The Jazz Podcast

Starting his professional career in his early 20s, Nigel toured Europe with various reggae and funk bands before settling on a solo guitar career and turning his attention to jazz. Citing early influences as Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Nigel honed his craft by attending gigs and sitting in with the players of the time.

Nigel has played on more than 50 albums including 5 as a leader, spent ten years with acid jazz outfit The Filthy Six, was a member of James Taylor’s band for 3 years (with whom he recorded 5 albums) and performed with the legendary David Axelrod.  He has also taught at The International Guitar Foundation at King’s Place, London.

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Emma Rawicz is an award winning young saxophonist and composer, already making waves on the UK music scene. She has been described as 'a force to be reckoned with' (Jazzwise) and 'a fast rising star' (London Jazz News). At the age of 19 she has already recorded her eagerly awaited debut album featuring Ant Law, made up entirely of her original compositions, due to be released in May 2022. She has also created a name for herself both as a bandleader and a sideman. A new arrival on the scene, she has already made an impact, regularly playing at major London jazz venues with a wide range of established musicians. Emma is a recipient of the 2021 Drake Yolanda Award.

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Nick is one of the most dynamic musicians of the millennial generation. An award-winning composer, producer, entrepreneur, educator and trombonist, Finzer is bringing the joy and power of Jazz to traditional fans and the most modern 21st century audiences. He’s on a mission to be a passionate voice defining the sound of Jazz in this age.

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Wadada Leo Smith, trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser is one of the most acclaimed creative artists of his times, both for his music and his writings. For the last five decades, Mr. Smith has been a member of the historical and legendary AACM collective. He distinctly defines his music as “Creative Music.” Mr. Smith’s diverse discography reveals a recorded history centered around important issues that have impacted his world.

For over two decades, Mr. Smith has been creating music for multiple ensembles. Some of these works take several days to perform: Ten Freedom Summers (2011, RedCat, Los Angeles); “Tabligh” for double-ensemble was performed by Golden Quartet and Classical Persian ensemble at Merkin Concert Hall (2006); Golden Quartet and Suleyman Erguner’s Classical Turkish ensemble at Akbank Music Festival in Istanbul (2007). His largest work “Odwira” for 12 multi-ensembles (52 instrumentalists) was performed at California Institute of the Arts (March 1995).

Today he joins The Jazz Podcast to discuss his two new albums, released on the TUM label. 

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Since she burst onto the scene in 1996, Fujii has led some of the most consistently creative ensembles in modern improvised music. Highlights include a piano trio with Mark Dresser and Jim Black (1997-2009), and an electrifying avant-rock quartet featuring drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins (2001-2008). In addition to a wide variety of small groups of different instrumentation, Fujii also performs in a duo with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, with whom she’s recorded eight albums since 1997. She and Tamura are also one half of the international free-jazz quartet Kaze, which has released five albums since their debut in 2011. 

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Legendary Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset joins the show to chat about his music, philosophies and career. He's one of a kind, and an absolutely lovely man as well! 

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Peter has directed the Nu Civilisation Orchestra since it's inception in 2009. The NCO has performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Ronnie Scott's, The Royal Northern College of Music. Peter made his BBC Proms conducting debut in 2019 performing  Duke Ellington's 'Sacred Concert'. He has worked with the BBC Concert Orchestra directing his arrangement of Billy Strayhorn's 'Chelsea Bridge' at London Jazz Festival 2019. 

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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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