Jason Marsalis

Drummer and vibraphonist, Jason Marsalis is a proud New Orleans native and youngest sibling in the celebrated musical Marsalis family.  Jason almost vibrates with enthusiasm when he talks about music and conversationally shoots off in various directions when expressing how it connects to politics, culture and the world at large.  

Jason and I recorded our conversation in March 2021 and it was obvious that even with the music business being hobbled by the pandemic, Jason was not sitting still.  He’s been doing live streams solo, and with his New Orleans Groovemasters, with fellow New Orleans percussionists Herlin Riley and Shannon Powell, and more recently, he’s charged into TikTok bringing jazz to a platform not particularly known for embracing that art form.  

A conversation with Jason is an adventure and this one was filled with ringing phones, barking dogs and people at the door. I felt like I was in Jason’s New Orleans, where anything can happen, and it usually does.

Mandy Barnett

Nashville vocalist, Mandy Barnett first gained national prominence as the original star of the musical Always Patsy Cline at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium.  While her Country singing has been much celebrated, Mandy has a soft spot for the Great American Songbook and always includes a standard or two in her concert performances.

Mandy celebrates her love for this repertoire on her most recent CD, Every Star Above, which was inspired by Billie Holiday’s 1958 Lady in Satin album.  Every Star Above was a special project on multiple levels.  Mandy was introduced to Lady In Satin earlier in her life from a friend who thought it would inspire her—it did—and now, years later, Every Star Above is the result.  Additionally, multi-Grammy winner Sammy Nestico did the arrangements.  Sammy composed, conducted and arranged for TV and film and many of the greatest musicians in the business, including Barbra Streisand, Count Basie and Frank Sinatra.  This was Sammy’s last project before he passed away earlier this year, a month before his 97th birthday. 

MAURY BAKER

Percussionist Maury Baker loves all kinds of music and his wide-ranging career reflects it.  He’s played with everyone from Janis Joplin and Frank Zappa to Sonny Rollins and Chet Baker.  Maury feels that each of his musical directions influences and refreshes the other and his latest project, Baker’s Brew, epitomizes that.  This double CD set with what he calls “new jazz works” and “new electronic works” is based on total improvisation with Maury’s longtime bandmates, Carl Royce, Daniel Coffeng and Jim Goetsch.   

Hailey Brinnel

Vocalist/trombonist/educator, Hailey Brinnel grew up surrounded by the joyous energy of swing music and did her first gigs playing this music she loves at the tender age of twelve, singing and playing drums with her piano-playing father Dave.  At twenty-five, Hailey is part of an impressive group of younger musicians already experienced in international touring and collaborations with big name musicians.  She is also a 2021 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition finalist.

Hailey’s latest CD, I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles, features familiar standards and some, like the title track, that are seldom recorded these days.  We discuss the new CD, women in jazz and how music business is taught (or not taught) in universities today.

Veronica Swift

Vocalist, Veronica Swift was surrounded by some of the greatest musicians in jazz growing up, including her parents, pianist Hod O’Brien and, vocalist Stephanie Nakasian.  Veronica’s influences range from this early exposure to jazz to the Fred Astaire movies she loved as a kid to classic rock.  Her CD, This Bitter Earth challenges us to think about the times we’re in, how we view ourselves and others and how we take responsibility for it all.  

Veronica is not only a skilled musician, she is a thoughtful one, who uses her music to entertain, provoke and enlighten the listener, at least the ones who are paying attention. We recorded this conversation in February 2021.

ANAÏS RENO

Seventeen-year-old vocalist, Anaïs Reno has always felt a bit different from her fellow humans.  While she has won multiple musical awards and scholarships and has been performing since she was ten, Anaïs is not your typical exuberant teen but rather, one who is attracted to the darker side of things, a singer who has to remind herself not to include too many ballads in her sets.  

Another outsider, Billy Strayhorn, started writing his much-celebrated composition “Lush Life” when he was just eighteen, so it seems fitting that Anaïs connects so deeply with Strayhorn, whom she celebrates along with another favorite, Duke Ellington, on her debut CD, Lovesome Thing, which she recorded in 2020, in the thick of the lockdown experience.

Ani DiFranco

Singer/songwriter/activist, Ani DiFranco feels her songs reflect the connection of her personal life with what’s going on in the world around her.  As Ani was coming out of years of dealing with marital problems, she saw the same problems throughout the country, people suffering from a breakdown of communication, loss of empathy and connection.  

Her latest CD, Revolutionary Love, addresses these issues and challenges the listener--as she puts it--to find it within ourselves to stay curious about our opponents, instead of shutting down. 

Ani has collaborated with everyone from Maceo Parker to Prince and is also a passionate jazz fan. She brings all these influences together in Revolutionary Love, as well as her appealing to our better selves.

Willie Nelson

Musician, singer/songwriter/actor, activist, Willie Nelson is, and always has been a busy, passionate man.   While he is much celebrated for his Country Music, he loves and continues to be influenced by the Great American Standards he heard growing up and the jazz musicians he admires.  His CD, That’s Life, celebrates his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, who like Willie, was known for his soulful phrasing and deep connection to the heart.  Willie Nelson talked to me from his home in Austin, Texas about his admiration for Sinatra, his memoir, written with his sister Bobbie and how his positive attitude and faith have kept him going forward all these years with optimism.

 Willie Nelson and I recorded this conversation in March 2021.

Jeff Gold

Grammy-winning music historian, archivist and author, Jeff Gold says collecting is an illness, a condition he’s enjoyed with zeal since he was eight years old. His latest book, Sittin’ In capitalizes on his passion for gathering by featuring his collection of photographs taken in jazz clubs across America in the 1940s and ‘50s of musicians and those who love them. While there is plenty of documentation of jazz greats, Sittin In features candid photos of the audiences who came to hear them and wonderful shots of musicians listening to musicians. The result is a fresh view of the jazz scene of the time and the culture that surrounded it.

Alonzo Bodden

Comedian Alonzo Bodden’s wit and social commentary is well-known to his stand-up fans and to listeners of NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, where he is a regular panel member. Alonzo is also an enthusiastic jazz fan and has been host to many jazz concerts and interviews as part of various jazz-themed cruises, which has given him a chance to not only hear his beloved music but to become friends with many jazz musicians, a happy circumstance he mentioned throughout our conversation. Alonzo feels there is a deep connection between jazz and comedy and talked to me about his passion for both.

John Finbury

Composer John Finbury’s life has been filled with music, although he’s had what he calls his “parallel life as practicing attorney” for the last thirty-five years.  John played drums in rock bands in his teens, studied classical piano and music theory in college, ran a concert hall after that and eventually focused on composing, which led to a Grammy nomination in 2020 for Best Latin Jazz Album.  I talked to John about his new Latin jazz CD, Quatro and his CD American Nocturnes:  Final Days of July, which is a lovely contrast of intimate chamber jazz arranged for piano, cello, guitar, accordion and harmonica. 

Maria Schneider 2

Composer Maria Schneider is one of a handful of musicians to receive Grammys in multiple genres, both is the classical and jazz category and for her collaboration with David Bowie.  Her latest double CD, Data Lords examines our relationship with the digital and natural worlds with evocative compositions and an accompanying treatise on the subject that I feel should be required reading.  Maria is a thoughtful, articulate advocate for the arts so I knew, we would have a stimulating, inspiring conversation.  And we did.  This is Maria’s second appearance on the show.

Chris Brubeck 2

December 6th 2020 was Dave Brubeck’s centennial.  December 4th 2020, I got the opportunity to talk to Dave’s son Chris about two recently released CDs of his father’s music which are perfect bookends to Dave Brubeck’s career.  The CD Time Outtakes is a collection of outtakes from Dave’s iconic Time Out album and Lullabies is Dave’s last solo recording.  Because of Covid restrictions, the many international celebrations around Dave’s centennial had to be cancelled or postponed so I was especially pleased to have this opportunity to talk to Chris Brubeck and have our own tribute to his father’s remarkable career. This is Chris’ second appearance on Jazz Inspired.

Ben Sidran

Pianist/singer/songwriter/author: Ben Sidran is all of these things and more.  He’s played with or produced artists as diverse as Mose Allison, Diana Ross, Boz Scaggs, Jon Hendricks and Richie Cole and for years hosted the Peabody Award winning NPR series, Jazz Alive.

Ben holds a PhD in American Studies but in his own words, has studiously avoided the academic life, preferring instead to spend his time performing, producing and writing.  We talk about Ben’s long career and his book, There Was A Fire: Jews, Music and the American Dream, a fascinating study of the enormous Jewish contribution to popular music and how and why the music developed.  There was so much to discuss, I made this a two-part show!

A bit of trivia: Ben was the first person to interview me on NPR early in my career, so this was a wonderful reunion.

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Carol Welsman 2

Jazz vocalist/pianist, Carol Welsman brings her love of different musical styles to her ever-expanding artistic range. She is fluent in four languages and sings in all of them. Her latest CD, Dance With Me, celebrates her long love affair with Latin music and her favorite musicians who have taught her so much about this music. This is Carol’s second appearance on Jazz Inspired.

Mike Renzi Two

Pianist/composer/arranger, Mike Renzi and I talk about his new Christmas CD with vocalist Jim Porcella, a throwback to the juicy romantic Christmas recordings of Mel Tormé, Bing Crosby and other classics. Mike Renzi has acted as music director for some of the greatest vocalists in the business, Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé, Jack Jones, Tony Bennett and many others, as well as serving as music director for Sesame Street for fifteen years.

Alexis Cole

Jazz vocalist, Alexis Cole is an adventurer. She spent a year with AmeriCorps right after college, followed by music study in Mubai, five years travelling through Europe busking and hitchhiking, then joined the Army for a seven-year hitch as the lead singer for West Point’s Jazz Knights Big Band. Alexis is now the head of the jazz vocal department at SUNY Purchase but when we talked, she was isolating in her Pennsylvania cabin in the woods where she had used her pandemic time to learn new skills and create opportunities for others.

Don Hahn

Don Hahn produced Beauty and the Beast in 1991, the first animated film to receive a Best Picture Academy Award nomination, as well as receive more nominations than any animated movie in Oscar history.  In 1994, he went on to produce The Lion King, the top-grossing traditionally animated film of all time. 

Don writes, paints, plays music, makes films and feels each activity keeps the others fresh and interesting.  Throughout our conversation, he returned to the theme of honoring the people he most admires, those who have remained creative throughout their lives and continually evolve in their view of both their art and the world.

Don’s most recent project is his documentary celebrating the life and genius of the lyricist Howard Ashman, who along with Alan Menken wrote the music for Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and many other shows.  This was only my second interview conducted during the pandemic and my first done virtually.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright III is a witty, engaging storyteller, whether acting or in his main gig as a singer/songwriter.  Stephen Holden of the New York Times says Wainwright wrings more human truth out of his contradictions than any other songwriter of his generation.  

Loudon enjoyed setting his songwriting aside to celebrate his favorites from the Great American Songbook on his new release, “I’d Rather Lead A Band,” an upbeat, swinging collaboration with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, whom he’s collaborated with previously on the soundtracks of Boardwalk Empire, The Aviator and other projects. 

This was my first pandemic interview and as my good luck would have it, I discovered Loudon lives close to my home in Sag Harbor, NY across the water on Shelter Island.  We recorded in his front yard at an appropriate social distance.  At one point we were interrupted by his cats meowing away, but we carried on and finished up when a UPS man stepped into our conversation with a delivery. 

Joey Alexander

Jazz pianist, Joey Alexander burst onto the scene at the tender age of ten, wowing the crowd at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s annual fundraiser in Manhattan with his interpretation of the Thelonius Monk composition, Round Midnight.  Joey went on to become the youngest musician ever nominated for a jazz Grammy Award and followed that with three other Grammy nominations.

Now, at sixteen, Joey is a seasoned performer, having toured internationally since that first triumphant performance in 2014. Like any young person, who’s found their passion early in life, Joey is enthusiastic about his art and happy to talk about it.  What I found unusual about Joey, is his gratitude for the opportunities he’s had, which have allowed him to develop his music and grow as an artist, an awareness and gratitude not always displayed by your typical teenager.  But then, Joey is anything but typical.