Home » Jazz News

Interview News

Timely announcements covering new album releases, tours, concert series, special events, job postings, crowdfunding campaigns and more. You can find more news by searching our website, viewing our news stream, seeing what's trending or reading our blog posts. Subscribe to our news RSS feed and/or embed AAJ news content on your website or blog. Learn about our news service here. Submit news here.

Interview

Jutta Hipp: The Inside Story

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 28, 2013

Last week I posted on German pianist Jutta Hipp, who recorded in the 1950s before disappearing from the jazz scene. I also mentioned that Katja von Schuttenbach—a jazz historian and journalist —had researched and written about Hipp. I sent Katja a handful of questions and she kindly responded. Here's our e-conversation: JazzWax: Jutta Hipp seems like a tragic figure—in part a victim of her own issues. Do we know what she went through as a teen living under Nazi rule? ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Interview: Nils Lindberg

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 21, 2013

Yesterday I posted on composer, arranger and pianist Nils Lindberg's 1963 album Trisection, a superb but almost unknown orchestral jazz recording. I also provided a bit of background on Sweden's 100-year love affair with jazz. Today, a conversation with Nils on Sax Appeal (1960) and Trisection (1963)—two of his early jazz albums recorded in Stockholm: JazzWax: What was your major influence when writing and arranging Sax Appeal? Nils Lindberg: The songs I wrote for Sax Appeal were inspired by the ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Anzic Records Artist Anat Cohen On The Move!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
May 17, 2013

Following her sojourn to Istanbul, Turkey to perform and participate in the International Jazz Day Celebration along with Herbie Hancock, Eddie Palmieri, Esperanza Spalding, and many other celebrated artists, the JJA declared reed virtuoso Anat Cohen “Clarinetist of the Year" for the seventh year in a row, and “Multi-Reeds Player of the Year" for the second consecutive year, and in a major feature in the May 5 Sunday Arts & Leisure Section, The New York Times called her, an “ambassador ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Interview: Huey Lewis

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 10, 2013

In the Mansion section of today's Wall Street Journal (go here), I catch up with Huey Lewis in an interview about his Montana ranch. Huey, of course, rocketed to fame and fortune with the release of Sports in late 1983—an iconic rock-soul album that has just been remastered and will be re-issued as a two-CD set on Tuesday. [Photo above by Tom Robertson for The Wall Street Journal] I found Huey to be a down-to-earth guy who seems to connect ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Jazz Face: The Beautiful Dreams of Bill Frisell

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
May 3, 2013

I actually walked out of a Bill Frisell concert (at the Walker) once upon a time. It was just too outside for me. Not sure but I suspect I would stick around if the same music presented itself now. I've enjoyed everything I've heard from the eclectic guitarist ever since, from a quartet with cellist Hank Roberts to a quartet with trumpeter Ron Miles to his “All We Are Saying" (Lennon project) ensemble to a stunning solo evening this past ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Jazz Face: All Smiles from Francisco Mela

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
April 26, 2013

Hang out with drummer Francisco Mela for even a few minutes, and your mood will brighten. You can't help but smile. Watch him perform for a few minutes, and you will understand the inner joy that music brings to those who live with in 24/7. And, at least for the duration of that drum solo, that conversation, you will be transformed. Thanks to the efforts Alden Drew, support from Jazz Central, and funding from McNally Smith, MacPhail Twin Cities Jazz ...

Continue Reading

Interview

Interview: Sonny Rollins

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 26, 2013

I have two articles in today's Wall Street Journal—a “House Call" column for the Mansion section on Sonny Rollins (link soon) and an “Anatomy of a Song" column for the Arena section on the Four Tops' Reach Out I'll Be There (go here). Sonny first. Two weeks ago Sonny invited me to up to his house in Woodstock, N.Y. Sonny recently moved there from Germantown, N.Y., where he had lived since the 1970s. Sonny made the move because his former ...

Continue Reading

Interview

STLJN Interview: Anat Cohen

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
April 17, 2013

The Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival began as primarily an educational event for local student jazz bands, and although the festival has been booking headlining talent for several years now, the professionals performing at the GSLJF still are involved in putting on workshops and adjudications for the students. As you'd expect, the questions they get from young musicians can cover a wide range of topics, from technical to philosophical. But if any aspiring jazz clarinetists ask Anat Cohen this week ...

Continue Reading