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Interview

Interview: Chick Corea (Part 2)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 2, 2011

When acoustic jazz began to fall on hard times in the 1970s and early 1980s, many fans blamed Chick Corea. After years spent pioneering a successful form of psychedelic jazz-rock fusion with his group Return to Forever, Chick became a lightning rod of sorts for complaints and dismay. Disgruntled jazz fans blamed Chick as well as Weather Report, John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Larry Coryell's Eleventh House, Steps and other fusion bands for severely damaging acoustic jazz's influence and stealing away ...

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Interview

Something Else! Featured Artist: Stevie Wonder

Source: Something Else!
November 2, 2011

Stevie Wonder will be honored this month as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, during a benefit concert to be held Nov. 11 in Hollywood. We'd like to add to that resume line: Messenger of Funk, Sweet Soul and Pure Unfettered Get Down. Don't believe us? Too young to remember? Let's take a spin through the stacks ... LIVING FOR THE CITY (INNERVISIONS, 1973): In 1973 I was in eight grade, living in Middletown, Connecticut. My little middle school was ...

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Interview

Interview: Chick Corea (Part 1)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 1, 2011

Pianist Chick Corea has had about 20 careers. Which is why New York's Blue Note is turning over the club to Chick and his music for nearly the entire month of November. The unprecedented move not only comes in celebration of Chick's 70th birthday but also his 50 years of playing jazz and influencing the music's direction. Starting tonight, Chick will lead 10 different bands over 27 days, featuring 30 different musicians and covering virtually all facets of his music. ...

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Interview

ENJA Records' Matthias Winckelmann Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
November 1, 2011

ECM, ACT, Winter & Winter, FMP, MPS, ENJA... Germany sounds like a generous land for creative jazz record labels. ENJA Records, the Münich-based jazz label, was founded in 1971 by Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber. For the last forty years ENJA has built an impressive catalog, with more than seven hundred releases that cover a wide range of the jazz history. In 1986, Winckelmann and Weber decided to go their separate ways and put an end to their 15-year collaboration, ...

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Interview

Percussionist Brian Adler Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz
October 31, 2011

Brian Adler is truly both a drummer and a percussionist—in his world, the drum set coexists peacefully with a dizzying array of ethnic percussion instruments as equal partners in a myriad of musical possibilities. His work with vocalist Sunny Kim in the Prana Trio—which also includes a rotating cast of guest artists such as Frank Carlberg, Stomu Takeshi, Carmen Staaf, and Jeremy Udden—is a case in point. His nimble, sensitive approach to the drum set is matched only by his ...

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Interview

James Brown: The Singles

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 31, 2011

If there's one artist who's most responsible for fusing jazz, gospel and R&B—and inventing a new form of high-octane soul in the process—it's James Brown. From 1956 to 1981, Brown's trampoline rhythms, high-pitched squeals and horn-fed dance steps lifted soul to a new level while crystallizing the spirit of the civil rights movement and sexual revolution. But Brown (1933-2006) was more than music. He was an electrifying performer whose stage presence, dance steps and artistic courage generated awe. Deeply influenced ...

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Interview

Something Else! Interview: Jazz Trumpeter Nicholas Payton

Source: Something Else!
October 29, 2011

Trumpeter Nicholas Payton may have begun his journey as part of the traditionalists in the early-1990s Young Lions movement, but he couldn't have emerged any further afield. In fact, Payton's upcoming R&B-infused project Bitches is only just now seeing the light of day, in a completely remixed format, after being rejected last fall by the stalwart jazz label Concord. [ONE TRACK MIND: New Orleans-born trumpeter Nicholas Payton offers insight into his varied career, from Satchmo to 'Sonic Trance'—and sings the ...

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Interview

A Conversation with Kent Jordan in New Orleans

Source: The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins
October 28, 2011

One growing sector of the burgeoning jazz education field is the number of jazz camps across the globe. A few weeks back we ran our conversation with Jackie Harris, founder & CEO of the Louis “Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp. Held every July at Loyola University in New Orleans, you can read more about the camp in JazzTimes magazine's annual jazz education issue, which was released earlier this month. The experience in New Orleans last summer also afforded several conversations ...

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