Posts tagged audio interviews

Bill Evans with Martin Perlich 1978

May08
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

Continuing with the Bill Evans theme this week, here is a two part audio interview with the great pianist conducted by the legendary interviewer Martin Perlich in 1978. From the introduction:

The interview with jazz immortal Bill Evans was special in many ways. Commissioned by Warner Brothers Records who had just created a Jazz and Progressive Music division, they wanted me to get Bill to talk about how close his music was to rock; “…sell it to the kids!” This was, of course, impossible, but gamely I stuck out my jaw, fielded his words of one syllable answers in the negative and went on to his experiences in classical music as a kid, and in Jazz, especially stories about Miles Davis. The most important “special” aspect was that I place my Nakamichi 500 next to him on his bed and took up a suitable position on the floor.

—Peter Blasevick

Posted in Evans, Bill - Tagged 1978, Martin Perlich, piano

Two 2010 Christian McBride interviews at NYU

Apr04
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

More from Dr. David Schroeder at the NYU Steinhardt Jazz Studies Program today. Check out the short lived blog here. Here is a great two part interview with modern day great Christian McBride. The bassist spends time speaking about many all-time greats he has played with including Homer Mensch, Ron Carter, Illinois Jacquet, Hank Jones, Benny Carter, Joe Henderson, and Freddie Hubbard.

—Peter Blasevick

Posted in McBride, Christian - Tagged 2010, bass

Paul Motian – A Jazz Perspective

Feb22
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

Friday! Today finishes our week of podcast interviews from JazzCorner.com. JazzCorner is a portal for the official websites of hundreds of jazz musicians and organizations. There is a ton of great info you can get to from there, so check them out.

After his groundbreaking association with Bill Evans, drummer Paul Motian later collaborated with pianists Paul Bley and Keith Jarrett. An eclectic artist, he also worked with Arlo Guthrie including, a stint at Woodstock. Later, Motian become a composer and bandleader, producing a number of well-regarded projects for ECM Records beginning in the 1970s. He had, since the early 1980s, also led a celebrated trio featuring guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Joe Lovano. On November 22, 2011, Paul Motian died at the age of 80 leaving a wealth and breadth of stunning music.

In this quick 2008 piece, Reese Erlich spoke with Motian about playing with Evans, Lovano, and Frisell, his approach to composition, and musical spontaneity.

Click here to listen to Paul Motian – A Jazz Perspective

Posted in Motian Paul - Tagged 2008, composition, drums

Christian McBride – Always Evolving

Feb21
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

More podcast interviews from JazzCorner.com today! JazzCorner is a portal for the official websites of hundreds of jazz musicians and organizations. There is a ton of great info you can get to from there, so check them out.

It hard to categorize bassist Christian McBride—he’s as adept on acoustic bass as well as electric and transitions easily from mainstream jazz to downright funk, always with rhythm, swing and poise. In this interview with producer Lois Gilbert, Christian takes us on his journey from his roots in Philadelphia to be one of the leading bassists of our time. McBride discusses much, including first coming to New York from his hometown of Philadelphia, the legendary James Brown, and a list of fellow bass players who have been supportive of him throughout his career.

Click here to listen to Christian McBride – Always Evolving

Posted in McBride, Christian - Tagged 2008, bass

John Scofield – Guitarist of Many Talents

Feb20
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

The week of podcast interviews from JazzCorner.com continues! JazzCorner is a portal for the official websites of hundreds of jazz musicians and organizations. There is a ton of great info you can get to from there, so check them out.

Guitarist John Scofield started at the top, playing Carnegie Hall for his first gig in New York – and, he notes wryly in this interview, he hasn’t played there since. Scofield, a master of many guitar styles, also has a wonderful sense of humor. JazzCorner.com producer Reese Erlich caught up with Scofield early in 2012 for a quick seven minute discussion, where John talks about starting his career off with Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, playing with Miles Davis, and his 2011 album “A Moment’s Peace”.

Click here to listen to John Scofield – Guitarist of Many Talents

Posted in Scofield, John - Tagged 2012, guitar

Jimmy Cobb – Keeping Time

Feb19
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

This week I will be posting some podcast interviews from JazzCorner.com, a portal for the official websites of hundreds of jazz musicians and organizations. There is a ton of great info you can get to from there, so check them out.

Drummer Jimmy Cobb turned 84 last month but still keeps up a regular schedule of performing and teaching master classes. Perhaps most famous when he was part of Miles Davis band (1957-63), NEA Jazz Master Cobb has a distinguished career as both sideman and group leader. Producer Reese Erlich interviewed Cobb for this special JazzCorner.com Jazz Perspective prior to his appearance at the 2011 Tanglewood Jazz Festival. In this 30 minute interview, Cobb discusses his career, his time with Miles, and a host of other topics.

Click here to listen to Jimmy Cobb – Keeping Time

Posted in Cobb, Jimmy - Tagged 2011, bandleaders, drums

Horace Silver—The Nitty Gritty

Feb18
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

JazzCorner.com is the largest portal for the official websites of hundreds of jazz musicians and organizations, and this week I will be posting some podcast interviews from their Jazz Perspectives and InnerViews podcasts series’.

Horace Silver is a living legend and one of America’s most prolific composers, with standards such as “Song For My Father” and “Sister Sadie.” Today’s JazzCorner.com Innerview was first aired on radio station WRVR on Lois Gilbert’s Jazz Masters series in 1979 and updated for the 2010 Detroit Jazz Festival and the theme of Flame Keepers: Carrying the Torch for Modern Jazz. In this hour-plus long podcast Silver talks us through his entire career and we get to hear a number of fantastic Silver recordings!

Click here to listen to Horace Silver—The Nitty Gritty

Posted in Silver, Horace - Tagged Art Blakey, composers, hard bop, piano

Wayne Shorter On Jazz: ‘How Do You Rehearse The Unknown?’

Feb11
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

As the great Wayne Shorter approaches his 80th birthday, he’s just reunited with the label that championed him as a bandleader back in the 1960s, Blue Note Records. On the new album Without a Net, he leads a quartet with whom he’s spent more than a decade through live recordings and some striking new compositions.

Speaking with NPR’s Laura Sullivan, Shorter says he absorbed a common principle from Davis, Coltrane, Blakey and his other great peers and mentors: They left their musicians alone.

“The six years I was with Miles, we never talked about music. We never had a rehearsal,” Shorter says. “Jazz shouldn’t have any mandates. Jazz is not supposed to be something that’s required to sound like jazz. For me, the word ‘jazz’ means, ‘I dare you.’ The effort to break out of something is worth more than getting an A in syncopation.

“This music, it’s dealing with the unexpected,” he adds. “No one really knows how to deal with the unexpected. How do you rehearse the unknown?”

Click here to listen to Wayne Shorter On Jazz: ‘How Do You Rehearse The Unknown?’, including Shorter’s Miles Davis impression!

Posted in Shorter, Wayne - Tagged 2013, composers, tenor saxophone

Bill Frisell On Piano Jazz

Feb05
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

I’m posting five great NPR Piano Jazz interviews this week. Though Marian McPartland no longer actively hosts the show (which has been running since the late 1970s), it still airs weekly with encore performances and in an updated version hosted by Jon Weber.

Int today’s interview, guitarist and composer Bill Frisell brings his sparkling, atmospheric sound to this episode of Piano Jazz in a session that originally aired in October 2007.

At one point in the hour long show, Frisell’s give his solo take on “My Man’s Gone Now,” from George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess. Frisell picked up this tune when he first began studying jazz seriously by listening to Bill Evans and Miles Davis.

“It’s one of those tunes that stayed with me from the late ’60s when I first heard it, and I’ve been trying to play it all along,” Frisell says.

During the interview, Bill’s performances include:

“When You Wish Upon a Star” (Harline, Washington)
“My Man’s Gone Now” (Gershwin, Gershwin, Heyward)
“All the Things You Are” (Hammerstein, Kern)
“He’s the One” (McPartland)
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (Williams)
“Strange Meeting” (Frisell)
“Echoes of Yesterday” (McPartland)
“Blue Monk” (Monk)

Click here to listen to Bill Frisell On Piano Jazz

Posted in Frisell Bill - Tagged 2007, guitar, live performance

Milt Hinton on NPR Piano Jazz 1991

Feb04
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Peter Blasevick

Some great NPR Piano Jazz interviews this week. Though Marian McPartland no longer actively hosts the show (which has been running since the late 1970s), it still airs weekly with encore performances and in an updated version hosted by Jon Weber.

Today’s interview is with the “Dean of Jazz Bass Players”, Milt Hinton. Hinton kicks off the program by rapping his considerable resume, as he comps himself with bouncing bass. It’s safe to say he’s one of few octogenarians able to do hip-hop, and probably the only one who can drop names like Cab (Calloway), Duke (Ellington), Louie (Armstrong) and Prez (Lester Young) into his rhyme.

He also turns in a thundering solo version of “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.”

“Boy, that is really a show-stopping piece,” McPartland says.

“It’s a real exercise in calisthenics. Thank you,” Hinton replies.

The session closes on a duet of “How High the Moon” that conjures both Mozart and Charlie Parker. “The dean of bass players” slowly bows his double bass, giving a classical feel to the opening, then sheaths his bow for some pure bebop magic to end this installment of Piano Jazz.

Click here to listen to Milt Hinton on NPR Piano Jazz 1991

Posted in Hinton Milt - Tagged 1991, bass, hip hop

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