poet, interviewer, musician, traveler
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Ornette Coleman won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar, 2006). In a rare move, the Pulitzer committee chose someone who wasn’t nominated.
NPR has the story and audio selections from the album.
Comments closedShow #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.
Comments closedIn 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.
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Tyrone Hill, trombonist with the Sun Ra Arkestra, died March 11 at age 58.
Comments closedIf you’ve ever seen a press conference by Steve Jobs or George Bush…
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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.
Comments closedShow #2: Luis Perdomo
Since coming to New York from his native Venezuela, Perdomo has blossomed as a player. As a student at the Manhattan School of Music and at Queens College, he studied with pianists Harold Danko and Sir Roland Hanna. As a professional musician, he’s played with Ray Baretto, Ravi Coltrane, Miguel Zenon, Dafnis Prieto, and Timbalaye, to name a few. Perdomo’s adventurous new record is Awareness (RKM Music, 2006). It features his working trio of Hans Glawischnig on bass and Eric McPherson on drums, and on several tracks, an expanded group with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Nasheet Waits.
Show #3: John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie’s forthcoming record is The Third Quartet (ECM, 2007). Abercrombie has been on more than 50 ECM recordings as a leader or sideman, including sessions with Charles Lloyd, Kenny Wheeler, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Liebman and Dave Holland. This interview features several excerpts from the new CD in advance of its April 3 release. You’ll also hear Abercrombie’s moving remembrace of lifelong friend Michael Brecker.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Several years ago, I celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday on my radio show by combining his talents with those of another singular American genius, pianist Thelonious Monk. Today is the good doctor’s birthday, so I bring you my version of his classic Green Eggs And Ham mashed up with Monk’s Blue Monk. Enjoy!
Listen: Green Eggs And Ham (mp3)
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It’s here — the first episode of The Jazz Session, my new jazz interview podcast. On the first show, I interview tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart. Stewart has been in New York for the past 16 years, since moving there from his native Toronto. He’s played with quite a roster of jazz artists, from Curtis Fuller, John Hendricks and Clark Terry to Brad Mehldau, Larry Goldings and Jimmy Cobb. Stewart’s new album on Sharp Nine Records is In The Still Of The Night.
You can listen to The Jazz Session at thejazzsession.com, or better yet:
(Click the image for a larger version.)
NewsTalk 950 WROC, former home of the original The Jason Crane Show, is Rochester’s progressive talk station. With the departure of Al Franken from Air America yesterday, WROC took the opportunity to revamp its lineup. The new version is much, much stronger. Here it is:
I’ve got to say that I’m really impressed with this new lineup. Sounds like the program director has a vision for what to do with this station. Kudos!
The full schedule and links to the shows are at the NewsTalk 950 Web site.
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My mom and dad took this picture in San Francisco this summer, in front of a union headquarters. My guess is the ILWU. Does anyone know for sure?
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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.
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