Catching Up With
Less formal than our standard interviews with a focus on an artist's recent recording project or tour.
Dominique Fils-Aimé: Jazz as Freedom, Healing, and Connection
by Steven Roby
Montreal vocalist--composer Dominique Fils-Aimé discusses music as essential as breath--something vital, grounding, and shared. In conversation, a few recurring themes emerge: freedom as the driving force of jazz, healing as the restorative power of music on the body, and connection--among people, across generations, and through history--as the quiet foundation that allows songs to travel. These ideas are not mere abstract concepts for her; they influence how she writes and constructs a live set--especially in intimate spaces like SFJAZZ's Joe Henderson ...
Continue ReadingChuck Mangione: Friend For Lovers
by Chris M. Slawecki
This article first appeared on All About Jazz in September 2000. Chuck Mangione is best known as the trumpet player and composer of that ubiquitous tune, which taught millions worldwide that music “Feels So Good." But Chuck Mangione boasts serious Jazz chops: Before flying solo, he cut his teeth in the Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson big bands and in Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, where he assumed the trumpet chair previously occupied by Clifford ...
Continue ReadingChuck Mangione: Back On Track
by Michael Ricci
This article first appeared on All About Jazz in June 1999... without embedded videos. For three decades, Chuck Mangione's infectious energy, unbridled enthusiasm, and pure joy have defined his deep passion for music. Born and raised in Rochester, New York, he first garnered attention playing with the Jazz Brothers alongside his older brother, Gap. Chuck later left home to join Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, stepping into the trumpet chair once held by Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, ...
Continue ReadingChad Eby: A Closer Look at His Life, Work, and Tribute to a Legend
by La-Faithia White
Saxophonist Chad Eby has been a vital presence in the North Carolina jazz scene. Since 2006, he has served as Associate Professor in the Miles Davis Jazz Studies program at the university of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he plays a key role in shaping the next generation of jazz musicians. In addition to his work as an educator, Eby continues to perform and record, often collaborating with top-tier talent across the region. In recent years, he has led Chad ...
Continue ReadingAl Foster: Love, Peace and Jazz!
by Terrell Kent Holmes
This article was first published on All About Jazz on May 3, 2009. Drumming great Al Foster has spent nearly a half-century playing with some of the greatest musicians, and on some of the most memorable albums, in jazz history, from Miles Davis' On The Corner and Agharta to Joe Henderson's State of the Tenor and the collaborative group Scolohofo (with John Scofield, Joe Lovano and Dave Holland). Today Foster records and tours the world with his own ...
Continue ReadingStefan Hegerat's Bet Against Algorithmic Music
by Lawrence Peryer
Stefan Hegerat reached his breaking point with Spotify. Last year, the Toronto drummer and composer made a decision that's becoming more common among independent musicians: he began the process of removing his music from the streaming giant. “I recently read Liz Pelly's book about the evolution of Spotify and that really sealed the deal for me," Hegerat says, referring to the journalist's critique Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist (Simon & ...
Continue ReadingWorks—The Brooklyn Trio Finding Freedom in Space
by Lawrence Peryer
"I want to play music with these guys right now!" pianist Daniel Kelly exclaims midway through discussing Scouring for the Elements (Connection Works Records, 2024), the album from Brooklyn trio Works. Works is Kelly, flutist Michel Gentile, and drummer Rob Garcia and Scouring for the Elements is only their second recording in seventeen years. In that time, they have been plenty busy, Works is a vibrant working outfit, with over 250 concerts through their nonprofit Connection Works, collaborations ...
Continue ReadingPrepared: The Munich Trio Making Minimalism Move
by Lawrence Peryer
Munich's experimental music scene has yielded Prepared, a trio that merges chamber music, minimalism and dance music through a distinct lineup of prepared piano, bass clarinet and drums. The group brings together three established musicians, Chris Gall, Florian Riedl, and Christoph Holzhauser, whose individual paths through Argentinian tango, folk music, and German hip-hop intersect in musically exciting ways. The band emerged from Munich's tight-knit music community. “We have known each other from the Munich music scene and have ...
Continue ReadingThe Creative Convergence Of R*Time And Doug Hammond
by Lawrence Peryer
A metal sculpture, a borrowed ladder, and Doug Hammond's unexpected presence transformed a routine tour stop into the genesis of It's Now: R*Time Plays Doug Hammond (ESP-Disk, 2024). During R*Time's performance at a gallery in Linz, Austria, drummer Igal Foni spotted a metal sculpture he wanted to incorporate. When the venue declined permission, he found a ladder in the basement. That improvised percussion choice caught the attention of Hammond, who typically makes only brief appearances at local shows.
Continue ReadingBrûlez les meubles: The Guitar and Bass Duo Who Threw Away the Script
by Lawrence Peryer
The name Brûlez les meubles carries a wry irony. While it literally means “burn the furniture" in English, the Québec duo playfully inverts the common French phrase “sauver les meubles" (preserve the essential). This tension between preservation and reinvention defines their artistic approach, especially on their latest album Folio #5 (Tour de Bras/Circum-Disc, 2024). The duo of guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonnière and bassist Éric Normand has consistently expanded jazz's possibilities by inviting diverse collaborators into their sonic ...
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