Chicago Jazz Audio Experience

Rez Abbasi discusses a new collaboration with harpist Isabelle Olivier, and their new album OASIS. 

 

”Abbasi is living, breathing proof that jazz music can be as vital and boundary-pushing as ever.”– All About Jazz

 

"Olivier develops a very recognizable style from the first notes of her fascinating and rare instrument."  – Liberation

 

OASIS, the new recording from the award-winning guitarist Rez Abbasi and the captivating French harpist Isabelle Olivier, makes the pairing of their respected instruments sound predestined. The confluence between harp and guitar offers unique opportunities in harmony, rhythm and texture, which they magnificently capture and magnify in order to create a personal sound.

 

 Sunday, October 20, Afternoon master class and duo concert at Bloom School of Jazz, 226 S. Wabash Avenue, Suite 700, Chicago. For information visit http://www.reztone.com/events/.

 

Wednesday, October 23, 8:30 p.m. Trio Concert with drummer Ernie Adams at Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago.  Free.  For information call 773-728-6000 or visit https://www.oldtownschool.org/concerts/2019/10-23-2019-wmw-isabelle-olivier-trio-cd-release/.

 

The album will be released November 15, 2019 on Enja/Yellowbird. Joining the two highly empathetic leaders for the recording are gifted percussionists Prabhu Edouard on tabla and David Paycha on drums. Abbasi and Olivier will also present CD release concerts in Paris, Washington, DC and New York City. Together the texture of the quartet creates a sanctuary of sound, but along with the compositional and arranging prowess of both leaders, the collective flourishes in originating a bold statement. During the opening Abbasi arrangement of the well-known Richard Rodgers song “My Favorite Things,” we get a firm sense of what will proceed. Along with their free spirited willingness to traverse the avant-garde, they remain sensitive to each other and all musical elements. Other tracks such as Olivier’s “Timeline” convey a filmlike quality and push her use of electronics, while Abbasi’s harmonically bountiful “Stepping Stone” echoes with classical influence.

 

Throughout OASIS (an acronym for Olivier Abbasi Sound In Sound), the music surges with a uniquely propulsive groove, with sinuous melodies that follow surprising, exotic contours. As soloists, each member displays virtuosity without overbearing the music. Collective improvisations also abound with breathtaking results. As a conceptual team, Abbasi and Olivier are able to combine their compositional spheres to create a varied yet singular program of music.

Guitarist Slim Gambill released his solo debut,  Fake Jazz & Theme Songs and will be performing at the HVAC in Chicago on Thursday October 10th.  Slim’s day job is lead guitarist for the hit country group Lady Antebellum but Slim has been performing and recording in many different styles for years. On this interview Slim previews his new release, talks about how he conceptualized the different tunes on the new recording, talks about his extensive studio career and previews his upcoming performance in Chicago.

For more information on Slim Gambill, his upcoming performances and recordings visit www.slimgambill.com

Watch and listen to more interviews visit www.chicagojazz.com and www.chicagojazzmagazine.com

Chico is a member of the Freeman family, Chicago’s First Family of jazz. His father is the legendary saxophonist Von, and his uncles include guitarist George and drummer Bruz. Although Freeman has adopted the instrument of his father, it was not his first instrument, as he discusses in this feature interview.

Freeman grew up in Chicago but moved to New York and quickly made a name for himself on the scene. Throughout this interview Freeman discusses his experiences meeting and working with many of the legends of jazz. He discusses his concepts on playing, leading his own groups and composing and recording his own music.

He also discusses his new projects that are debuting later this year, one of which honors his grandmother who was instrumental in inspiring his father and uncles to pursue music.

We hope you enjoy the October 2019 feature interview with Chico Freeman.

 

Watch the entire interview at www.chicagojazzmagazine.com

James Carter talks with Mike Jeffers on Chicago Jazz Audio Experience about his new release, jazz in the midwest, growing up in the Detroit jazz scene and more.

To listen to more podcasts and interviews  visit ChicagoJazz.com and ChicagoJazzMagazine.com

To learn more about James Carter visit his website JamesCarterLive.com

Trumpeter Wallace Roney talks with Chicago Jazz Magazine founder Mike Jeffers, about his new recording "Blue Dawn-Blue Nights" and discusses the background of the recording, his band and much more. He also talks about performing with Miles Davis his longtime mentor, the importance of passing the music down to generations and his concepts on playing.

 

Read the review of the new recording here

For more interviews visit ChicagoJazz.com

Trumpeter Orbert Davis talks with Mike Jeffers on the Chicago Jazz Audio Experience Podcast about his upcoming performance at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on September 28th, 2:30pm-3:30pm at the Hyde Park Union Church. The performance will be a tribute to legendary pianist Willie Pickens who Davis performed with for many years.

 

He also talks about the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic release of its second full orchestra album The Chicago River. The five-moment third stream masterpiece, composed by Orbert Davis, was commissioned by and premiered at Symphony Center in May 2013. The piece examines the Chicago River and its reversal as distilled through the beautiful historic photographs featured in Richard Cahan and Michael Williams’s book The Lost Panoramas: When Chicago Changed Its River and the Land Beyond. The photos were a visual accompaniment to the live premiere and soon CJP fans will be able to enjoy the recorded album as a DVD cinemagraph.

 

Get more information at www.chicagojazzphilharmonic.org

 

Watch and listen to more episodes at www.chicagojazz.com

Bassist Ben Wolfe talks with Mike Jeffers about his new recording "Fatherhood" a self produced recording that is dedicated to his father's memory.

Ben discusses how the recording came about, his father and his relationship with music, the musicians that are featured and much more.

Pick up the new recording here

Visit benwolfe.com for more information on performances and recordings.

 

Here is an excerpt from the Chicago Jazz Audio Experience Podcast with Ben Wolfe:

Mike Jeffers: Hey everybody, it's Mike Jeffers, Chicago Jazz Magazine, Chicagojazz.com, and welcome to the Chicago Jazz Audio Experience Podcast. I'm excited to be on the phone with bassist Ben Wolff. I could list off all of the people Ben has played with and all of the different musical experiences he has had, but we don't have time for that because we need to get into talking about his new recording that's coming out called Fatherhood. I'm going to let him talk about that because it is a tribute to his late father and it is also a very interesting story about how the whole thing came about. It is coming out August 30th, so by the time you're listening to this, it will be out. It'll be out on Apple Music, Amazon, CDBaby.com, all the different places that you can, pick up, download, stream and buy a physical copy. Ben, thanks for taking a few minutes to talk about this incredible project you put together.

Ben Wolfe: Oh man, thanks for having me. I very much appreciate it means a lot to have an opportunity to talk about this record.

Mike Jeffers: I'm just reading over the info that I received about the recording and this is why I thought it was a really great story. I'm always looking for great stories and I think a lot of our listeners always love hearing behind the scenes and why things came about. You recorded this under your own name and this particular recording, Fatherhood. Let's talk a little bit about how it came about. Your father Dan Wolf passed away in 2018, I think I read that he was a musician as well and a pretty accomplished one.

Ben Wolfe: Yeah, well he did play one season with the San Antonio Symphony but then quit music. So he stopping being a professional musician many years ago, but he loved music and when I started playing music as a kid, he was very supportive. I loved it man. It was very like having a coach in the dad kind of way, you know. I remember I was talking on stage in high school during a performance and he said “I was embarrassed by how unprofessional you were being on stage”. First of all, I wasn't getting paid so I wasn't a professional. It's kind, kinda funny now because now I talk on stage the whole time nonstop.

He taught me a lot of those kinds of lessons, you know, not things like go up there and show people what you can, but go up there and play for the music, always get good sounds, don’t showing off, you know, playing, trying to play stuff that's beautiful. He was very good at that, that type of musicality. So I learned a lot from him and he was hard on me in a very good way.

 

Listen to the full podcast to hear the full interview.

Chicago Jazz Magazine presents the feature interview for September 2019

Musician-Educator-Entrepreneur Charles Rick Heath IV sits down for the September 2019 Chicago Jazz Magazine feature interview. Charles Rick Heath the IV is one of the most accomplished drummers/percussionists in the country. We talk with him about starting a new run as the percussionist for the musical "The Color Purple" at the Drury Lane Theater, a show he toured with for 2 years when it first premiered.

Charles also discusses his background, how he got started, his mentors, influences, the things he learned from touring as apart of the Ramsey Lewis Band and how it helped to change his way of thinking about music and business. Charles also discusses the importance of passing the tradition on to the younger generation which lead him to start the Ken Chaney Scholarship Foundation and create the "Early Risers Jam Session" which is held on Sunday evenings at Andy's Jazz Club.

Get more information and read the full issue at http://www.chicagojazzmagazine.com

Grammy Award–winning drummer, percussionist, author, and educato, Mark Walker talks with Mike Jeffers on the Chicago Jazz Audio Experience Podcast about his upcoming performance on September 12th at Martyrs' in Chicago, his new release "You Get What You Give", his time growing up in Chicago, working with some of the legends of the jazz and Latin jazz scene and much more.

Mike Jeffers: Hey everybody. It's Mike Jeffers, Chicago Jazz magazine, Chicago jazz.com and welcome to these Chicago jazz audio experience podcast. I am pleased to be on the phone today with a Chicago native drummer who's toured all over the world. Mark Walker is a grammy award winning drummer, composer, educator, and he is coming into town September 12th at Martyrs, which of course is at 3855 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. This is the second time he's coming back to Martyrs the same year, which is pretty exciting. He's going to have a smokin band. It's a WDCB event that starts at 8pm. Mark, I'm glad you could take a few minutes. I know you're in Germany doing some gigs, so we'll talk a little bit about that too, but I'm glad we finally connected here and it's exciting that you're coming back to town with your own group.

Mark Walker: Well thanks Mike. It's a real pleasure to be here and talk to you.

Mike Jeffers: Yeah, I mean the the fact you're coming back to Martyrs, which is a great room. But let's talk a little bit, because in March you were in town doing a gig with your band, Mark Walker and friends, which was kind of a CD release show but we talked before we started and you didn't actually have physical copies, but now you have physical copies. So it's almost like a double CD release here happening in Chicago for your new recording "You get what you give." So let's talk about who's on the Gig and what people can expect to hear that night because I looked over the guys that are playing and I think everybody on this call is going to know some of the names. So let's talk a little bit about that.

Mark Walker: Sounds good. Well, the first person I called was Jim Trompeter because I had worked with him a lot back in the nineties in Chicago. We had a band together and I was working for looking for players so he recommended Victor Garcia on trumpet and John Wojciechowski on tenor and soprano. These guys are just wonderful, super prepared and great guys too. On bass we have Eric Hochberg who I've been playing with in many variations for many, many years. So he sounds great and my brother on percussion, Joe Rendon.

Mike Jeffers: You know it's funny because I put together a jazz fest here in Chicago in August and Joe is in the band Conjunto and he came out and couldn't be nicer, but man, what a monster. So you guys have played together in the past?

Mark Walker: Yeah, sometimes we play in Chicago with Paquito D'Rivera, I suggested him to Paquito one time and he called him and it's always been a great experience.

Mike Jeffers: Let's talk about your influences, you are heavily influenced by Latin music. How difficult is it or how important is it for you as a drum set player specifically to lock in or find that percussionist that you can just lock in with? Because it seems to me like no matter what's happening in the band, it's so important to find somebody like minded to be able to lock in with who is playing percussion. I mean you guys have to be on the same page in order for it to really groove, right?

Mark Walker: Yes. Well, you know, you don't always have to know the person because I've stepped into situations where I didn't know the percussionist at all, but it's like a conversation. If you're sensitive to what's going on, then you can make it work. If you try to overplay or you know express your dominance or whatever, it's not going to happen. It's always kind of a conversation. So it's always a matter of give and take and what's really important and what really helps me the most is listening to the different styles repeatedly over a long period of time to really get familiar with it myself almost like getting nutrients out of certain foods, you know, it becomes part of you, then you can walk in and then make it work. So if I'm working with Joe, I know he's going to play mostly congas and I don't play the same type of patterns that he plays. I play something that works with it. So a complementing it whatever's there or thinking about what's there and thinking about how your part would fit into all of that. You know, it's really important.

Visit MarkWalkerDrums.com for upcoming shows, recordings, teaching and more

To watch and listen to more episodes visit www.chicagojazz.com

Listen to the Podcast....

The Chicago Jazz Audio Experience with Mike Jeffers talks with saxophonist Dave Rempis about his performance at the 2019 Chicago Jazz Festival and his performance at Fred Anderson Park on August 29th in celebration of Charlie Parker and Fred Anderson.

In addition Dave discusses his influences, his studies in ethnomusicology and African studies, his musical concepts and much more.

 

Get more information about the Chicago Jazz Festival at our special page on ChicagoJazz.com