Interview News

Jim Doxas Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 26, 2007

Very much in demand, Montreal drummer Jim Doxas divides his time playing with piano great Oliver Jones, the John Roney Trio and Chet Doxas Quartet. Through the power of his startling invention, he makes the case that percussion can be every bit as performative as a lyrical instrument.

What distinguishes Doxas' approach to improvisation is that he refuses to play it safe, allowing the moment--and not received wisdom--to dictate the kind of framework that will contain, shape and guide the ...

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Samo Salamon Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 25, 2007

There are many outstanding guitarists in jazz music, but Samo Salamon stands out. He's a technically terrifying musician, but the world of improvisational music is full of players with intimidating technique. Salamon's greatest attribute is his uniqueness: His rock-inflected electric tone and trademark solo lines of jagged single notes and crunching chord clusters are his own. He's as talented a composer as he is a guitarist, with a fondness for through-composed passages, challenging harmony and impossibly-complex time signatures.

What makes ...

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Greg Adams Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 21, 2007

Greg Adams is a pioneer. As one of the founding members of Tower of Power, the trumpeter helped to create its signature sound. He has, since the age of eighteen, been the luminary behind an astonishing number of hits for countless artists, himself included along with the likes of Rod Steward and Elton John. Few horn sections have not played one of his riffs. He is credited on over a thousand recordings which have led to both Grammy and Emmy ...

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Mike DiRubbo Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 21, 2007

For New York Accent: Live at the Kitano (Cellar Live, 2007), his fourth record as leader, alto saxophonist DiRubbo chose to forego the studio for the room at Manhattan's Kitano Hotel. DiRubbo picked the setting in part because, with paid studio dates becoming increasingly rare for independent jazz musicians, he realized he needed to take the reins of getting his next record out.

So he assembled a killer band--piano legend Harold Mabern, long-time bassist-of-choice Dwayne Burno and drummer Tony Reedus--and ...

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Lola Perrin Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 19, 2007

Born in New York (with Ukrainian and Hungarian roots), and educated in Switzerland, pianist Lola Perrin is now based in London. Following an early career producing soundtracks for television she went into a period of musical isolation until she launched her solo career in 2003. Ever since, she has attracted increasing attention across Europe as a performer and composer

In the autumn of 2006, on a double bill with her brother Roland, she played at Spitz on the closing night ...

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Anat Cohen Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 18, 2007

"I would say that's what keeps me content musically is the fact that I try to put myself in different musical situations and I enjoy them all equally," says Anat Cohen, an Israel-born musician who has been making noise in her own sweet way on the New York City music scene since coming to the Big Apple in 1999. The city intimidated her a bit at first, influenced by impressions of the city she had only seen in modern movies ...

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Pianist Luis Perdomo Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 11, 2007

How do you get from Caracas, Venezuela to Carnegie Hall? Well, first you come to the States on vacation, win a full scholarship to a conservatory, study with legends like Roland Hanna, then ... well, you get the idea.

That's the journey undertaken by pianist and composer Luis Perdomo. It's a trip that has taken him from Latin powerhouses like Timbalaye and Ray Barretto's band to more mainstream jazz groups led by folks like Ravi Coltrane and Brian Lynch. Perdomo ...

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Pianist Edward Simon Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
June 4, 2007

Pianist Edward Simon was born in Punta Cardn, Venezuela. His entire family was composed of musicians, and as a young man, Simon's evident talent led his father to send him to study in the U.S., where he won scholarships in classical piano at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and in jazz at the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Harold Danko. While a student in his teens, Simon performed with Philly guitarist Kevin Eubanks and saxophonist ...

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