It’s been a ‘wasted life’, he says, but The Animals’ frontman, Eric Burdon, has conjured up his best album for 25 years, writes Neil McCormick. MORE
Interviews with musicians
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Martin Chilton writes ….. “Van Morrison, not a man given to hyperbole, said: “Muddy Waters is a prime influence for anybody who’s ever done anything rock ‘n’ roll.” Just ask Eric Clapton or surviving members of the Rolling Stones — named after one of his songs, of course — why we should toast the memory […]
Continues HERE
From the archive; Tom Service writes: The simple facts of Franz Schubert’s life shed little light on the enormous emotional range of his music, and the seismic effect his work has had. Living almost entirely in his home town of Vienna, he was a loyal but occasionally cantankerous and drunk friend to a tight-knit groups of […]
Fiona Orde-Shrimpton: To say Daniel Rosenboom is no ordinary jazz trumpeter, is no exaggeration. His father, David Rosenboom is currently Dean, Richard Seaver Distinguished Chair in Music at the California Institute of the Arts (and has been at CalArts since 1990), and having a first trumpet teacher in the form of Wadada Leo Smith, where […]
Martin Chilton, Digital Culture Editor of The Telegraph writes ….. Asked what made her wish to record a whole album of cover songs, Rickie Lee Jones quips: “Money”. Joking aside, her selection of the 10 songs to interpret on her fine new album The Devil You Know is innovative and interesting. Tracks by the […]
Saxophonist Donny McCaslin seems like a young player, given his energy and inventiveness. But he has been playing jazz for three decades. As a child, he was part of his father’s jazz ensemble and a member of his high school jazz band. He led his own bands after moving to New York from his native […]
Originally posted April 2011 Robert Baird writes ….. Whistling ductwork, whirring fans, murmuring pipes—along with being jazz’s most storied location, a living shrine to the memories of Bill Evans, John Coltrane, and so many others, Manhattan’s Village Vanguard, on Seventh Avenue South, was, on this winter’s night, the Das Boot of jazz. In every corner, […]
At a Mississippi Delta festival, Robert Plant discusses the blues, Africa and his latest band with Paul Sexton MORE
Originally published November 2014 It can be over in 15 minutes. It can last several hours. It can be done with a Wurlitzer – or 20 guitars. Now In C, the defining work of minimalist music has been tackled by Damon Albarn and Africa Express. Its composer Terry Riley reveals how it all began Continues […]
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jan/25/jazz.questiontime
Ian Patterson (All About Jazz magazine) writes: For many, pianist Brad Mehldau’s recording Day is Done (Nonesuch Records, 2005) with drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier came as close to trio perfection as is reasonable to expect in your wildest dreams. Perhaps perfection is a chimera, yet even if attainable it’s at best fleeting […]
This interview was originally published in August 2007. As a city boy who took a liking to jazz music and extended it into a budding career as a journalist, Orrin Keepnews may have inadvertently veered into the record-producing arena that generated classic albums from a wide range of unforgettable artists. Maybe it was a fortunate […]
Denis Poole writes: Much of the early buzz surrounding the release of ‘East Bay Soul 2.0’ was about how a sensational campaign to raise the $25,000 necessary to record the album hit its target. However, now it’s all about the music. Make no mistake; this is a collection of the highest order and everything […]
Kicked out of his family home at the age of 14, Steve became a genuine hobo, hopping freights all over America. Always travelling with his guitar – having been taught a few chords as a kid by Delta bluesman KC Douglas, an old pal of the legendary Tommy Johnson – in the ’60s he began to play at […]
“In our latest visit to Rock’s Backpages – the world’s leading archive of vintage music journalism – we bring you an interview with the late Etta James, by Cliff White for NME in 1978” “Thanksgiving Day in November will be my silver anniversary: 25 years since I cut my first record and I haven’t […]
Hugo Shirley wrote: On the eve of her 80th birthday, Hugo Shirley is granted a rare interview with the great soprano at her apartment in Vienna Continues HERE
From the archives Chris M Slawecki: Composer, arranger, bandleader, pianist, soloist and accompanist Dick Hyman has already lived several jazz lifetimes, and as he contemplates his 86th birthday in March 2013, his career shows no sign of slowing down. A New York City native, Hyman served as pianist with a Dixieland band and with Lester […]
Martin Chilton writes ….. Lead Belly is one of great musical influences of the 20th century and his work is celebrated in a brilliant box set Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection Continues HERE
https://www.axs.com/interview-with-jazz-musician-allan-harris-105542
Our Jazz editor Tony Andrews writes … The ‘experts’ in Jazz have for many years argued about the difference between what is a Jazz Singer and a Lounge Singer. This has caused much controversy as to which performers fit in to which category. One example being Julie London who was said to be strictly lounge […]
Megan Conner: The jazz musician, 49, on standing up to the ‘jazz police’, playing saxophone on the moon, and being saved by the Pet Shop Boys Continue HERE
“At 48, he performs around the globe and records on the piano in solo, chamber and concerto music. He composes music. He writes and blogs prolifically. He paints and writes poetry, and has won awards for both. He champions rarely performed composers and works. He takes his own photos for his blog, and, as an […]
Contemporary jazz icon Keilo Matsui began playing piano at the age of five. With sales of over 1.2 million units in the U.S. and sold-out appearances at concert halls across the world, she is one of the most recognized artists in the genre. In addition to being the first Japanese artist to top Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart, she […]