Home » Search Center » Results: R.J. DeLuke

Results for "R.J. DeLuke"

Article: Live Review

Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival 2015

by R.J. DeLuke
July 7, 2015

Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival 2015 Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Springs, NY June 27-28, 2015 While jazz is closely associated with horns (even though there are few instruments now employed at some point across the genre) it was a couple of guitar slingers that helped light up the skies at Freihofer's ...

Article: Interview

Steve Gadd: Consummate Drummer

by R.J. DeLuke
June 8, 2015

It might be easier to list who drummer Steve Gadd hasn't played with since he got a pair of drum sticks at the age of three at his home near Rochester, NY, right up to the age of 70, where this year his tour of duty includes Eric Clapton, James Taylor and his own band. Gadd ...

Article: Interview

Katie Thiroux: Walking a Classy and Swinging Line

by R.J. DeLuke
May 15, 2015

Katie Thiroux, a young musician out of Los Angeles, plays the bass and sings with equal conviction. Her musical experiences began with classical, but a career in jazz is what she eventually focused on and Thiroux--who received several accolades while climbing the tricky stairway of such a career--is making good strides. A sideman on ...

Article: Interview

Thana Alexa: Singer And Instrument

by R.J. DeLuke
April 20, 2015

Music started tugging at the sleeve at the age of three for Thana Alexa, a New York based singer who began making music there as a violinist, moved to Croatia where she discovered jazz, and returned as a singer poised to sweep into a successful career. It started with the piano--kind of. Her tinkering ...

Article: Interview

Eliane Elias: The Authenticity of the Groove

by R.J. DeLuke
March 31, 2015

"I was 22 years old and I told Toots Thielemans that I had some tunes I'd like him to listen to," says Eliane Elias, the Brazilian-born pianist, a child prodigy who rose to the upper echelons of music during her time in the United States. The discussion with the famed harmonica player came during a rehearsal ...

Article: Interview

Chantale Gagné: Composer on the Rise

by R.J. DeLuke
March 18, 2015

Chantale Gagné has been locked in with some of the best musicians on the scene since the pianist/composer moved to New York City in 2008. She's an import from Quebec. Raised in a rural part of the province, she cut her teeth in jazz circles in Montreal before moving to the Big Apple. She's not only ...

858

Article: Interview

A Remembrance of Percy Heath

by R.J. DeLuke
March 9, 2015

This article was originally published at All About Jazz in May 2005. Percy Heath could play the hell out of that big contrabass. Played it for more than half a century. With Bird and Miles and Diz and 'Trane and Brownie and the venerable Modern Jazz Quartet and on and on. And ...

782

Article: Interview

Orrin Keepnews: Classic Producer of Classics

by R.J. DeLuke
March 2, 2015

This interview was originally published in August 2007. As a city boy who took a liking to jazz music and extended it into a budding career as a journalist, Orrin Keepnews may have inadvertently veered into the record-producing arena that generated classic albums from a wide range of unforgettable artists. Maybe it was a ...

Article: Interview

Marshall Gilkes: Relishing Big Band Success

by R.J. DeLuke
February 23, 2015

Marshall Gilkes is a trombonist of monster chops and great taste whenever he puts the brass to his lips in any performance. He's seen sitting in the trombone section of the Maria Schneider Orchestra in recent years, and has associations with other big bands, either subbing in, or as a member of the WDR Big Band ...

Article: Interview

Billy Harper: A Life of Persistence and Improvisation

by R.J. DeLuke
November 19, 2014

On stage, Billy Harper puts his lips to the tenor saxophone, stands relatively erect and sings through his horn; a strong, angular, muscular sound. There little physical gesticulation, belying the effort it takes to express feelings and emotions through the instrument. But Harper's creative statements demand attention. Over the last few years, a lot ...