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Interview

Dancing On The Wide-eyed Edge With Pianist Leslie Sharp

Source: Harry Watters
September 8, 2012

Q: How would you describe your new album, Dancing on the Wide-Eyed Edge?　 A: If you forgive my quoting myself, I use these words: warmly re-visited, uniquely re-constructed, and virtuosically refreshed songs from the days of swing and jazz, a delightfully eclectic collection. This was truly what I experienced while envisioning the project and during the process of recording: warmth, freshness, and a unique expression. There are so many incredible albums out that focus mostly on soloing. I wanted to ...

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Interview

Bonnie Bowden and Stevie Wonder

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 5, 2012

Singer Bonnie Bowden has an interesting background. Today she performs with jazz groups and swing bands on the West Coast. But from 1972 onward into the 1980s, she was a member of Sergio Mendes' “Brasil" groups, which specialized in uplifting, samba-soaked versions of contemporary and bossa nova hits. During this period Bonnie had some interesting studio interactions with Stevie Wonder and Antonio Carlos Jobim. [Pictured above: Bonnie Bowden today] In my conversation with Bonnie, she talked about her Mendes years... ...

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Interview

JazzDoc: Byrds to Eagles

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 3, 2012

In the mid-1960s, Los Angeles and its surroundings became a haven for emerging folk-rock musicians. New York's Greenwich Village—the heart of the '50s folk movement—had grown hostile to folk artists who embraced the electric guitar and other rock trappings. Resistance by the old guard was largely political. The generation of Depression-era folk artists who came up in the late '40s and '50s had created protest music reflecting the struggles of union workers, farm laborers and other groups advocating for workplace ...

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Interview

Tunecore Co-Founder Peter Wells Speaks out on Jeff Price Exit and Company's Seismic Shift [exclusive]

Source: HypeBot
August 30, 2012

In May, co-founder Peter Wells exited TuneCore followed earlier this month by CEO and co-founder Jeff Price. Since then, the company has not named a successor, issued a statement or responded to inquires regarding these seismic changes to their executive team. For the first time, one of the co-founders, Peter Wells, speaks out in an exclusive Hypebot interview. HYPEBOT: You co-founded Tunecore in 2005 with Jeff Price. What was your position in the company when you left? PETER WELLS: I ...

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Interview

Israeli Jazz Musicians Make Mark

Source: Michael Ricci
August 27, 2012

Some two decades ago, bassist Omer Avital stepped off a plane from his native Israel and into a jazz scene in Manhattan’s West Village that was nearly devoid of his countrymen and their music. It was a lonely time, he said, and when he set up shop in Smalls, a dark and slightly tattered basement club that was, like Avital, struggling to build a reputation, he inevitably found his bands populated by Americans and his sets dominated by well-worn standards. ...

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Interview

Pat Metheny Unity Band Week at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
August 24, 2012

With the release of Unity Band (Nonesuch, 2012), guitarist Pat Metheny has delivered one of the best records of his career, and his first to feature tenor saxophone since his already classic-status 80/81 (ECM, 1980). With both Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman sadly deceased, the mantle falls upon Chris Potter, and in a career that has seen the barely 40 year-old saxophonist go from triumph to triumph, the guitarist couldn't have picked a better foil for this set of nine ...

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Interview

Pat McAllister's Jazz Photos

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 23, 2012

In the 1950s, JazzWax reader and painter Pat McAllister was in the right place at the right time. Back then, Pat was a teen living in Los Angeles and had the opportunity to see quite a few famous jazz artists perform. Fortunately he took along his camera. [Photo of Dave Brubeck by Pat McAllister] Let Pat fill you in... “Centuries ago, when I was in high school in Burbank, Calif., I went to poetry and jazz readings by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, ...

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Interview

"Beka Gochiashvili" as Told by Bill Milkowski

Source: Two for the Show Media
August 22, 2012

By Bill Milkowski At a recent showcase in New York, long-time friends and collaborators Stanley Clarke and Lenny White introduced 16-year-old piano phenom Beka Gochiashvili to an unsuspecting crowd of jazz fans at the Blue Note. In simple terms, the kid completely blew me away. His time was flawless, his technique impeccable, his touch and intuitive sense remarkably developed. And as a soloist, he had a killer instinct that belied his gentle demeanor. Truly this was an old soul living ...

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