Neon Jazz Interviews

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with New York-based Pianist & Vocalist on the 2023 Album Meet Me at Birdland Champian Fulton .. On this new project, it puts listeners into the simulation of a live show that opens with an introduction from Birdland club owner Gianni Valenti as he welcomes and thanks the audience for supporting live music. The new album is full of optimism...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Sweden-born Veteran Jazz Bassist  Bruno Raberg .. He opened up about his new 2023 album Look Inside. He melds a lifetime of inspiration and experience into his debut solo bass album via Orbis Music with influences from  throughout a career of greatness. Since coming to the US from his native Sweden in 1981, he has made 13 recordings a...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Brooklyn-based Jazz Saxophone Phenom Nick Green .. He opened up about his debut and new 2023 Album Green on the Scene .. The album features an all-star New York City band including drum legend Kenny Washington. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he comes from a family of hardworking immigrants who helped instill in him the kind of...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with World-renowned and Grammy™-nominated Cuban Guitar Virtuoso & Scholar Ben Lapidus .. He talked about his new 2023 CD Blues for Ochun. It is his long-awaited 8th Latin jazz recording and 9th as a bandleader. Over the years, he has performed and recorded throughout the world as a bandleader and supporting musician on film soundtracks, vi...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Amsterdam-based Pianist & Composer Floris Kappeyne .. Overwhelmed by the return to the hustle and bustle of normal life after the long void of the pandemic, he found himself longing for the sense of tranquility he had become accustomed to. His new release follows the trio’s 2019 album ‘Synesthesia’, an exploration of the coming togeth...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Emporia, Kansas-based Jazz Singer Janice Borla .. She is often cited for her adventurous, risk-taking approach. We get into her philosophy, road to now, the future and so much more .. This is a singer that continually challenges herself, keeping vocal improvisation front-and-center in her performances. With each successive rec...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Bassist Ben Ferris & Pianist Jason Kutz of the Jazz Group Mr. Chair .. Based in Madison, Wisconsin and winner of the 2021 Wisconsin Area Music Industry Award for Best Jazz Artist, Mr. Chair brings a truly unique performance to every stage they play. Music on their new 2023 album Better Days is expansive and varied, toying with fusion,...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Kansas City-based Jazz Drummer Kenneth Watson .. Following a show at The Green Lady Lounge with the Organ Jazz Trio, we had to catch up with this new cat on the scene. He's a regular at the Green Lady with plans of releasing his own material this coming Fall, along with much more. We cover his history as a military kid, the timeline t...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Jazz Tenor Saxophonist Ray Blue  on the 2023 Album #People .. This album has sounds of notes of hope and human connection .. Featuring a broad, seasoned and expressive sound. Ray is deeply rooted in his New York community, yet equally a world traveler and jazz ambassador, finding musical connection across the globe. We dig int...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Portland, OR native, New-York based Jazz Drummer Towner Galaher .. He opened up with the show about his new 2023 CD Towner Galaher Organ Trio Live .. We got into his life as an educator and retiring after years in public education, an early Art Blakey live show, his love of jazz and so much more .. On this new project, it’s his fourth...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Jazz Pianist Tony Heimer of the Vallecas Art Ensemble .. On behalf of the band, he talked about the new 2023 album Sound Beams. The band was formed in 1998 in Madrid to confront the 21st century and took their name from the barrio where they rehearsed. With three prolific composers, their repertoire is mainly original music an...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Singer, Musician, Composer & Producer Roberta Donnay .. We talked about her latest 2022 album called Blossoming in honor of the work of Blossom Dearie ..  She has released nine studio albums and has shared the stage with such artists as Booker T. Jones, Dr. John, David Grisman, Elvis Costello, Leon Russell, Michael McDonald and N...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Italian-born, Kansas City-based Jazz Trumpeter Alberto Racanati .. He opened up about his latest 2022 album Into the Woods, coming to Kansas City and so much more .. Originally from Bari, Southern Italy, Alber comes from a classical background. He started in 2017, when he began experimenting by combining his trumpet with synthesizers....

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Holland-based Jazz Flutist, Composer & Improviser Mark Lotz .. We talked about his new 2023 album That You Not Dare To Forget and much more .. His work in jazz and contemporary music often crosses borders with other cultures. Collaborations go into film, theater, performance art, visual arts and dance. Over the years, he has worked wi...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran & Award-Winning LA-based Jazz Singer & Actress Jan Daley .. She opened up about her new 2023 album The Way of a Woman, her impressive career, the future and so much more .. She is adored for her singular magic of making what’s classic, contemporary again. Known well as a multi-talented and truly a Best Kept Secret in entertain...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Indianapolis-based Trumpeter & Composer Sam Butler .. He opened up about his new 2023 CD Folklore  his highly anticipated debut as leader, Folklore, featuring alto saxophonist Greg Ward out on May 5th, 2023 via Shifting Paradigm Records. Originally from the Alabama Gulf Coast, he now finds himself immersed in the Indianapolis jazz sce...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Montreal-based Saxophonist, Bassoonist, and Composer Melissa Pipe .. She opened up about her new 2023 album Of What Remains and much more .. As well as leading her own quintet and sextet, she performs regularly with jazz, hip hop, popular, indie, and classical ensembles as a freelancer. A versatile player and writer, she has written f...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Switzerland-based Jazz Drummer Florian Arbenz on the 2023 Conversation #9 – Targeted .. Continuing a two-decade relationship with American sax great Greg Osby .. Clearly a musician who is not content to sit still, he nears the end of his ambitious plan to record twelve albums with 12 drastically different ensembles, with this 9th inst...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Pianist, Accordionist & Composer Ben Rosenblum on the 2023 Album A Thousand Pebbles .. The album’s diverse influences include Bulgarian vocal polyphony, Northern Brazilian party music, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and traditional Irish music. Musical traditions collide and commingle, ignite and recombine, coalescing into strikingly exp...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Paris-based Jazz Flutist, Vocalist & Composer Naïssam Jalal .. She opened up about her latest 2023 Project called Healing Rituals .. Over time, she has created a unique and vibrant musical universe. A few years ago, in search of meaning, as she sought to reconcile the necessities of being and of the spiritual in a world marked by poss...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Montreal-based Singer & Songwriter Roxane Reddy on Her Debut 2023 Album Jaywalking .. After years in the making, she presents an intense and velvety opus with a major focus on vocals representing the view we have on life after overcoming depression. In a brilliant mix of jazz, progressive rock, French song and Disney-like songwriting,...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Blue Note Jazz Saxophonist & Composer Walter Smith III .. He opened up about his new 2023 album Return to Casual .. He signed with Blue Note Records and enters a new era of his band leading career on this remarkable label debut return to casual. It is a long-anticipated follow-up to his self-released 2014 recording still casua...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with NYC-based Jazz Vocalist Ben Cassara .. He talked about his new 2023 Album What a Way to Go! .. Born and raised in NYC, he began singing around the family piano and went on to perform in both church and high school choirs which culminated in a televised performance at Carnegie Hall at the age of 16. He tried his hand at theater and aft...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Multi-Instrumentalist, Composer & Arranger Robert Kyle &  Pianist & Vocalist Alyse Korn .. They opened up abut their latest collaboration as musicians and a couple on Tuesday’s Child .. Comprised of nine captivating compositions written and performed by the duo .. The songs are intimate and lyrical, inspired by their love of Jazz...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Vibraphonist & Composer Cecilia Smith … She is proud to announce the release of her 2023 CD Volume 1: Small Ensemble Repertoire, the new album from her NEA American Masterpiece Award-winning Mary Lou Williams Resurgence Project. Cecilia is a leading vibraphonist of the four-mallet technique and an avid composer and arranger, with...