Keyboardist John Medeski on the healing power of music, what attracted him to the piano as a boy, his creative and professional development (playing in bar bands as a teenager in Florida, studying at NEC in Boston, moving to New York), developing Medeski, Martin & Wood, learning from nature, and the moment in 1996 when MMW discovered their jam-band audience.
Read More
Pianist Emmet Cohen on how he straddles the line between tradition and modernity, starting out as a prodigy in Miami, being a “repertory player”, his community in Harlem, “blues therapy” and the common lesson he learned from all his mentors.
Read More
Spend a day at the 2022 Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy with producer Matt Pierson, artistic consultant Enzo Capua, drummer Terence Higgens, saxophonist Dave Koz, and singer Kurt Elling.
Read More
Singer Stacey Kent on why she’s a fatalist, escaping from New Jersey and from the bounds of category, crossing borders (in many senses), and her latest release Songs From Other Places.
Read More
Guitarist Matthew Stevens on growing up in Canada, how the business of jazz has evolved in his lifetime, how the pandemic reoriented him both personally and musically, gear, practice, teaching, the local scenes in Toronto and Pittsburgh, and the universal question: what is production?
Read More
Saxophonist, educator and composer Walter Smith III on his early development, the Houston sound, his thoughts on education, practice, improvisation, leadership, raising a family as a musician, meeting your heroes, and LA real estate.
Read More
Vocalist Lauren Henderson on growing up one of the few people of color in a small New England town, playing varsity Field hockey, deciding to become a jazz singer, discovering her latin roots, managing her mental health, what she learned in business school, working with Sullivan Fortner, how to book a tour, embracing imperfection, and managing her online identity.
Read More
Keyboardist/singer/producer Jake Sherman on his love of the hammond organ and Weird Al Yankovic, surrealist comedy, finding his lane, learning to sing, what he learned from Dr. Lonnie Smith, why LA is too sunny, making friends with social media, and why he keeps saying ladies’ names in his songs.
Read More
Saxophonist Melissa Aldana on growing up in Chile, her journey to America, practicing, teaching, numerology, playing the blues, “the gender thing”, learning to embrace imperfection, her new record “12 Stars”, her idea of success, and what she values most in music: sound, time and ideas.
Read More
Trumpeter, vocalist and composer Amir ElSaffar on his ongoing search for the ecstatic by way of what he describes as the human “sea of connectivity”, how working with Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Cecil Taylor influenced him, the value of coming of age in Chicago, and how his Zen Buddhist practice has helped him to “lift the veil” between his sense of what’s outside of him and what’s inside.
Read More
Trumpet player / composer / bandleader Adam O’Farrill on belonging to a rich musical legacy, how video games, literature and most of all the films of PT Anderson have informed his work, the hazy lines around labels and categories, the importance of making space for other musicians to support one another, and how he strives to remove “the external” from his playing.
Read More
Trumpet player and singer Benny Benack III on “the relentless commitment of playing trumpet”, the value of stagecraft, jam session etiquette, keeping old songs fresh, why he’s sometimes accused of being “too entertaining”, how come he takes his trumpet on dates, and what he calls “the elephant in the room.”
Read More
Guitarist Lionel Loueke on growing up in Benin, discovering the guitar and eventually jazz by way of a George Benson record, making his way out of Africa, through France, to America, finding his voice and his style, how he sees his contribution as a teacher, and much more.
Read More
Madison McFerrin calls herself a soul singer because she sings the music of the soul. She says “I originally thought I was just going to be an artist who showed up… but if you don’t adjust now you’re going to fall behind. The music industry is changing more rapidly than pretty much any other industry.”
Singer songwriter hairdresser amateur photographer schtick enthusiast Monica Martin talks about discovering her musical talent in her late teens, what it means to be “Wisconsin sober”, the complex and delicate dynamics of her first band Phox, her mental health struggles, why it’s so expensive to be poor, the many ways that she has had to integrate in her life, staying in bed all day, the influence of Fiona Apple and Billie Holiday on her music, working with James Blake, Vulfpeck, Scary Pockets and how being a hairdresser is similar to being a therapist (but much less well paid).
Read More
“Legendary” drummer Nate Smith on the technical, emotional, strategic, mystical, unpredictable aspects to music and a life in music, how where you come from affects how you sound, the value and values of great leadership, the influence of other drummer-bandleaders on his conception, what he learned from working with Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Brittany Howard, Fearless Flyers, Betty Carter and Jose James, and what the internet taught him about his own playing.
Read More
Pianist Joe Alterman on his new record The Upside of Down, southern charm, “finding in jazz and black music what [he] had tried to find in Synagogue,” tipping the doorman, being born 50 years too late, playing for regular people, using adversity as an opportunity, what he learned from his friendships with Ramsey Lewis, Les McCann, Nat Hentoff, and Ahmad Jamal.
Read More
For the third year in a row, I talked to my dad, musician/producer/journalist/philosopher Ben Sidran in honor of his birthday. This time he’s turning 78, and we consider the “buddhist roots of jazz”, joy and pain, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, the final recordings of Lester Young’s, saxophonist Willis Jackson’s 1978 album Bar Wars, drummer Nate Smith’s latest record, how you know when you’re old, and the Baal Shem Tov.
Read More
Philip Lassiter unravels his journey starting out a preacher’s son in Mobile, Alabama to the top of the mountain as one of the first call horn arrangers and trumpet players for top notch musicians (including Prince, Ariana Grande, Kirk Franklin, Timbaland, Roberta Flack, Jill Scott, Anderson. Paak, Queen Latifa, Al Jarreau, Fred Hammond, The Isley Brothers, and many more). Why does he get called so much? “People ask me how did you get this gig or that gig. I always tell them, ‘I didn’t get the gig. The gig got me.’”
Read More
Guitarist Julian Lage on his new record, Squint (his first on Blue Note), how he handled youthful exceptionalism (he was a child prodigy), the connection between the artist and the audience, his philosophy of record making, and how he thinks about notes as having the weight of speech. He says, “I want it to feel like I’m talking to you when I play.”
Read More