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Jemma Freese started playing piano around the age of 10 and quickly discovered that she liked making up songs and only enjoyed playing her own material. As a teenager, she was heavily influenced by Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Muse and Tom Waits, this fed into her interest in jazz as a vocalist as well as piano player. From the age of 17 she started writing her own songs to help her get through the bullying she went through at school. She then went on to study Pop Composition and Jazz vocals at Leeds College of Music from 2014-2017 for which she graduated with First honours. 
Today we feature her new album, Shadow Boxing. 

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Alyn Shipton is an award-winning author, musician and broadcaster, who wrote on jazz for over twenty years for The Times in London, and is a presenter/producer of jazz programmes for BBC Radio. He was Consultant Editor of the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, and has a lifelong interest in oral history, including editing the memoirs of Danny Barker, Doc Cheatham, George Shearing and Chris Barber. His first biography, the life of Fats Waller, published in 1988, has scarcely been out of print since. Today we preview his new book, On Jazz.

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In the summer of 2015, a grueling and often bewildering four-year battle with a rare cancer had the acclaimed pianist-composer Michael Wolff on the ropes. He’d fallen into a coma at a New York hospital, and the prognosis had moved from doubtful to defeated. His sons Nat and Alex, in the midst of their ascent as two of the most talented actors of their generation, had returned home to be with their father and try to comfort him. They played guitars and sang at his bedside, tapping into the sweet, winsome gifts that had made the Wolffs a famous musical family nearly a decade earlier, via the hit TV series The Naked Brothers Band. At one point, as Wolff was being cared for by his wife, the award-winning actress, director and writer Polly Draper, a doctor asked her if she’d signed a Do Not Resuscitate order. Through the haze of drugs and debilitating illness, Wolff interjected. Lifting his head up, he growled: “Resuscitate me!”

“I guess it just wasn’t my time,” he recalls! Today, he joins us on The Jazz Podcast for a chat about the journey. 

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Japanese trumpeter and composer NATSUKI TAMURA is internationally recognized for a unique musical vocabulary that blends extended techniques with jazz lyricism. This unpredictable virtuoso’s seemingly limitless creativity led François Couture in All Music Guide to declare that “… we can officially say there are two Natsuki Tamuras: The one playing angular jazz-rock or ferocious free improv… and the one writing simple melodies of stunning beauty… How the two of them live in the same body and breathe through the same trumpet might remain a mystery.”

Born on July 26, 1951, in Otsu, Shiga, Japan, Tamura first picked up the trumpet while performing in his junior high brass band. He began his professional music career after he graduated from high school, playing in numerous bands including the World Sharps Orchestra, Consolation, Skyliners Orchestra, New Herd Orchestra, Music Magic Orchestra, and the Satoko Fujii Ensemble, as well as in his own ensemble. He was the trumpeter for numerous national television shows in Japan from 1973–1982, including The Best Ten, Music Fair, Kirameku Rhythm and many others. 

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John Scofield’s guitar work has influenced jazz since the late 70’s  and is going strong today. Possessor of a very distinctive sound and stylistic diversity, Scofield is a masterful jazz improviser whose music generally falls somewhere between post-bop, funk edged jazz, and R & B.

John has prominently led his own groups in the international Jazz scene, recorded over 30 albums as a leader (many already classics) including collaborations with contemporary favorites like Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Eddie Harris, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Bill Frisell, Brad Mehldau, Mavis Staples, Government Mule, Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano and Phil Lesh. He’s played and recorded with Tony Williams, Jim Hall, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Dave Holland, Terumasa Hino among many jazz legends. Throughout his career Scofield has punctuated his traditional jazz offerings with funk-oriented electric music. All along, the guitarist has kept an open musical mind. Today he joins us for a chat. 

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Born in Vancouver and raised in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Ingrid Jensen has been hailed as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1989, she went on to record three highly acclaimed CDs for the ENJA record label, soon becoming one of the most in-demand trumpet players on the global jazz scene.

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Iconic British jazz vocalist Norma Winstone joins the show to chat about her life, career, albums, heels and wine.

Norma Winstone was born in London and first attracted attention in the late sixties when she shared the bill at Ronnie Scott’s club with Roland Kirk. Although she was known initially for evolving her own wordless approach to improvisation, her extraordinary versatility means she is equally at home with the standards repertoire, performing with small groups, orchestras and big bands. In the late seventies she joined pianist John Taylor and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler to form the group Azimuth, which was described by Richard Williams of The Times as “one of the most imaginatively conceived and delicately balanced of all contemporary chamber jazz groups“. In this setting she combines the instrumental use of the voice with words, most of which she writes herself. Azimuth has recorded several albums on the ECM label (the first three of which have been re-issued as a CD boxed set).

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GRAMMY-nominated saxophonist and composer Melissa Aldana joins the Blue Note Records family with the release of 12 Stars, her debut album as a leader for the legendary Jazz label. At 33, the Brooklyn-based tenor player from Santiago, Chile has garnered international recognition for her visionary work as a band leader, as well as her deeply meditative interpretation of language and vocabulary. 
Today Melissa joins us for a chat about her upcoming visit to the UK, interviewed by award winning British saxophonist and composer, Andy Scott.

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Today we welcome the wonderful bassist  Mark Wade on the show, previewing his newly released album, True Stories. 
Based in New York, Wade has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, The Iridium and Birdland. He is a former artist in residence at Flushing Town Hall and tours in North America and Europe. He has played with jazz notables James Spaulding, Eddie Palmieri, Conrad Herwig, Harry Whitaker, Stacey Kent, Peter Eldridge, Don Byron and Jimmy Heath, and is a member of the Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra. On the classical side, he has appeared with the Key West Symphony featuring Grammy Award winners Sharon Isbin and Robert McDuffie, Orchestra of the S.E.M./Janacek Philharmonic (Czech Republic) at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as Orchestra of the Bronx, Bronx Opera, DiCapo Opera and Light Opera of New York. 

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Bob Mintzer is a saxophonist/arranger/educator who resides in Los Angeles. He is currently holds the Barbara and Buzz McCoy endowed chair at the USC Thornton School of Music. Bob is a 30 year member as saxophonist with the Yellowjackets. He is also the chief conductor of the WDR Big Band in Cologne Germany. Bob has written over 500 big band arrangements, several jazz study books, orchestral and chamber works. He has played on over 1000 recordings and has performed with Tito Puente, Buddy Rich, Thad Jones Mel Lewis Big Band, Eddie Palmieri, Jaco Pastorius, Mike Manieri, Randy Brecker, and the New York Philharmonic.

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