Robert Kyle & Alyse Korn

Composer, producer, reed player Robert Kyle has recorded and performed with musicians as diverse as Linda Hopkins, Natalie Cole, Carole King and Lou Rawls.  For years he toured as a drummer with rock and country bands before he picked up the saxophone and fell in love.

Pianist/vocalist Alyse Korn is heavily influenced by Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and Salsa music and spends much of her performing life playing these styles.

On their new CD, Tuesday’s Child, Korn and Kyle bring their wide range of talents and influences together for a CD of their original compositions--songs filled with love and gratitude, something they both expressed as a focus now, especially with the world in its present state of turmoil.

Gunhild Carling

Swedish multi-instrumentalist/vocalist, Gunhild Carling had a childhood filled with books, music, and magical adventures. I first met Gunhild in Brazil when we were both part of a music festival for which I served as Artistic Director.  I still have the vision of Gunhild bounding off the airplane in a perfectly pressed polka dot dress, her baby in tow, looking well-rested and upbeat, with full makeup and perfect hair.  She tells me she always looks this way, even on the band bus, which I find almost as impressive as the fact that she plays twelve instruments!

I caught up with Gunhild Carling in April 2023 during her tour with Post Modern Jukebox.

Rickie Lee Jones

Singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones has been hard to pin down-- stylistically, geographically and in most other ways--as her fascinating memoir, Last Chance Texaco, makes clear.  While Time Magazine dubbed Rickie the “Duchess of Coolsville” this is a woman who has stormed through a life of challenges that would have felled most people, making her cool mien even more impressive.

While Rickie has always thought of herself as a jazz singer—and was voted best jazz singer in Playboy and Rolling Stone polls two years in a row—she has not always been embraced by the jazz community.  And while some of her past CDs have included jazz, her latest, Pieces of Treasure, is her first focusing completely on jazz as she celebrates some of her favorite standards from the Great American Songbook. 

Duke Robillard onstage in Dixon, IL

Guitarist/vocalist Duke Robillard loves the blues, early jazz and swing music and has enjoyed a long career bringing his take on it all to his many fans around the world.  From his early years with Roomful of Blues to his more recent work, he’s been celebrated with Grammy nominations, Handy Awards and Blues Music Awards. 

Although Duke and I have known each other for years, we had never played together before I corralled him to play and chat with me in front of some enthusiastic music-lovers in Dixon, IL, just outside of Chicago. We taped in a picturesque historic building overlooking the Rock River, a space that is now an elegant art gallery called The Next Picture Show, on Super Bowl Sunday 2023.  

Daniela Soledade

Brazilian vocalist Daniela Soledade grew up with a family of great musicians and the influence of many of the iconic Brazilian talents they worked with, including Antonio Carlos Jobim and Fernando Lobos. Much of Daniela’s young life was spent observing and recording with her father, producer/musician Paulinho Soledade, in his recording studio, where he worked with Brazil’s largest TV station, as well as produced a wide variety of musical projects. 

Although Daniela was always passionate about music and worked professionally from an early age, she at first resisted a musical career.  Now dividing her time between her home in Florida and her native Rio de Janeiro, Daniela focuses exclusively on performing and recording her unique take on bossa nova, samba, Brazilian popular music and the Great American Songbook.

Nina Clark

The first descriptor in British singer/songwriter Nina Clark’s biography is “musical activist” referring to her belief that music should be available to all, a mission which led her to create Musical Walkabout, a minstrel project for people facing social isolation.

Nina’s degree in film and drama fired her dream of an acting career, but life kept bringing her back to music. Now, Nina draws on her love for everything from jazz and country to pop and soul with her CD, ALPHA, a collection of thoughtful originals that inspire with messages of hope and empowerment.

David Bloom

David Bloom is a man of many talents: Guitarist, flautist, painter, writer, and educator. Bloom feels his interest in each feeds his enthusiasm for it all and allows his focus—putting beauty into the world—to flourish.

His CD collaboration with arranger Cliff Colnot, Shadow of a Soul, celebrates those individuals Bloom has met over the years who, in his words, have an unusual level of spirituality, imagination, hipness, heart and individuality, what he calls a “Shadow of a Soul.”  The recording honors Bloom’s reverence for these people and this way of living, taking one’s inherent gifts and developing them with passion.

Samara Joy

Vocalist Samara Joy burst onto the scene in 2019 when she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and went on to win two Grammy awards in 2023 for best new artist and best jazz vocal album for her CD, Linger Awhile. 

Since I talked to her in August 2023, she has gone on to win two additional Grammys.  As part of our 25th anniversary celebration, we’re revisiting that early conversation with Samara, when her fame and career were just getting started.

Martin Shore

Filmmaker Martin Shore started his professional creative life as a touring musician and brings that experience and sensibility to his diverse record and movie projects.  His latest film, Take Me To The River: New Orleans, follows his directorial debut with his film Take Me To The River: Memphis.  Both films focus on Shore’s desire to promote tolerance and respect for all people and cultures by showing how cross-cultural collaboration in music has positively impacted our society.

The soundtrack for Take Me To The River: New Orleans is available now and the film starts streaming on all platforms this month

Paolo Alderighi & Stephanie Trick

The piano duo of Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi specialize in  ragtime, stride, boogie and swing arrangements of the classics from the Great American Songbook.  Both have busy performing schedules individually, but it’s their four-hands/one piano concerts and recordings that are unusual in the jazz world and are internationally celebrated. 

There were very few pianists focusing on the early jazz piano styles when I started my career as a ragtime and stride pianist, so I was especially delighted to discover Paolo and Stephanie, two pianists who not only carry on this tradition beautifully with their playing but also educate and evangelize about it through their outreach programs in America and abroad.

Monika Herzig

Pianist, composer, educator, Monika Herzig left her native Germany when she was awarded a scholarship for a one-year exchange program at the University of Alabama.  That one year turned into thirty-four, as she continued her studies at Indiana University and received her Doctorate in Music Education with a minor in Jazz Studies.

Monika is a positive, enthusiastic member of the jazz community.  She is especially supportive of women jazz musicians and with her group, Sheroes,  has recorded multiple CDs and toured around the world.  Monika and I talked about her latest CD with this group, Both Sides of Joni, a tribute to singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell.

Harold Danko

Pianist/composer Harold Danko had memorable runs playing with Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis and many others, and credits them all with inspiring him in multiple ways.  His most recent CD, Rite Notes, celebrates another major influence, Stravinsky.  Rite Notes is a suite of compositions inspired by Stravinsky’s music from Rite of Spring.  In Danko words, his intention was “to create a chamber work with improvisation generated from the original source, but one that could always be fluid and evolving in the moment,” which is a great metaphor for the journey Harold Danko has taken throughout his live as a jazz musician.

Russ Phillips

Chicago based trombonist Russ Phillips went on the road with Louis Armstrong’s Allstars at the age of four, thanks to his father, trombonist Russ Phillips, Senior, joining that band.  That early exposure to great music led Russ to his own busy career playing in a wide range of styles and settings, from jazz and rock to pit orchestras and classical ensembles. 

Russ and I got together onstage at the Dixon Historic Theatre in Dixon, Illinois, outside of Chicago to play together and talk about his long career and many inspirations.  We were joined by guitarist Andy Brown and vocalist Petra van Nuis.

Noel Paul Stookey

Singer/songwriter, Noel Paul Stookey made his name as part of the celebrated folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary.  While he is best known for this stylistic direction, he has hinted at his love for jazz throughout his career with his choice of jazz voicings in many of his arrangements.  Here we talk about his lifelong passion for jazz and his CD, Fazz: Now & Then, which celebrates it. We got together for this conversation in August 2022.

Judy Carmichael

Over the years, a few of my guests on Jazz Inspired have suggested they turn the tables and interview me about what originally made me fall for jazz and what continues to inspire my creativity.  I hadn’t taken anyone up on this suggestion until recently, during my residency at Radford University in Radford, Virginia. 

Ashlee Claud, General Manager of WVRU FM at Radford, suggested she interview me on Jazz Inspired to honor our long association and WVRU’s new broadcast studio.  WVRU was the first station to air Jazz Inspired—at Ashlee’s behest—22 years ago. Ashlee thought a celebration was in order and I agreed!

Geoff Muldaur

Singer, arranger, composer, guitarist Geoff Muldaur has always been one of the most inspired and original musical voices on the scene, with his early work with Jim Kweskin and Paul Butterfield to his most recent double album set, His Last Letter, a collection that includes songs from the American folk and jazz-blues repertoire, as well as new original compositions. 

Geoff and I discussed this decade-long project, Geoff’s desire to always go his own way and why this album could only have been created in Amsterdam, with the very special musicians Geoff gathered to realize his vision.

Bob Rummage

Chicago based drummer and Director of percussion at Elmhurst University, Bob Rummage is an old-style swinger.  Bob has brought his groove to tours and recordings with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat Adderley, Benny Golson and many other jazz giants.

Bob Rummage and guitarist Andy Brown joined me onstage at the Dixon Historic Theatre in Dixon Illinois in March 2022 as part of my Jazz Inspired Onstage series to talk, play music and swing like mad! 

Michael Feinstein 2

Pianist/vocalist, Michael Feinstein’s passion for the Great American Songbook is well known from his recordings, concerts and TV appearances.  Less well known is his love for Country music which led to his collaboration with some of the stars of that style on his latest CD, Gershwin Country, a reimagining of the classic Gershwin repertoire through the contemporary lens of country music.  Michael was one of my early guests on Jazz Inspired back in 2005 so this was a lovely excuse to have him back on the show. 

Don Stiernberg

Chicago based mandolinist Don Stiernberg fell for jazz and bluegrass at an early age, growing up with a music-loving family who encouraged this crush and an older brother who played various string instruments.  An unlikely but fortunate turn of events pushed this love forward when Don’s mother heard a radio ad promoting mandolin lessons with Jethro Burns, of the acclaimed Country music team of Homer and Jethro.  Lessons ensued with Don eventually joining the Jethro Burns Quartet and going on to his own celebrated career.

Don joined me onstage at the Dixon Historic Theatre in Dixon Illinois in March 2022 to talk, play music and have a ball. 

Eleri Ward

Actress, and singer/songwriter, Eleri Ward is fascinated with the duality of the pain we experience throughout life, what she calls a “happy/sad cry.”  She explores this thought with her new CD, A Perfect Little Death, a celebration of the music of Stephen Sondheim, who certainly knew a thing or two about the happy/sad cry. Eleri’s Indie-Folk approach to the material allows a new listening experience, one she hopes will reach those who might not be open to a Broadway show or the way these songs are usually presented. 

I talked to Eleri a month before her June 2022 tour with Josh Groban.