Jun 27, 2023 1:03 PM
The Jazz Side of Taj Mahal
It may come as a surprise to find that the artist known as Taj Mahal — born Henry Fredericks Jr. — has officially…
“I’ve known these songs all my life, but I saw that there wasn’t enough attention on the older music,” Mahal says.
Jun 27, 2023 1:03 PM
It may come as a surprise to find that the artist known as Taj Mahal — born Henry Fredericks Jr. — has officially…
“We actually had days where we did three songs in one day. It was just pow, pow, pow,” Jones said of the five-day recording session.
Jun 20, 2023 2:42 PM
Rickie Lee Jones has a credo that she’s lived by all her life: shouting her name out while zigzagging through musical…
“The big thing was having multiple sections, ideas that develop slowly over time and don’t stray too far from an initial core idea,” Smith says of Return To Casual.
Jun 13, 2023 12:32 PM
Walter Smith III finds compositional inspiration in unexpected — and amusing — places. As an example, consider the…
“The way I keep myself being original is by not listening to other recorded music,” Pascoal says.
Jun 6, 2023 1:37 PM
Hermeto Pascoal, the Brazilian-born multi-instrumentalist/composer/orchestrator, is one of the world’s most prolific…
“When you play blues-type stuff, the material is pretty obvious; it’s how you do a lot with a little,” Liebman said.
May 30, 2023 1:06 PM
At 76, soprano and tenor saxophonist Dave Liebman — an alumnus of bands led by Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, leader of…
“I guess that’s my personality: On the outside I’m very mellow, but, inside, my brain is going 100 miles a minute,” says Scott.
May 23, 2023 12:58 PM
Kendrick Scott loves harmony at least as much as he loves rhythm, possibly more. “To me, one of the most beautiful…
“When I first emerged on the scene, I was dealing with working with a certain trumpet player who shall remain nameless,” Reed said. “It was very much an indoctrinating, dogmatic point of view, but it was all I knew.”
May 16, 2023 3:15 PM
As a piano-playing prodigy, Philadelphia native Eric Reed performed gospel music in his father’s church at age 5. By…
“Remember to be a warrior, not a worrier,” Shorter said, 10 days prior to his passing on March 2.
May 9, 2023 12:02 PM
Sadly, the formative giants of jazz are passing the torch and joining the ancestors. But such cliché and dwelling on…
“I got chills,” Patricia Brennan said while listening to the music of Chris Dingman.
May 9, 2023 11:48 AM
Having established herself as a master practitioner of extended techniques and electronic effects on vibraphone and…
“There’s so much mystery in his own writing,” Dianne Reeves (left) said of Vince Mendoza (right).
May 2, 2023 3:00 PM
Sunset Boulevard begins its 21-mile journey at Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles, curving northward as it skirts…
