Neon Jazz Interviews

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with International Pianist, Composer & Arranger Roy Mor on Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project's new album, New Day.

We get into a deeply evocative musical journey where jazz becomes both vessel and invocation, bringing together Ethiopian Jewish liturgical traditions, pan-African rhythms, and modern improvisational language.

New Day creates a fascinating meeting point between ancient memory and contemporary jazz, weaving cultural history, spirituality, rhythm, melody, and improvisation into music that feels both deeply rooted and timeless.

Roy Mor's playing has been described as both melodic and energetic, reflecting an artistic journey that has taken some remarkable turns. Before dedicating his life to music, Roy studied acting, served as a military paratrooper, earned a university degree in Philosophy with honors, and worked as a software engineer at Microsoft.

Eventually, he left that career behind, moved to New York City, and followed his true passion: music.

In this conversation, we explore New Day, Ethiopian Jewish music, Ethiopian jazz, African rhythms, Jewish musical traditions, improvisation, spirituality, cultural memory, piano, composition, arranging, and Roy's extraordinary journey from technology and philosophy to a life in music.

It's a story about following your calling, connecting ancient traditions with modern expression, and discovering how music can carry history across generations.

We cover the whole story. Enjoy this interview.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Munich, Germany-based Vocalist & Composer Kilian Sladek.

We get into his upcoming 2026 album Colorblind, set for release on October 9, 2026, along with his career and evolution as a creative force in contemporary jazz.

With Colorblind, Kilian marks a clear shift toward a more song-driven approach. While his music remains rooted in jazz harmony, this new project moves into a vibrant space influenced by neo-soul, R&B, contemporary songwriting, and modern jazz, placing voice, melody, and lyrics firmly at the center.

Kilian's music is distinguished by the emotional intensity of his artistic expression and his willingness to explore unconventional musical techniques. Extended vocal techniques, scatting, improvisation, and jazz-based vocal experimentation become tools for creating music that is both sophisticated and accessible.

The result is a sound that bridges jazz tradition and contemporary popular music, opening the door to a wider audience while maintaining a strong improvisational identity.

In this conversation, we explore Colorblind, Kilian's musical journey, contemporary jazz vocals, neo-soul, R&B, songwriting, improvisation, scatting, vocal experimentation, emotional expression, and the changing landscape of jazz in 2026.

We get into the whole story. Enjoy this interview.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Vocalist, Seasoned Actress & 25-year Stanford Lecturer in Business and Theatre Kay Kostopoulos.

As the creative force behind Black Olive Jazz, Kay brings together a remarkable mix of music, theatre, storytelling, and emotional expression. We get into her new 2026 album All This Is Possible and a decorated career dedicated to the arts.

Kay's musical style is impossible to put into just one box. She blends swing, jazz standards, blues, bebop, Latin rhythms, and original compositions, bringing a distinctive Mediterranean influence and theatrical sensibility to everything she performs.

Her background as both a professional actress and jazz vocalist gives her music a uniquely dramatic and emotional quality. Every song becomes an opportunity for storytelling, character, atmosphere, and connection.

Performing bicoastally in San Francisco and New York City, Kay has built a respected presence in the jazz world. She and legendary saxophonist Noel Jewkes have appeared at premier venues and jazz festivals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

In this conversation, we explore All This Is Possible, Black Olive Jazz, Kay's journey through jazz and theatre, her years teaching at Stanford, the art of interpreting standards, Mediterranean influences, improvisation, songwriting, acting, storytelling, and the creative life.

It's a fascinating look at an artist who refuses to separate music from theatre, emotion, culture, and human experience.

We get into her career, this new album and so much more. Dig this interview.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Grammy-affiliated Percussionist, Composer, Educator & Bandleader Kahlil Kwame Bell.

For more than 30 years, Kahlil has built an extraordinary career as one of today's most dynamic percussionists, performing at legendary venues including Blue Note, Birdland, and Smalls Jazz Club, along with stages throughout the United States.

His musical journey has placed him alongside some of the most influential artists in jazz, soul, R&B, and popular music, including Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Abbey Lincoln, Roy Hargrove, Roberta Flack, and Erykah Badu.

But Kahlil's story goes far beyond performing.

He is the founder of the Kahlil Kwame Bell Foundation and its Where Rhythm Meets Purpose initiative, bringing live jazz and rhythm-based wellness programs into hospitals, libraries, museums, schools, senior communities, and cultural spaces.

He is also the author of Jazz Legends A–Z and is recognized for his innovative work with the Slapaphone, an inventive percussion instrument that reflects his lifelong passion for rhythm, education, and creative exploration.

In this conversation, we get into Kahlil's remarkable musical journey, his experiences performing with jazz legends, the evolution of percussion, the Slapaphone, jazz education, rhythm-based wellness, community engagement, and the powerful connection between music, rhythm, and human wellbeing.

From more than three decades in the music world to creating new ways for rhythm to serve communities, Kahlil Kwame Bell has built a career rooted in music, purpose, education, innovation, and connection.

We dig into this incredible story. Enjoy this interview.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with NYC-based, Dutch-born Artist, Vocalist, Composer & Producer Vivienne Aerts.

We get into her latest 2026 album Current and the remarkable creative journey behind this innovative project.

In the summer of 2025, Vivienne set sail across the Dutch waterways aboard a 1951 mahogany sailboat, transforming the tiny vessel into a floating recording studio over the course of two weeks. Along the way, she recorded new songs and soundscapes that blur the boundaries between jazz, improvisation, electronic music, environmental art, and experimental sound.

It's an artistic process that perfectly reflects Vivienne's creative spirit—curious, adventurous, immersive, and deeply connected to place and experience.

Her work reaches far beyond traditional jazz. She explores electronics, multi-sensory experience design, chocolate, sound, improvisation, and creative technology, while also bringing her background as a clinical psychologist and her work as faculty at Berklee College of Music into her creative life.

In this conversation, we explore Current, the floating studio experience, Dutch waterways, jazz improvisation, electronic music, environmental sound, sensory experiences, psychology, creativity, and the many worlds Vivienne Aerts brings together through her art.

This is a fascinating story about breaking creative boundaries and finding music in unexpected places.

It's quite a story. Enjoy this interview.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Netherlands-based pop duo Pomelo, featuring Luke Elliott and Wynnm Murphy.

We caught up with this exciting duo to explore their debut album Loreless, new music, their collective creative energy, and the unique sonic world they are building together.

Pomelo creates seductive, engaging art-pop that draws from its musical influences while remaining firmly forward-facing. Their sound blends avant-garde electronic techniques, watery resonant textures, atmospheric production, intimate songwriting, and sexy storytelling into something that feels both otherworldly and deeply human.

Loreless is vulnerable, personal, experimental, and emotionally direct. Across the project, Luke Elliott and Wynnm Murphy create a sonic landscape where electronic experimentation meets organic feeling and storytelling.

In this conversation, we get into the making of Loreless, the creative partnership behind Pomelo, electronic music, experimental pop, art-pop, songwriting, sonic textures, vulnerability, collaboration, and the inspiration behind their distinctive musical identity.

It's a fascinating look at two artists creating music that feels connected to the present while pointing toward the sound of tomorrow.

Dig their story.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with acclaimed Jazz Vocalist, Guitarist & Songwriter Allan Harris on his remarkable 2026 release Swingin’ Love Songs.

More than two decades after it was originally recorded, Allan Harris brings this extraordinary collection of previously unreleased music into the world. What began with sessions in Miami eventually returned to New York, where Allan completely reimagined the material with a stellar cast of world-class jazz musicians.

The result is a fascinating bridge between the past and present, preserving a remarkable chapter of Allan's musical journey that nearly disappeared into the vaults of jazz history.

In this conversation, Allan takes us behind the making of Swingin’ Love Songs, the story of rediscovering and reshaping these recordings, his evolution as a vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, getting through the COVID era, and the long musical road that brought this project back to life.

We get into jazz, songwriting, recording, perseverance, reinvention, New York, Miami, and the power of finally letting music that has been waiting for its moment be heard.

Dig this interview.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with Detroit-based jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, and educator Zen Zadravec.

We caught up with Zen to explore his new 2026 album, New Paradigm, and a remarkable musical career that has taken him across continents and through decades of contemporary jazz.

With a rich international career as a bandleader, collaborator, and educator, Zadravec has developed a distinctive voice rooted in the belief that music is more than sound—it is a form of creative communication, an expressive language shaped by human experience, connection, and a deeply humanistic perspective.

Throughout his career, Zen has performed and collaborated with some of the most respected figures in the international jazz community, including Ron Carter, Louis Hayes, Sean Jones, Steve Turre, and many others.

Today, he leads two original projects that showcase different dimensions of his musical vision: the Zen Zadravec Quintet and the fusion-oriented ensemble Human Revolution.

In this conversation, we get into New Paradigm, Zen's international journey, his Detroit roots, the philosophy behind his music, collaboration, improvisation, education, and the continuing evolution of jazz in the modern world.

Zen Zadravec's story is one of musical exploration, international collaboration, education, and a lifelong commitment to using jazz as a language of human expression.

From Detroit to stages around the world, his work continues to connect tradition with innovation while exploring where contemporary jazz can go next.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with veteran Austin, Texas-based saxophonist Elias Haslanger.

We caught up with this longtime fixture of the Central Texas jazz scene to talk about his ninth album, Legacy, and the remarkable 30-year journey that has made him one of the enduring voices in Texas jazz.

Legacy is deeply personal.

The album is dedicated to the great mentors who have influenced Elias throughout his musical life, and it serves as an all-original program celebrating the people, experiences, lessons, and musical traditions that helped shape his sound.

For this special recording, Elias assembled an exceptional group of musicians from across the country, including his longtime partner Mike Sailors on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Over the course of his three-decade career, Elias Haslanger's playing and writing have drawn comparisons to jazz giants including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster, and Wayne Shorter. He has also performed, recorded, and toured with numerous world-class musicians, including legendary New Orleans pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis and acclaimed bandleader and trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.

In this conversation, we explore Legacy, the mentors who shaped Elias' musical identity, his evolution as a saxophonist and composer, the Austin jazz scene, and what it means to continue creating original music after 30 years in the business.

At its heart, Legacy is about more than music.

It's about the people who teach us, inspire us, challenge us, and leave something behind in us that continues long after the lesson is over.

Elias Haslanger brings three decades of experience, an impressive musical résumé, and a deep respect for the jazz tradition into this fascinating conversation about mentorship, composition, performance, Austin jazz, and the continuing evolution of his sound.

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with Brooklyn-based jazz flutist/composer Michel Gentile and drummer/composer Rob Garcia as we explore two exciting new 2026 albums from Connection Works Records.

Released worldwide on May 29, 2026, these two recordings offer different perspectives on contemporary jazz while sharing a deep commitment to composition, improvisation, collaboration, and creative exploration.

First up is Light of Day by Michel Gentile FLOW—Gentile's debut recording as a leader. The project features Gentile on flute, alto flute, bass flute, and piccolo, joined by Michael McGinnis on clarinet, Jacob Garchik on trombone, Chris Lightcap on bass, and Tom Rainey on drums. The music moves between carefully constructed compositions and open-ended improvisation, creating an adventurous chamber-jazz sound filled with texture and interaction.

Then we get into **Rob Garcia's Sizzle Ensemble, a new group featuring Garcia on drums with Noah Preminger on tenor saxophone, Shane Endsley on trumpet, Gary Versace on piano/electric piano, and Kim Cass on bass. The album combines Garcia's original compositions with inventive interpretations of music by artists including Thelonious Monk, Marcus Miller, and Herbie Hancock.

Both artists are deeply connected to Connection Works, the Brooklyn artist-run nonprofit they co-direct with pianist/composer Daniel Kelly. The organization has been supporting new jazz and creative music in Brooklyn since 2007.

In this conversation, we explore the creative thinking behind both albums, the Brooklyn jazz community, composition and improvisation, building ensembles, the relationship between structure and freedom, and what it means to create adventurous jazz in 2026.

It's a special dual-album conversation with two important voices in the Brooklyn jazz community—and two musicians who continue to push their music forward through collaboration, curiosity, and fearless creativity.

Get the Albums
Connection Works Records — Michel Gentile & Rob Garcia releases

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