Interview
From emerging talents to today's brightest stars, we interview musicians from around the globe.
Lorne Lofsky: Steward of the Canadian Guitar Tradition
by John Chacona
Guitarist Lorne Lofsky rocketed to fame when It Could Happen To You (Pablo Records, 1981), his debut release as a leader, was produced by fellow Canadian Oscar Peterson. Lofsky has since toured and recorded with a wide range of musicians from all around the world, including Peterson, but his hometown of jny: Toronto has been his base for more than 40 years. In that time he has witnessed many changes in the scene of that dynamic, cosmopolitan city, and has ...
read moreAlbert "Tootie" Heath: Class Personified
by R.J. DeLuke
This article was first published on All About Jazz on March 9, 2015. Albert “Tootie" Heath is among the drummers who lived--and thrived--during what many call the golden age of jazz, the '40s, '50, early '60s. He's enjoyed the fruits of a varied and historic career, but never stayed put. Just kept working. He admires the musicians of today and the direction of jazz. The jny: Philadelphia native extols hip-hop for its status in today's music world. On ...
read moreCyrille Aimée: Music Flows From Within
by Scott Lichtman
Renowned vocalist Cyrille Aimée possesses a wholly unique sound. Certainly, it is based on her voice timbre but also reflects her approach to music. She is equally adept at jazz standards and pop-jazz. She can swing and scat on cue, then shift to high tech sound loops. Songs in English, French and Spanish are delivered with equal expressiveness, the same for Stephen Sondheim and Michael Jackson hits. Most importantly, her songs are joyful, buoyant; even the ballads are uplifting. Aimee's ...
read moreCassie Kinoshi: Letting The Sunshine In
by Chris May
Cassie Kinoshi, the acclaimed British composer and alto saxophonist, made her name as a founder member of the Afrobeat-inspired band Kokoroko and with her own ten-piece Seed Ensemble. Her work pushes social change, interrogating inequality and injustice, mainly through instrumental music, occasionally with lyrics, and always with invention and singularity. Seed's sophomore album, gratitude (International Anthem, 2024), adds mental health, and how to improve it, to Kinoshi's sources of inspiration. She addresses anxiety and depression with the benefit of personal ...
read moreJim West: 40 Years and Going Strong at Justin Time Records
by Kerilie McDowall
Owner of Canada's Justin Time Records, the multi-award-winning Jim West, has brought stellar top performers from the Canadian music scene and the USA to the global stage since 1983 for almost half a century, and that's some heavyweight “cred." To celebrate, the label has crafted a compilation, 40 Years of Justin Time Records (Justin Time, 2023), featuring forty essential listens from Justin Time Records Inc.'s tracks from the years of its diverse history and ...
read moreFernando Trueba & They Shot the Piano Player
by Mark Sullivan
Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba has long been a jazz fan, and has made several films with a jazz focus. Calle 54 (2000) is still a notable documentary on Latin jazz. The film primarily consists of studio performances by a wide array of Latin Jazz musicians. Artists featured include Chucho Valdés, Bebo Valdés, Cachao, Eliane Elias, Gato Barbieri, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Chano Domínguez, Jerry Gonzalez, Dave Valentin, Aquíles Báez, and Michel Camilo. The film takes its name from Sony Music ...
read moreA Conversation with Brad Mehldau
by AAJ Staff
This article was first published at All About Jazz in 2002. All About Jazz: Do you recall your first jazz record? Brad Mehldau: I think the first real jazz record I listened to was an Oscar Peterson and Joe Pass duo album, one of those Pablo things. A friend of my father's bought it for me when I was eleven years old. Oscar was really the first guy I really listened to. That was the one. ...
read moreMeet Drummer Danny Gottlieb
by Mike Brannon
This article was first published at All About Jazz in January 2001. If you don't know drummer Danny Gottlieb or you know him from only the earliest incarnations of the Pat Metheny Group, there's a lot you don't know about this talented, multi-faceted musician. Not complacent to rest on past laurels of any kind, Gottleib currently juggles percussion duties with more groups and ensembles than many work with in a lifetime, seeing it all optimistically, as a welcomed ...
read moreKim Parker: Reminiscing in Jazz
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Kim Parker is a marvelously talented jazz vocalist and the step-daughter of both Charlie Parker and Phil Woods. A sensitive, tasteful, and endearing jazz voice, Kim has recorded numerous albums as leader and others as an accompanying artist. She has a marvelously rich history in jazz both as a result of her famous families, as well as those legendary musicians she's encountered in her incredible life. Here, Kim shares memories and reflections in a fascinatingly honest and insightful manner.
read moreMeet Bobby Watson
by Craig Jolley
This article was first published at All About Jazz in October 1999. Background and early career... I started playing clarinet and piano in my grandfather's church. I played saxophone in junior high school: originally tenor and switched to alto when I got to high school. From there I got hip to jazz and tried to do as much as I could. I went to the University of Miami and got a degree in theory and composition. In 1976 ...
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