Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
Changing of the Guard at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
Siblings Samora (left) and Elena Pinderhughes collaborated on The Transformations Suite, which was released on Oct. 16.
(Photo: Courtesy of the artists)Earlier you mentioned that it was very important to not imitate something that’s already been done. How did you walk that fine line when making the Suite?
Samora: First of all, I’ve never been shy about my influences. Anybody who says that they don’t have influences is lying [laughs]. Those are the people I lean on. I’m not an especially super-duper confident, off-the-top person. I use my influences, my heroes, as pillars to lean on when I’m unsure about whether something works or not.
Elena: For some artists, a big thing is, ‘What is your voice?’ Samora has his own. Compositionally, I’ve really seen that a lot because he helps me write a lot as well and there’s a certain sound there.
As you start writing and a suite comes together—because there’s so many [different] components, so many parts, you find that your voice is there—individually in each part, but also as a complete whole.
For some reason, there was no danger of it sounding like something else. It just never did, not even from the first iteration. It it always sounded like Samora.
We’ve talked about the history of jazz and how it was once a political voice for the disenfranchised. And then suddenly, it was silenced. Was there a moment for you guys in which you both decided that silence on these issues was simply not an option?
Samora: I’ve kind of always been on that tip. On Halloween I used to dress as Che Guevara, and Elena used to have the little Tupac bandana … she was tryin’ to rock that for a minute [laughs].
I’ve always been thinking about those issues. And being biracial, that is also its own kind of complicated thing. It’s important for me and essential for me to speak out. Elena has been very influential for me in terms of her insistence on speaking to her generation. She’s like, ‘I want to speak to all people, but the most important audience, for me, is my age and younger.’ Those are the people who are influencing the world.
As Ted Nash, left, departs the alto saxophone chair for LCJO, Alexa Tarantino steps in as the band’s first female full-time member.
Mar 4, 2025 1:29 PM
On October 23, Ted Nash – having toured the world playing alto, soprano and tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass…
“This is one of the great gifts that Coltrane gave us — he gave us a key to the cosmos in this recording,” says John McLaughlin.
Mar 18, 2025 3:00 PM
In his original liner notes to A Love Supreme, John Coltrane wrote: “Yes, it is true — ‘seek and ye shall…
The Blue Note Jazz Festival New York kicks off May 27 with a James Moody 100th Birthday Celebration at Sony Hall.
Apr 8, 2025 1:23 PM
Blue Note Entertainment Group has unveiled the lineup for the 14th annual Blue Note Jazz Festival New York, featuring…
“I’m certainly influenced by Geri Allen,” said Iverson, during a live Blindfold Test at the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival.
Apr 15, 2025 11:44 AM
Between last Christmas and New Year’s Eve, Ethan Iverson performed as part of the 31st Umbria Jazz Winter festival in…
“At the end of the day, once you’ve run out of differences, we’re left with similarities,” Collier says. “Cultural differences are mitigated through 12 notes.”
Apr 15, 2025 11:55 AM
DownBeat has a long association with the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference, the premiere…
