BEST KNOWN FOR HIS WORK WITH PAT METHENY’S BAND, BASSIST BEN WILLIAMS HAS RECENTLY RELEASED HIS SECOND IMPRESSIVE ALBUM, COMING OF AGE. WE RECENTLY CAUGHT UP WITH MR. WILLIAMS AFTER HIS SUCCESSFUL GIG AT THE BLUE WHALE. HIS RISE TO…
Category: Interviews
SOUNDS OF ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ
Some guys just seem to have the Midas touch. John Hammond, the guy who gave us Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen had it. So does Quincy Jones, who’s had his finger on…
KYLE EASTWOOD’S PIECE OF TIME WITH JAZZ
BASSIST KYLE EASTWOOD HAS BEEN BUILDING UP AN IMPRESSIVE CAREER AS A JAZZ BASSIST. HIS MOST RECENT ALBUM, TIME PIECES, IS FILLED WITH TRIBUTES TO THE BLUE NOTE ERA OF HARD BOP, WITH TIPS OF THE BERET TO HORACE SILVER…
ALBERT LEE: HERO
WHO WAS THE MUSICIAN THAT FIRST MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH THE INSTRUMENT THAT YOU NOW PLAY? IF YOU DON’T PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHO WAS IT THAT PLAYED SOMETHING THAT OPENED UP TO YOU THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF MUSIC?…
LIONEL: GETTING ALL THE LOUEKE BREAKS
The music seems to be making a full circle. What started in Africa and came to the American plantations eventually returned to its original roots, only to return back here via emissaries like Cameroonian Richard Bona and Gino Sitson, and…
YELLOWJACKETS-RUSS FERRANTE’S TIMELINE
“Happy Families are all alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Leo Tolstoy from Anna Karenina When you look back on your relationships, what have you done that you can be most proud of? What have you…
BANDING TOGETHER WITH SPYRO GYRA
Back in the 70s, before there were labels like “smooth” or “adult contemporary” jazz, aspiring musicians would listen to the music they heard on the radio and would try to emulate the stuff they heard. What a concept! Back then,…
GORDON GOODWIN: LIVING IN A BALANCED BUBBLE (OR ‘HOW TO SUCCEED IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS BY TRYING REALLY HARD’)
I’M WILLING TO BET THAT MORE PEOPLE HAVE HEARD THE GORDON GOODWIN’S MUSIC THAN ANY OTHER JAZZ COMPOSER. WELL, SOME OF YOU HAVE HEARD HIS FANTASTIC BIG PHAT BAND, WHICH JUST WON A GRAMMY FOR ‘BEST LARGE ENSEMBLE.’ BUT GOODWIN…
DARIO CHIAZZOLINO: A MODERN PAINTING OF LIFE
RECENTLY, WE CAME ACROSS A RELEASE BY ITALIAN GUITARIST DARIO CHIAZZOLINO AND WERE REALLY IMPRESSED BY HIS MIX OF MODERN, TRADITIONAL AND ITALIAN. JUST LIKE THE PANTHEON SITTING COMFORTABLY WITHIN A PIAZZA IN MODERN ROME, CHIAZZOLINO’S MUSIC DOESN’T FEEL LIMITED…
ERIC JOHNSON: ECLECTIC
ERIC JOHNSON IS A HOUSEHOLD NAME AMONG ROCK ENTHUSIASTS. HE’S ONE OF THE FEW GUITARISTS WHO’S MADE A LIVING PERFORMING THAT RARE GENRE OF ‘ROCK INSTRUMENTALS,’ WITH HIS SONG “CLIFFS OF DOVER” A BONA FIDE HIT. RECENTLY, KEEPING WITH THE…