Talking 2 Musicians

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

TALKING 2 MUSICIANS July 6, 2019

Talent, Tenacity, Tequila & a Tale of Two Texas Teenagers

Train to Nowhere “Train to Nowhere" by Dave Dupree was the aptly named single released by Challenge Records on January 15, 1958. Newly founded by Gene Autrey, “The Singing Cowboy" of Hollywood fame, the jny: Los Angeles based label was looking to land its first hit record. The single itself was on the road to “nowhere" until something highly unlikely happened—a disc jockey in jny: Cleveland, Ohio listened to the flip side of a single by an unknown artist on ...

TALKING 2 MUSICIANS May 29, 2019

Remembering Kofi Burbridge: 1961-2019

By Alan Bryson

Kofi Burbridge, keyboardist, flutist, arranger, and composer with the Tedeschi Trucks Band, passed away on February 15, 2019 at the age of 57. His health issues became public in the summer of 2017 when he underwent emergency heart surgery. Things seemed hopeful after his return to the band and his participation in the recording of what was to be his final album with the TTB. The aptly titled Signs, in a seeming display of cosmic synchronicity, was released on the ...

TALKING 2 MUSICIANS May 17, 2019

Etienne Mbappe: Silky Master of the 4th Dimension

By Alan Bryson

Etienne Mbappe plays bass so smoothly that you could imagine he wears silk gloves—and you would be correct. In fact he is the only musician in the world who has an endorsement deal with a silk glove manufacturer. He is a musician's musician, a world class bassist based in Paris. Originally from Cameroon in Western Africa, he began his musical career in Paris in the 80s, playing with the leading names on the African music scene. He toured with the ...

TALKING 2 MUSICIANS December 8, 2018

The Multifaceted Mike Seal

By Alan Bryson

He's an extraordinarily talented guitarist whose musical interests range from jazz and bluegrass to classical music. Mike Seal has been active on the Southern music scene for over a decade and is based in Nashville, Tennessee. His grandfather was a gifted self taught gospel guitarist in rural Virginia, and his older brother, Rob Seal, is a multi-instrumentalist (guitar/mandolin/violin/banjo) who is active on the bluegrass music scene. Mike is married to a professional musician who is also a very accomplished lap ...

TALKING 2 MUSICIANS August 24, 2018

Oteil Burbridge: Long Live the Dead

By Alan Bryson

In 2015 rhythm guitarist Bob Weir and drummer Bill Kreutzmann, founding members of the Grateful Dead, formed the band Dead & Company, along with longtime Grateful Dead keyboardist Jeff Chimention and drummer / percussionist Mickey Hart. They enlisted some fresh blood into the band with the addition of singer/guitarist John Mayer, and bassist Oteil Burbridge. A couple of months prior to their first summer tour I interviewed Oteil Burbridge, and published it here on All About Jazz in audio form. ...

TALKING 2 MUSICIANS November 16, 2017

Ronny Jordan: A pioneer of Acid Jazz, a Staple of Smooth Jazz

By Alan Bryson

This month marks guitarist Ronny Jordan's 55th birthday. A trailblazer in acid jazz, his debut album The Antidote foreshadowed Miles Davis' embrace of hip hop with the album Doo-Bop by six months. Moreover, Jordan's track “After Hours" also had a profound impact on smooth jazz as you will read in the following interview. This interview was conducted a year before his unexpected passing in January of 2014 at the age of 51, and was published only in an audio format ...

TALKING 2 MUSICIANS September 26, 2016

Guitarist Mike Seal

By Alan Bryson

Guitarist Mike Seal first caught my attention at the end of 2014 as part of the Jeff Sipe Trio. At that time I described him as an extraordinarily talented young musician, an assessment shared by many, including the legendary dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas. This summer the three time winner of the Country Music Association's Musician of the Year award invited Mike Seal to join his band. At the beginning of this exciting new chapter in his musical journey, it seemed ...