Category: All About Jazz Articles

My latest article for All About Jazz is an interview with percussionist and educator Bobby Sanabria:

Bobby Sanabria is a living museum of Afro-Cuban music. Sanabria is a percussionist, drummer and educator who is at the forefront of Afro-Cuban music—particularly the frontier where it intersects with jazz. In 2007, Sanabria released Big Band Urban Folktales (Jazzheads, 2007), an album he says takes the music “beyond the 21st century.” Jason Crane, AAJ contributor and host of The Jazz Session, sat down with Sanabria in May 2007 to talk about the history of Afro-Cuban music, Sanabria’s own career, and “The Ugliest Man In America.”

• Read the entire article.

All About Jazz just published its Top Twenty Interviews of 2007 list. I’m very honored to have two of my interviews on the list:

• Ingrid Jensen — Viking Spirit
• Steve Swallow — The Poetry of Music

You can read the entire list at AAJ’s site.

Joe Vella has been merging jazz and technology for decades, starting with early Internet bulletin boards, founding JazzOnline.com, and then moving into the world of podcasting. As a podcaster, he’s produced series on everyone from The Beach Boys, for the fortieth anniversary of Pet Sounds (Capitol, 1966) to Pat Metheny. Now he’s turned his attention to one of the towering musical figures of all time—saxophonist John Coltrane. Vella’s Traneumentary is a multi-episode exploration of Coltrane’s music and influence. It features a who’s who of jazz luminaries, from musicians such as McCoy Tyner, Billy Taylor and Jimmy Cobb to writers and producers such as Joel Dorn and Ashley Kahn.

You can read my interview with Joe at All About Jazz.

Then check out the Traneumentary.

Bassist Steve Swallow and poet Robert Creeley were friends for 30 years. Swallow first read Creeley’s work in the 1950s, and instantly fell in love with what Creeley had to say and the way he said it. Twenty years later, a chance meeting with Creeley led to a personal and professional relationship. Creeley’s work inspired two of Swallow’s albums — Home (ECM, 1980) and his most recent recording, So There (XtraWATT/ECM, 2006).

I talked with Swallow about So There and his relationship with Creeley. Swallow proved himself to be as consummate an appreciator of poetry and life as he is a master of the electric bass. You can read the interview at All About Jazz.

Tenor saxophonist Harry Allen was born in Washington, D.C. in 1966, but he grew up in California and Rhode Island. His father was a drummer who played jazz records for Allen before kindergarten, and that early exposure set the course for his professional life. Unlike many saxophonists of his generation, Allen chose not to emulate John Coltrane’s sound, choosing a mellower path. The result? Decades of touring the world and recording albums. His latest album is called Hey, Look Me Over (Arbors, 2006). I talked with Harry Allen in December 2006, following Allen’s two-night stand with the Bob Sneider quartet at the Strathallan Hotel here in Rochester, NY.

You can read the full interview at All About Jazz.

Don Braden went to Harvard in 1981 to become a computer programmer and emerged as a new voice on the saxophone. For two decades he’s been making a name for himself in the modern jazz world, and he’s compiled an impressive resume, working with established masters like trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vocalist Betty Carter, drummers Roy Haynes and Tony Williams; then-emerging-talents like trumpter Wynton Marsalis and the Harper Brothers; and as a leader and composer in his own right.

Braden’s new album, Workin’ (HighNote, 2006) is a showcase not only for his playing skills, but also for his talents as an audio engineer. Visit All About Jazz to read my interview with Don Braden.

My review of Omar Sosa’s new album Live à FIP is available at All About Jazz.

All About Jazz Just released their list of the best AAJ interviews of 2006. The list is immediately suspect, of course, because two of the interviews they list are by me. Check out those two interviews — with Kenny Garrett and Joel Harrison, and then read the other fine selections, too. Thanks, AAJ!

Please visit All About Jazz for my review of the new album by guitarist Jordi Matas.

Thanks!

My review of Keith Jarrett’s new album The Carnegie Hall Concert is now available at All About Jazz. Enjoy!

If you’ve got a minute or two, check out my review of the new Branford Marsalis album, Braggtown, at All About Jazz.

I interviewed saxophonist Kenny Garrett a couple weeks ago about new album, Beyond The Wall. That interview is now available at All About Jazz.