A Bay Area native, Laurie Antonioli is a vocalist and educator. She grew up hearing singers like Nancy King and Mark Murphy in person, resulting in a musical personality that is both steeped in the jazz vocal tradition while influenced [...]
In LJN’s series where musicians write about their inspirations and idols, guitarist and composer Jakub Klimiuk writes about Kurt Rosenwinkel. Rosenwinkel is undoubtedly the most influential contemporary jazz guitar player since Scofield and Metheny, and one of the most important [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and pianist/composer Kenny Barron: an NEA Jazz Master, a 13-time GRAMMY nominee, and a DownBeat Hall of Famer. His new album, Beyond this Place, features alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist [...]
American vocalist, composer and improviser Dominique Eade blends musical virtuosity with a songwriter’s straightforward emotional sensibility, creating music that has garnered critical acclaim, inspired audiences, and served as a creative signpost for generations of singers. Deemed “a fearless collaborator” by [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and pianist Andy Milne, who’s known as a solo artist as well as leader of the ensemble Dapp Theory. His new album Time Will Tell, which features his Unison trio, [...]
Gian Slater is a prolific vocalist and composer with an approach that incorporates wordless singing and improvisation, songwriting; electronics and extended vocal techniques; new music and contemporary composition and collaborations with theatre and dance practitioners. She has released eight albums [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and drummer Obed Calvaire. His new album, 150 Million Gold Francs, was released 12 April. It features alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, keyboardists Harold St. Louis and Sullivan Fortner, guitarist Dener Ceide, [...]
Pyeng Threadgill is an American vocalist, composer, author, video artist and voice and movement teacher. As a vocalist/performer she creates what she calls New Porch Music based on the traditions of Black American Folk, Soul, Jazz and improvisational music. Pyeng [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and composer, arranger and conductor Vince Mendoza, as well as drummer, composer and educator Douglas Marriner. Both are involved in four special concerts to honour the centenary of the Academy [...]
Pianist Andrea Keller grew up in Sydney, Australia. Committed to creating new music with an emphasis on improvisation and collaboration, she has released twenty-three albums as bandleader and has recorded for others, including the Black Arm Band Company, the Australian [...]
A Tokyo native, Meg Okura is a Grammy-nominated violinist and award-winning composer. With B.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees from the Juilliard School as a violin performance major, she made the difficult decision to switch to jazz upon graduation, going on to [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and the superlative saxophonist, composer and educator Dayna Stephens. His upcoming album, Closer Than We Think, which releases 5 April via Cellar Music Group, features guitarist Emmanuel Michael, bassist Kanoa [...]
Holly Norman is a drummer, percussionist, songwriter and composer based in Perth, Western Australia. An alumnus of the University of Miami and WA Academy of Performing Arts, Holly is a serial collaborator, blending her classical and jazz backgrounds to platform [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and trombonist, composer, educator, and Outside In Music label founder Nick Finzer. His new album, Legacy, a tribute to the pioneering trombonist J.J. Johnson, will be released 5 April via [...]
Cellist Jody Redhage Ferber is a passionate proponent of creative live music that blurs genres and connects the sensitivity of chamber music and the spontaneous, in-the-moment magic of jazz improvisation. Over the past 18 years of working as a professional [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and pianist Taylor Eigsti. A prolific leader and sideman, Eigsti has played with a massive cross section of the jazz landscape – most closely Terence Blanchard, Gretchen Parlato, Ben Wendel, [...]
Lisa Hilton is an American pianist whose music draws on classic American jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, and Count Basie, as well as blues heroes Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. She is a prolific composer [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren, pianist Yago Vazquez, and bassist Pablo Menares. Recabarren and Menares hail from Argentina, Vazquez from Spain. Their new album, Familia, was released 23 February via Greenleaf [...]
Jazz-soul vocalist Sarah Jane Morris has released 15 albums over the last 30 years becoming one of Britain’s great jazz-soul vocalists since first finding fame in the 80s with bands like The Republic, Happy End and The Communards. She has [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and pianist and B-3 organist Mike LeDonne, one of the undisputed greats on both instruments. His latest album, Wonderful, a collaboration between his Groover Quartet and a gospel choir, was [...]
Fleurine is a Dutch-born, internationally renowned jazz vocalist. Placing her own unconventional spin on pop, jazz and Brazilian repertoire, she is also a well-respected composer and lyricist, having written lyrics to compositions by Thelonious Monk, Kenny Dorham, Ray Bryant, Curtis [...]
The following is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and alto saxophonist Jim Snidero, who just released a new trio album, For All We Know, featuring bassist Peter Washington, drummer Joe Farnsworth, and no chordal instrument. It was released [...]
Julie Sassoon is a Manchester-born pianist and composer. She came to the attention of critics and audiences in 2000, when she formed the remarkable ‘Azilut!’ trio with drummer Bart van Helsdingen and reeds player Lothar Ohlmeier. Whether touring with Max [...]
This week’s edition of Mondays with Morgan is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and the superlative trumpeter and composer Jim Rotondi. His new album, Finesse, was released on 9 February. Jim Rotondi defines the word ‘finesse’ as “attention [...]
