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.

1
Interview

Interview: Americana Band Run 8 Rider Drives Through Various Influences On New Record

Source: Eric Taylor

When Run 8 Rider aren't busy rebuilding Devo's New Wave one-hit wonder “Whip It" into a Hee Haw hoedown, they are producing some of the most authentic and robust country rock around, which can be heard on their new album, Tenderfoot. For an Americana act, Run 8 Rider are decidedly less rooted in tradition; at the same time, they refuse to adapt to contemporary Nashville cheesiness, too. Q: Have you always been country music fans? What are the group's musical ...

1
Interview

Interview: Australian Blues Vocalist Dee Lavell

Source: Eric Taylor

Q: When did you begin to sing? Who were your musical inspirations? A: It wasn't until I was in my 20s when friends started to tell me that I had a good voice and ought to go and get with a band. I loved soul and funk music, especially the black female singers, so I listened to the greats like Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and Luther Vandross, but I also loved the great jazz singers as well - Sarah Vaughan, ...

1
Interview

Ted Cohen on Music Tech and the Music Industry [interview]

Ted Cohen on Music Tech and the Music Industry [interview]

Source: HypeBot

By Larry LeBlanc for Celebrity Access. Ted Cohen's nickname should be The Hammer. One of the most popular speakers on the music industry's bustling conference circuit, Cohen—managing partner of TAG Strategic, and one of the pre-eminent experts in digital entertainment—can out talk, outwit, and pummel into the ground anyone dumb enough to oppose or disagree with him.  Think of a master chess player fueled up on Red Bull, and triple shots of espresso.  His four-decade digital media-fueled career has encompassed ...

Interview

Interview: Marlene VerPlanck

Interview: Marlene VerPlanck

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Singer Marelen VerPlanck has a new album—Ballads, Mostly. It's a delicious collection of moody songs with an upbeat feel. Seven of the 15 track were arranged by Marlene's late husband, Billy VerPlanck, who died in 2009. Though Marlene spent three decades starting in the '60s recording demos and jingles, she began her professional career in the bands of Charlie Spivak and Tommy Dorsey, and recorded many terrific jazz albums over the years. Marlene also continues to perfom. On Saturday at ...

Interview

Claude Thornhill: 1941-42

Claude Thornhill: 1941-42

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

For me, music doesn't spin in a vacuum. As a historian, once I know the date of a recording, a series of mental overlays drop into place—including the period's socio-political events, technological and economic developments, cultural trends, and the country's overall mood. Processing music this way comes in particularly handy when listening to Claude Thornhill's recordings between 1940 and '53, many of which have been overlooked today or written off by big-band and jazz fans. [Pictured above: Claude Thornhill in ...

Interview

Interview: James "Jimmy G" Gutzman Of High Brow And The Shades

Source: Eric Taylor

Q: When and how did High Brow and the Shades form? A: High Brow started the way a lot of bands start — a couple of guys from one band and a couple from another. That was in 1998. The newly-formed band was fortunate in that we had four strong vocalists. We could all sing lead and harmonize, and our vocal strength allowed us to play venues that were normally booking six to 10-piece groups, and we could also play ...

2
Interview

For Americana Recording Artist, Julie Christensen, Cathartic Journey Prompts Album -- Weeds Like Us -- While New Leonard Cohen Biography Marks Her Role In Legendary Career

For Americana Recording Artist,  Julie Christensen, Cathartic Journey Prompts Album -- Weeds Like Us -- While New Leonard Cohen Biography Marks Her Role In Legendary Career

Source: KJPR Publicity and Artist Relations

Julie Christensen'S “WEEDS LIKE US” CD Candidly Reveals a Cathartic Journey of Loss and Survival Bringing “Great Plains Soul” to Acclaimed Career of Americana Singer-Songwriter While Release of New Leonard Cohen Biography Documents Christensen's Pivotal, Musical Role in Legendary Career Los Angeles, CA: It is a busy season for Julie Christensen, whose critically-acclaimed recordings, and longtime backing vocals for Leonard Cohen, confirm her standing as a quintessential “Americana” artist who matters. Now, her body of work has taken a decidedly ...

Interview

Interview: Lalo Schifrin

Interview: Lalo Schifrin

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

The Sunday before Hurricane Sandy veered inland and flooded Northeastern coastal areas, I caught the last flight out of JFK bound for Los Angeles. I was heading west to interview Lalo Schifrin for the Wall Street Journal (go here). As the jet taxied, it seemed only fitting that my conversation with music's master of suspense should start out with real-life nail-biting drama. Meeting Lalo was a thrill for me. One of my first exposures to jazz as a kid was ...


Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.