Larry Young
Back when I was in school most of the jazz records from the sixties that I needed to study were out of print. You might be able to find a copy at a used record store or at the library but you usually had to go underground. If you finally did get a copy then you absorbed every note on that record like a thirsty person suckin’ on a damp sponge in the desert.
I think of my introduction to Larry Young as my second "jazz awakening” (the first was Sonny Rollins) and it happened when Michael Kocour, now Director of Jazz Studies at Arizona State University, dubbed me a cassette of Larry’s 1966 Blue Note album Unity. My brain was not prepared for the combined impact of Larry Young, Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, and Elvin Jones. To this day Unity is one of the only records that I kept on every iPod, iPhone, or iMac that I’ve owned. Thank you Mike!
Shat Talk Episode 5: Bob Lanzetti
In Shat Talk Episode 5 I spoke with three time Grammy Award-winning guitarist and composer Bob Lanzetti who is releasing his debut record Whose Feet are These That are Walking on September 29.
Shat Talk Episode 4: Steve Sandberg
For Shat Talk Episode 4 I spoke with three-time Emmy-nominated pianist and composer Steve Sandberg whose scoring, songwriting, and musical direction helped define many landmarks of children’s television.
Shat Talk Episode 3: Matt Ulery
In Shat Talk Episode 3 I spoke with award-winning bassist and composer Matt Ulery who has just released his seventh record, Festival, on Woolgathering Records.
Shat Talk Episode 2: Laila Biali
In Shat Talk Episode 2 I spoke with award-winning Canadian pianist and vocalist Laila Biali who has been garnering world-wide recognition for performances at venues including the North Sea Jazz Festival, Tokyo’s Cotton Club, and Carnegie Hall.
Shat Talk Episode 1: Mark Lettieri
Ever wonder what it’s like to play with a diverse range of artists like Snarky Puppy, Erykah Badu, and Pat Boone, all while recording a weekly television show and releasing your own records at the same time? Guitarist Mark Lettieri talks about it in our inaugural interview.
Steve Kindler's Cadenza on "Pastoral"
A transcription and succinct history lesson about a precocious improvising violinist named Steve Kindler.
Remembering Vonski
When I moved to Chicago in the mid 90s my jazz experience consisted of the few jam sessions and gigs I had done with my Dad in my hometown of Lexington, KY. I was eager to play and hungry to learn, however, having enrolled in a classical performance degree program, I wasn't allowed to formally study jazz in college.
Jazz Bowing 101
Bow technique is a mysterious, somewhat subjective, and frequently avoided subject in string pedagogy. Some violin schools seek to inculcate a “system” of bowing while others emphasize core bowing principles to guide the students' choices. Major treatises on bow technique date back hundreds of years and hold great value for the serious student, but none can show you directly how to swing. The fundamental concept of jazz bowing is swinging or grooving on a stringed instrument.
Discovering Zbigniew Seifert, pt. 1
What I have since discovered in these other recordings begins to form the picture of a creative statement that rivals or exceeds all that has occurred in jazz violin since the early 1970s. With hard work and luck, we should be able to re-light the torch that Zbigniew carried and to find others that are willing to carry it into the future. It is certainly a worthwhile endeavor and it is also certainly one that will give back far more in return.