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Interviews
Hildur Gudnadottir: Telling Stories with Music
Musician and composer Hildur Gudnadottir has spent the past decade creating some of the most unique and indelible music and film scores in modern memory. Much like her fellow Icelanders Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ólafur Arnalds, Gudnadóttir has been composing weighty and layered ambiances and soundscapes. Her solo work obliterates the line between contemporary classical music and improvisation thus sculpturing spontaneous inventions into mesmerizing and brooding compositions. Her arsenal is the cello called “omar" which is a prepared cello combined with ...
read moreStanley Nelson: How Do You Make A Film Do Justice To Miles Davis And His Music?
Miles Davis is far more than a legendary jazz great. He was and is a cultural and musical icon whose life was largely compelled by five driving forces: 1) his groundbreaking innovations in cool jazz, modal music, fusion, and beyond; 2) his “cool" persona, which has influenced and inspired several generations; 3) his tempestuous love life; 4) his struggles with and opposition to racism; and 5) his drug and alcohol addiction. To make a film documentary about him which encompasses ...
read moreEliane Elias: Chanteuse
Eliane Elias has glistened across the global music scene since first coming to the United States in 1981, playing fiery jazz, beautiful pop tunes, and warm and charming music from her native Brazil. She became established as a major jazz pianist. But as her career has grown and her popularity has endured, she's become known as something else. Singer. She probably always sang, even as a child and then a child prodigy, studying piano at age ...
read moreAbdullah Ibrahim: The Sound of the Universe
Abdullah Ibrahim's cosmology informs his art. While some might look upon him as an overseer at the crossroads between new and old, the tempered pianist stands as a sage, painting swirling rhythms that resemble the spheres of the universe with his compositions. He continues to combine ancient wisdom with the tones of the future; formation and reformation are one and the same for him. He roots his musical practice within tradition, composing with an ethos based on cycles.
read moreTrish Clowes: Sounding Colors, Playing With Gravity
If it hadn't been that day, twenty some years ago when the young Trish Clowes first felt the pull of the tenor saxophone, it would surely have been another. Barely in her teens at the time, Shropshire-born saxophonist and award-winning composer Clowes already played piano, clarinet and sang when she went to see her Dad, an amateur trumpeter, play with the local big band. “When I heard a tenor saxophone feature on “In a Sentimental Mood" I thought ...
read moreWaldo's Gift: Capturing the Moment
If you were to somehow draw a map of the UK along cultural rather than demographic lines, suddenly jny: London wouldn't be so disproportionately large. After all, the most influential pop group of all time came from a small city a few hundred kilometres north of the capital. jny: Bristol is another town that has carved out a significant place for itself on this map. Today, it is perhaps going through a slight identity crisis, or at least it is ...
read moreBrittany Anjou: Visionary Soul
I began a series of interviews with jny: Seattle-based musicians in the summer of 2016, with half being dedicated to female instrumentalists. After my last interview with bassist Chuck Deardorf, I was given a new piano trio release on the Seattle based Origin Records label by New York based, Seattle born and bred musician Brittany Anjou. Named Enamigo Reciprokataj, meaning reciprocal love in the international language Esperanto, the album is her unique take on the traditional jazz piano trio. While ...
read moreEdward Green: Delighting in the Duke
Duke Ellington's music can be enjoyed on many levels by many people. The simple lover of good music can revel in his more memorable tunes--snap their fingers or dance to “Take the A-Train," “Perdido" or “It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing." Or they may pause reflectively while listening to “Mood Indigo." They might watch video performances and delight in Duke's sly smile, ever-hip demeanor, and way with spoken words. The jazz aficionado, such as myself, ...
read moreChick Corea: Music With The Fun Factor
Chick Corea is a musical icon, having amassed a career that runs through most styles of jazz and has veered off into classical experiments as a well. Freedom of expression is always being at the core. His amazing musical journey—over five decades as a solo artist—has had him rubbing elbows with some of the best musicians in history—Stan Getz to Sarah Vaughan. Herbie Hancock John McLaughlin, Roy Haynes, Joe Henderson, Gary Burton and so many more. In the ...
read moreRichie Beirach: Indelible Memories and Thought-Provoking Reflections on a Life in Jazz, Part 2
Part 1 | Part 2 Richie Beirach hovers somewhat mysteriously in the pantheon of the great modern jazz pianists. Some of the others in that category from his generation (coming up in the 1960s/'70s), like Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, and Kenny Barron have greater celebrity, but Beirach easily qualifies alongside them as one of the most accomplished masters. While the aforementioned have developed a signature style, emotional power, and virtuosic technique, Beirach, above and beyond those ...
read moreRichie Beirach: Indelible Memories and Thought-Provoking Reflections on a Life in Jazz, Part 1
Part 1 | Part 2 Richie Beirach hovers somewhat mysteriously in the pantheon of the great modern jazz pianists. Some of the others in that category from his generation (coming up in the 1960s/'70s), like Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, and Kenny Barron have greater celebrity, but Beirach easily qualifies alongside them as one of the most accomplished masters. While the aforementioned have developed a signature style, emotional power, and virtuosic technique, Beirach, above and beyond those ...
read morePolly Gibbons: Jazz or Blues, It's The Feeling
British singer Polly Gibbons is past the up-and-coming stage. Her strong will, passion and impressive talent continue to propel her down a path where more good things are sure to come. An indication of her prodigious talent is heard on her latest release, and third for Resonance Records, All I Can Do. It's a joyous romp through jazzy and bluesy standards. When she swings and sings jazz, gruff traces of the blues emerge through her rich vibrato. And ...
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