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Interview: Finland-based Guitarist Pauli Saksa
Source:
Lauren Rogers
Q: When did you decide to become a guitarist? A: At the age around 15, I played both piano and guitar. My piano teacher advised me to apply to a piano conservatorium in Helsinki. I passed the examination, and the headmaster asked me if I play other instruments. I told him the guitar. He said that I should leave it, ”your beard will turn grey when young if you practice music as guitarist." That was likely very good advice as ...
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Ty's Take: From The Farm To Fame: Lisa Engelken
Source:
C. L. Burnett, American Jazz Museum
Lisa Engelken (pronounced EN-gel-ken) is preparing to drop her second album this year and has set the sights even higher for her newest project, “Little Warrior: anima explorations” than she did for her critically acclaimed and well received first album, “Caravan.” “With ‘Little Warrior’ I hope to build upon the momentum of my last album ‘Caravan’,” that was very well received both popularly and critically,” she said. “The harmony and lyric content of “Little Warrior” is a bit more complex, ...
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The Quest to Reach New Audiences
Source:
The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins
Last post we detailed the 8th annual DC Jazz Festival, and its admirable outreach efforts that resulted in their building a big tent across Washington that all told encompassed an incredible 21 neighborhoods. One of the key partner organizations in the DC Jazz Festival this year was CapitalBop, the brainchild of two enterprising young Washingtonians, journalist Giovanni Russonello (better known in the jazz community as Gio) and musician and one of my fellow WPFW programmers Luke Stewart. What they delivered ...
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Interview: Crooner Mark Shelton
Source:
Lauren Rogers
Q: When did you decide to become a singer? A: I sang in school and church choirs as a kid, and grew up through the music of the '60s and '70s. I listened to a lot of the early era of rock & roll as my dad had a massive collection of 45s from the '50s and '60s, along with LPs of show tunes and movies. But the story about when I truly decided to be a singer starts when ...
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Ty's Take: Darryl White Quartet Featuring Bobby Watson
Source:
C. L. Burnett, American Jazz Museum
During the Jazz heyday of Kansas City in the 1930’s I would be looked at as such a square for not going to my first Jazz concert until I was 25. And quite frankly after spending Saturday night at the Blue Room I would have to agree. The Darryl White Quartet featuring saxophone legend Bobby Watson put on quite a show that really opened the eyes and ears of this Jazz rookie. White and his quartet played it up for ...
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Marty Morell on Bill Evans (PT. 3)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
If you think listening to Bill Evans' albums is an emotional ride, imagine what it was like to play drums in his trio. Marty Morell [pictured] had that honor as a member of the pianist's trio for seven years—longer than any other drummer. From 1968 to 1975, Marty toured, recorded albums and grew close to the artist who today has become something of a cult figure among jazz fans. Admittedly, I'm one of those fans. Having spent my teens playing ...
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Marty Morell on Bill Evans (PT. 2)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
The first Bill Evans Trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian liberated the rhythm section. Up until the first Bill Evans Trio's formation in 1959, a rhythm section was largely a supportive unit that played behind horn players. Or in cases where a trio stood alone, the bass and drums were there to keep time while the piano entertained. But with the first Bill Evans Trio, the rhythm section became something much more—a group of independent conversationalists who ...
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Whitey Thomas on Glenn Miller
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Trumpeter Whitey Thomas, 92, is the last surviving member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. Last week, following my post on the band, I heard from his son, Scott, who encouraged me to give his dad a call. Whitey now lives in Bakersfield,Calif. When I called yesterday afternoon, his wife Mary Lou, who sang with Gus Arnheim's band, was with him. Whitey is fond of playing the valve trombone, and he played a little for me. “Don't be too ...
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