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Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Jose Rizo (Part 4)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
August 12, 2011

Radio personality and bandleader José Rizo built upon his years of experience with Latin Jazz to reveal a new perspective on a legendary figure. Growing up in Oxnard, California, Rizo flirted with music but didn't dive deeply into the art form until he started college at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Discouraged by the representation of Latinos on the radio, Rizo found a spot on local station KIST in a public affairs show and began training his peers ...

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Interview

Russ Garcia + Others on O'Day

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 10, 2011

While writing my post the other day on my favorite Anita O'Day album for Verve (Anita O'Day and Billy May Swing Rodgers and Hart), I reached out to arranger-composer Russ Garcia in New Zealand for a comment. Here's what Russ had to say, followed by a few other stories from readers [Photo of Anita O'Day by Malcolm Moore]... “Dear friend Marc, I did several albums and odd arrangements for Anita over the years. Yes, she was very kooky, but she ...

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Interview

Interview: RootMusic CEO J Sider on Music Business Success Strategies

Source: HypeBot
August 9, 2011

Last week in San Francisco, Musi2k held a Q&A session with RootMusic's CEO and Founder, J Sider. During the conversation, Sider brought up interesting anecdotal information about how he started RootMusic, the trials and tribulations he went through to get the company where it is today, and what musicians and entrepreneurs should keep in mind as they move forward into tomorrow's music space. Here were the highlights: Sider advises that entrepreneurs attend every social event they can possibly go to. With enough ...

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Interview

Trumpeter Cuong Vu Interviewed at All About Jazz...And More!

Source: All About Jazz
August 8, 2011

New York may be the major incubator for all that's best in American jazz but there are healthy signs that vibrant scenes are emerging in other cities. In Seattle, there's something going on; an exciting scene is developing around a core of young musicians who see the jazz tradition not as one of emulation, but as essentially one of innovation and progress. The emergence of so many like-minded, forward-thinking jazz musicians in Seattle has much to do with the influence ...

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Interview

South African Pianist Jason Reolon Interviewed at All About Jazz...And More!

Source: All About Jazz
August 9, 2011

South Africa may well be in the midst of its third jazz renaissance. While the late 1950s saw the rise of legendary artists such as Kippie Moeketsi, Abdullah Ibrahim, and Philip Tabane, the early 1990s marked the emergence of trailblazers Moses Taiwa Molelekwa and Zim Ngqawana. The past five years have born witness to a surge of local jazz talent, as charismatic young musicians draw upon a wide range of inspirations and set a new precedent for instrumental prowess and ...

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Interview

More from David Sanborn

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
August 8, 2011

Last week, I was able to interview saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn (pictured) for a story about his concert tonight with George Duke and Marcus Miller at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. You can read the resulting article online at the Riverfront Times' site here, but there was quite a bit of material I wasn't able to fit in and so, given the interest in Sanborn as one of the best-known jazz musicians to come out of St. ...

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Interview

Courtney Bryan, Black composer, marches to the beat of her own drum

Source: Courtney Bryan
August 7, 2011

By Alicia Hall Moran “Musicians make decisions. They either support the status quo or break down barriers," says Courtney Bryan, a composer, pianist, academic and organist at Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., who prefers the latter. Born in New Orleans, Bryan soaked up the music of her Caribbean- and West African-based Anglican church and her piano lessons in the European classical tradition. She immersed herself in her marching band and explored firsthand every which way of jazz: New Orleans ...

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Interview

Something Else! Interview: Zigaboo Modeliste, Co-Founder of the Meters

Source: Something Else!
August 4, 2011

Joseph “Zigaboo" Modeliste, a funky furnace that once powered the Meters, has just released a tour-de-force project aptly titled New Life. It reestablishes, perhaps unsurprisingly, Modeliste's claim to co-ownership of the band's late 1960s/early 1970s string of R&B and rock hits—from “Cissy Strut" and “Fire on the Bayou," to supporting gigs with Lee Dorsey, LaBelle and Dr. John. Perhaps more interestingly, New Life also illustrates the broad spectrum of legacy sounds that Modeliste has both mastered and contributed to, above ...

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