The Jazz Session: Francis Jacob & Toru Dodo

Posted 27 March, 2007 in Japan, Jazz, Music, Podcast, The Jazz Session

Show #4: Jason Crane interviews French guitarist Francis Jacob. Jacob’s career has taken him around the world: France, Switzerland, Boston, Brazil, Paris and now New York. Along the way, he’s picked up a gift for improvisation and a taste for West African music. On his new CD, Side By Side (2006), he combines his many influences and creates two albums in one — the same tunes, played by two wonderfully different bands. Listen to the show.

Show #5: Jason Crane interviews Japanese pianist Toru Dodo. Born in Tokyo, Dodo started playing piano at age 4, then gave up his dream of concert piano for the economics department at Tokyo’s Meiji University. He found jazz at Meiji, and eventually came to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music. Since moving to New York City in 1998, Dodo has released three CDs and performed with Kenny Garret, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Ruth Brown and Terumasa Hino. His new album is Dodo 3 (Jazzcity, 2006). Listen to the show.

My return to The Island Packet

Posted 23 March, 2007 in Jazz, Music

In 1999, I worked for about 15 minutes at The Island Packet, the newspaper that serves Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and its environs. I left soon after I started, but the association with the paper led to one really good thing: a lifelong friendship with music writer Jeff Vrabel and his wife Leeann and son Jake. Jeff is now in charge of The Guide, the weekly entertainment magazine put out by the Packet. My first article for The Guide appears this week as part of their coverage of the Savannah Music Festival.

Read my article on the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, featuring an interview with trumpeter Marcus Printup.