Drummer Scott McLemore and the ASA Trio just released a new album of the music of Thelonious Monk, a follow-up to last year’s daring take on Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. In this interview, McLemore tells the story of how he ended up playing jazz in Iceland; talks about the ASA Trio’s chemistry and origins; and explains how the band came to play the music of Monk and Coltrane. Learn more at www.asa-trio.com.

Tracks used in this interview: Bemsha Swing; San Francisco Holiday; Ask Me Now; Acknowledgment (from ASA Trio’s version of A Love Supreme); Raise Four; Straight, No Chaser.

NOTE:: Scott McLemore is part of a poem I wrote last year. If you’d like to read it, here ’tis.