn't shy away; rather, Rapp jumped on the opportunity to promulgate his approach in bridging the world's of Modern and Smooth Jazz.

While most any modern jazz player does everything in their power to separate and distant themselves from anything “smooth" and often having an immediate physical reaction to the word itself, Rapp remains open to the genre - all genres of instrumental music for that fact--exploring, enhancing and ...

Continue Reading...

Pianist/Vocalist Eliane Elias Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
January 29, 2008

The brilliant pianist Eliane Elias, who hails from the land of so much beautiful indigenous music, but calls American jazz her first love, has always been touched by the music of Bill Evans. It started at childhood.

“The first that I remember, I was about ten or eleven years old," she says, recalling listening to trio records her mother had around the house. “I was really enchanted by his approach to harmony and also his melodic and lyrical playing. Besides ...

Continue Reading...

Pianist/Arranger/Educator Shelly Berg Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
January 28, 2008

Although Shelly Berg is widely considered one of the most eloquent, swinging, and accomplished pianists in jazz, to date he's more famous as an educator. Berg was President of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) from 1996-98; he spent eight years chairing the department of jazz studies at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, during which he raised its profile to one of the top programs in the country. He was the McCoy/Sample Endowed Professor of ...

Continue Reading...