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I first heard Vince Mendoza‘s music through my parents, who had albums of his collaborations with Joni Mitchell. Then around 2003 I discovered his wonderful album “Epiphany” which I then listened to for a whole summer. I was blown away by the music and all my heroes were on that record: my late teacher John Taylor, Marc Johnson, Peter Erskine, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Joe Lovano and Michael Brecker! After that I checked out as much as I could from Vince’s writing, digging his own records, but also his work for Björk, Jim Beard, John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, Peter Erskine, Larry Goldings and much more.

In this conversation we talk about his collaborations with Herbie Hancock & Joni Mitchell, transcribing, his writing process and “Epiphany”.