Tales From the Jazz Side with singer-songwriter/musician/visual artist Simi Stone I can’t think of a better way to start my first interview for 2023 than for it to be with the talented, admirable and notably beautiful artist Samantha Molly Lou Sernaker (aka Simi Stone). I have never performed with Simi but I am a fan…
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Tales with bassist/composer Vashon Johnson I must admit that it has been a long time since I last aired the show. I recorded this podcast over five years ago and never got around to launching it. But we are back now and ready to hit the road and get some great interviews from some incredibly…
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Tales with drummer/bassist/ guitarist/composer Lionel Cordew My guest this month is another accomplished player that I have had the honor to work with while out on the Michael Franks tour. One of the first impressions you may get when first meeting Lionel Cordew is his open and easy going manner, his willingness to cooperate and…
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Tales with electric bassist/composer/arranger/producer, Jimmy Haslip. Back in August while playing with Michael and the band in Los Angeles, I had an excellent opportunity to invite this extraordinarily talented and humble gentleman to do an episode of Tales. We conducted the interview backstage after the show. Amidst the noise of the guys packing up and…
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Tales will be coming from vocalist Sheila Jordan. “Sheila Jordan is one of the Jazz world’s best kept secrets.” – Blue Note – With 51 + albums to her credit, how could she be the best kept secret? People “in the know”, and what I mean by that, people who are true jazz lovers and…
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Les McCann, legendary musician, artist-renaissance man. He is most known for being a pianists, vocalist and composer, but not a lot of people know that he is also a painter and a published photographer. There is a LOT of information out there about this innovator and pioneer of music evolution. And if you are one…
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Tales will be coming from guitarist, composer and teacher, Jay Azzolina. One of the things that I love about doing these podcasts is that I get to reconnect with musicians/friends that I admire and respect as artists.
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Buddy Williams interview is presented in two parts. Enjoy! When I thought about how to begin this post, the first thing that came to mind was Bob Baldwin’s quote taken from Buddy Williams website. Mr.Baldwin’s statement was the most definitive and perfect in-a-nutshell quote about Buddy William’s career and artistry. “Buddy Williams has got to be one of the…
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Spotlight Welcome to Tales from the Jazz Side first spotlight addition! This new segment features young musicians as they start their musical journey, creating their own stories to be passed on. Tales will be coming from singer-songwriter, Julia Blenzig. I met Julia about 3 months after she was born. She is the daughter of pianist, composer, arranger,…
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All good things come to those who wait. And wait I did until finally everything lined up and voilà, I now present to you the interview with my road buddy, my friend, Charles Blenzig. You ask, how come that was so hard to do, don’t you guys tour together? The answer is yes we do,…
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If you’ve ever wondered who is that amazing bass player on American Lullaby, Standard Delivery, Awake and Travis Shook plays Kurt Weill, it is none other than Jennifer Vincent. As with most of my guests so far on this show, we too go back a ways.
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It is believed that Jazz evolved from the blues. I think we are all in agreement with that statement. What I don’t think we are clear on are the feelings that surround the music and just how it has truly influence all the music that’s played today.
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From his collaborations with the late poet Amir Baraka in the Blue Ark Ensemble, through his voluminous work as sideman to Anthony Davis, Oliver Lake, Henry Threadgill, Yosuke Yamashita, Mal Waldron, Geri Allen, Don Byron just some of the names you will find in his biography; Pheeroan clearly adds his special flavor bringing to the…
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Bassist, composer and arranger Sean Conly is another notable musician with an impressive multiple musical language background. He has played with such legendary greats as Andrew Hill, Russ Lossing, Ray Barretto, Freddie Hubbard, Cedar Walton, Randy Brecker, Howard Alden and Lew Tabackin to name a few. I had the pleasure of meeting him while working…
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I was working on my list of guests invitees when I noticed that each month I added more names to the list, so much so, that the list almost doubled in size every month. At the rate I was going it would be 25 years before I’d get through the first page of list.
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As some of you may recall from last months’ episode, in October and November, I traveled to the far east with the Michael Franks’ band. While there, I recorded a marvelous December episode with bassist Kengo Nakamura. I finished my tour dates in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, then traveled further south and landed in Jakarta,…
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In October I had the pleasure to play Billboard Live Tokyo with the Michael Franks band. I was excited to travel to Japan as it had been a while since we had played there. This leg of the tour, we would play in Tokyo for 2 nights and then onto Osaka. It had been at…
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Moving back to my 20 years with Michael Franks anniversary tribute, I have the utmost delight in speaking with a gentleman that I’ve known primarily from listening to his music. And once again, through Michael, I now have the greatest pleasure to work with this unique artist Mark Egan.
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Let’s take a different route this month and go by way of a great player that I’ve known from a past life. Now that can be taken in a couple of ways and that’s exactly my intention. Jacques and I go way back… back to the days when you played gigs for little or nothing,…
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In keeping true to my celebration of 20 years with Michael, this month’s Tales from the Jazz Side guest is one of my hanging buddies while I’m out on the road with the Franks band. It’s true when they say that you can learn a lot about a person from what they do in their…
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Jay Anderson bio on All About Jazz starts off with “Bassist/composer Jay Anderson is among the most versatile and respected jazz artists performing today.” Whenever we read reviews or comments about artists’ ability, sometime we come away with the feeling that the words were embellished to create the sensational that so often is a part…
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Tales will be coming from legendary singer-songwriter Michael Franks. Although he is often referred to as a smooth jazz singer-songwriter, I find that description to not be altogether accurate. I consider him to be a jazz evolutionary singer-songwriter, whose music covers all the subtle colors and diversity that writing music is all about today. His…
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Tales From The Jazz Side is a podcast hosted by Veronica Nunn. Her guests chat about their careers and some things that scare them…..just a little.
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