Tenor sax great Scott Hamilton and I have been friends since early in our careers. As our luck would have it, we both were playing the Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 2009 so I took the opportunity to record a conversation with Scott about his long career and his perspective as an American jazz musician living in Europe.
Chico Hamilton
NEA Jazz Master winner, legendary drummer Chico Hamilton discusses starting the West Coast jazz sound in the early years of his career, his appearance in the film classic "Sweet Smell of Success" and why so many young musicians today can't swing.
Christopher Guest
Writer/director/actor/musician, Christopher Guest has appeared in a variety of roles on stage and screen, everything from Count Rugen in The Princess Bride and Dr. Stone in A Few Good Men to a memorable year on Saturday Night Live (1984-85) with Billy Crystal, Martin Short, and Harry Shearer.
The performance style he finds most exhilarating is the kind of improvised tour-de-force he displayed as the lead guitarist of the heavy-metal band Spinal Tap, in the film This is Spinal Tap. He honed this approach in his films Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show, which he directed and co-wrote.
Guest feels the improvisational process he uses in his films is similar to what jazz musicians do when playing a tune. We recorded at the NPR studios in Los Angeles when Guest was in the midst of shooting his film, A Mighty Wind. This is one of my favorite Jazz Inspired conversations!
Gordon Goodwin
Composer, pianist and sax-man, Gordon Goodwin talks about marketing jazz in the computer age, writing for animation, and how he gets his "Big Phat Band" to swing like mad!
Gil Goldstein
Arranger/accordionist/pianist and all around soulful guy, Gil Goldstein talks about his work with everyone from Sting to James Taylor and the continuing influence arranger Gil Evans has on his work.
Larry Goldings
From Michael Brecker to Madeleine Peyroux, to his recent work as James Taylor's "One Man Band", organist/pianist Larry Goldings discusses embracing whatever role he plays in an ensemble and discovering the best way to realize the best music possible.
Morris Goldberg
Sax and Pennywhistle player Morris Goldberg talks about his South African roots and playing on Paul Simon's Graceland album and his years with Hugh Masekela.
Vince Giordano
Show One:
Musician and early jazz scholar Vince Giordano fell in love with 20′s and 30′s jazz at an early age and carries on the tradition performing with his band “The Nighthawks.” Vince discusses bringing this music to a broader audience and especially the importance of young people hearing jazz live.
Show Two:
This is Vince Giordano’s second appearance on Judy Carmichael’s Jazz Inspired. The first was recorded in 2007 and this conversation in 2017 to celebrate the release of the documentary on Vince’s life: Vince Giordano: There’s A Future In The Past. Judy and Vince discuss his long career and the changes he’s seen in the last ten years in his career and the music business in general.
Nicolas Gillet
Drummer and Artistic Director of the Ascona Jazz Festival talks about his passion for New Orleans and how he brings a bit of that energy to his festival on beautiful Lake Maggiori, Switzerland.
George Gee
"I think I'm the only Chinese/American Big Band Leader in the country,” says George Gee, and a more enthusiastic proponent of this music cannot be found. George discusses keeping this music alive and the great advice he got from his mentor, Count Basie.
Roberta Gambarini
Italian jazz vocalist talks about what moving to America has done for her music and the way the great jazz musicians she's known have changed the way she hears music.
Dave Frishberg
We continue our 25th anniversary celebration with my conversation with the late singer/pianist/songwriter, Dave Frishberg, one of my heroes whom I met early in my career. I even spent a memorable afternoon with him when we both lived in L.A. getting a piano lesson, really just playing for each other. I flew out to where he was living at the time of this conversation, Portland, OR, to talk about his early years accompanying some of the greatest musicians in jazz, writing his play (which didn’t go so well), his memoir and the state of jazz today.
Nnenna Freelon
Talks about starting as a healthcare worker and evolving into a jazz singer.
Dave Frank
Jazz pianist and Berkelee College of Music Professor Dave Frank discusses combining his poetry and music for a new kind of jazz experience.
Chris Flory
Jazz guitarist, Chris Flory discusses his work with the great Bennie Goodman and how his rock roots affect his jazz playing.
Renee Fleming
Opera star Renee Fleming talks about singing jazz in college and her jazz CD, Haunted Heart.
Stephen Flaherty
Stage/Film composer, Stephen Flaherty discusses writing the music for the Tony-winning musical, Ragtime, the influence of jazz on his career and his current project on Gertrude Stein.
Chad Fischer
TV and movie composer discusses how jazz influences him and how his career changed since writing the theme for Scrubs.
Tedd Firth
Jazz pianist Tedd Firth talks about his many collaborations with artists from Tom Wopat and Brian Stokes Mitchell to John Pizzarelli and Benny Golson and the challenge of finally recording his first CD under his own name.
Eric Ernst
Eric Ernst compares painting to an extended jazz solo. His "painting-sculpture," heavily inspired by jazz, is also influenced by his father Jimmy's work. Ernst discusses the inspiration he's gotten from both his father and his grandfather Max.
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