Dissecting and sculpting opinions concerning the new tour of blues sounds has always dropped me off at my own crossroads. Just left of wax center, extremes of rhythms and vocal curves that stretch the traditional concepts of the textbooks become a welcome exploit for me. Whether the stylistic bending in blues is welcome or forbidden by traditional masses and...

It is Monday, June 8th 2009 and I am at home drinking a very good cup of coffee, while on the phone with Ezra Weiss. We have finally connected after playing an intense game of phone tag for a week or two. It feels amazing to finally have the opportunity to interview one of the true originals in jazz music...

Trumpeter Curt Ramm, saxophonist Dan Moretti and pianist Bill Cunliffe excel in a myriad of musical settings; funk, fusion, Latin, r&b and classical. However, their true love is straight-ahead, soulful and grooving jazz. This common ground is the seed that germinated The Foundations Jazz Record label and as a result of this, we have the product of their first...

Ms. Hooker is a direct and focused vocalist, both in her...

Composer/arranger/violinist Noel Webb is like a human sponge, able to absorb a multitude of influences from different sources of art found in the works of musicians, filmmakers and literary writers.  He asserts, “Artists should dive into any and every form of creative art and literature that they can get their hands on.  Then, they should explore every aspect of...

Pushing ‘PLAY’ on the CD player transports the listener immediately to Copacabana Beach, conjuring up images of sipping a caipirinha in Brazilian paradise.  It is really no accident that Anne Walsh invokes such visions of a tropical paradise. She’s had a sort of infatuation with the world of Latin rhythms “since I was a little girl going to a...

It’s Monday June 1, 2009 at approximately 6:14 pm and Derrick Gardner, the proverbial titan of hard-bop, is on a journey. After visiting his mother Dr. Effie Gardner (classically trained pianist) and a week long stint (gigging) in New York City, he is traveling across country to do what he does best… playing JAZZ! Gardner, at full speed, has...

Bernie Williams bounds across the floor with a major league swagger. He is on the road again, only this time he’s armed with a jazz guitar instead of his trusted Gold Glove that made him one of baseball’s top defensive players four years in a row. Yes, the six-time All-Star Centerfielder for the New York Yankees is on another...

People generally have a preconceived idea about how classic jazz music should sound, relying on reference points like the soft timbres of Peggy Lee, the swift scat shuffles of Ella Fitzgerald, or the refined grooves of Duke Ellington, but singer/pianist/composer Daniela Schächter plays classic jazz without adhering to anyone else’s rules but her own.  Schächter personalizes jazz music to...

It’s common for aspiring artists to hear that they could be an international star from agents and people in the press, but in the case of singer/ guitarist/ arranger/ teacher Martha J, those folks are not just weaving tall-tales.  Martha J has the goods and the chops to become much more than a local attraction in her native land...

Jazz music is like catnip to Irene Atman, when she rubs her vocals all around its creamy lathers and emits sensual purrs as if the music is an aphrodisiac that she cannot resist. Jazz calls to Atman like bees swarm to honey, barnacles attach to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, or lightning strikes are drawn to metal.  She admits that...

Composer/keyboardist/saxophonist/singer/producer Jason Peterson (“JP”) DeLaire comes from a very musical family whose roots are firmly planted in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  His family is to Minneapolis-soul what the Rockefeller’s are to the financial world, the Barrymore’s to the acting world, and the Kennedy’s to the world of politics.  His uncle, Paul Peterson, was a member of the dance-funk group, The Time...

Bassist, composer, producer, arranger, and bandleader Jon Burr has learned to not only be an astute musician, but also to be an astute diplomat when it comes to dealing with other musicians, and bringing out the best from them.  His latest release is a CD/DVD set entitled Just Can’t Wait that features live footage of him on the upright...

JOHN NOVELLO: It wasn’t something...

Milwaukee born and New York City-based singer, Andrew Suvalsky has a voice that strums pizzazz in his scat-streaks and chic-bluesy intonations in his crooning. His vocals caress the follicles of the tympanic membrane with the buffed shimmies of Ella Fitzgerald, the crisp indentations of Mel Torme, and the debonair flare of Dean Martin. His latest release, A World That...

Chuck Loeb does it all - guitarist, performer, arranger, composer, producer, teacher, and novelist. To highlight just a few of his accomplishments, he has written themes for CNN, The New York Yankees, the Knicks, has played on Number 1 hit recordings and movie soundtracks, taught at Berklee College of Music, University of Southern California, and the University of Tenerife,...

Grammy winner Eric Revis knows what he desires and how he prefers it done. As a bass instrumentalist and composer, such power have assisted him fully to establish himself as a high skilled musician and enable him to release his latest CD Laughters Necklace of Tears, which features collaborations with Orrin Evans, Gerald Cleaver, John Ellis, Stacy Dillard and Oz...

Gardot’s travels continue with the April release of My One And Only Thrill, the follow-up...

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