Dave Liebman interview on The Jazz Session

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On a recent episode of the podcast The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviewed saxophonist and composer Dave Liebman.  It is a great conversation on a variety of topics including the state of jazz education, playing original music as well as the music of jazz giants, his current large group and small group ensembles, and receiving several highly recognized music awards.  It is worth your time to listen to all 40 minutes of this episode.  

The Jazz Session #200:  Dave Liebman

Direct download

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Patrick Williams - Aurora

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One of world's finest musical minds, composer/arranger Patrick Williams has released a new album of original big band music.  He probably is best known for his work on TV show themes including After Mash, The Bob Newhart Show, Mary Tyler Moore, Columbo, and The Streets of San Francisco, just to name a few.  He won multiple Emmy and Grammy awards, and has been nominated multiple times over for those and other prestigious awards.  

Besides movies and television, Patrick Williams writes really unique and original big band charts.

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JazzTimes interviews Eddie Daniels

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Lee Mergner of the JazzTimes recently interviewed the legendary jazz clarinetist Eddie Daniels about a new upcoming project. Luckily for us the conversation went very long, with Eddie talking a lot about players he enjoys working with, ensemble concept, clubs versus festivals, tenor players around New York in the 70's, and more. Be sure to read the whole interview here.

That was a heckuva band back then with Thad and Mel and must have been quite an experience for a young player like Daniels. “Jerome Richardson was the lead alto, Pepper Adams was the baritone, Joe Farrell was the tenor when we started, plus Jerry Dodgion and myself. Roland Hanna on piano, Richard Davis on bass. Snooky Young, Bob Brookmeyer, Garnett Brown. Just a fabulous band. Getting a chance to listen to Joe Farrell and then Joe Henderson was great.”
Heady company for a young tenor player. “Joe was the other tenor player in the band when I was there. And Michael Brecker was a student of mine at one point and was a great friend. I thought, ‘I love the way these guys play, I think they play better than I do.’ But with the clarinet, I thought I’d have my own channel. But eventually I realized that I could come back to the tenor. I don’t have to be Joe Henderson, I don’t have to be Michael Brecker, I’m Eddie.”
The interesting thing about those two tenor players is that for all their incredible talents, they were both very humble people. Daniels thinks that it’s no accident. “When you are making music at that high a level, there’s no time to do anything else but work your art. If you’re not humble, then you’re in the wrong business.”