Neon Jazz Interviews

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Multi-Instrumentalist & Composer Tyshawn Sorey .. He opened up about his latest 2018 CD Pillars .. So, this Newark-born artist is a big name in the world of jazz for his virtuosity, effortless mastery and memorization of highly complex scores, and an ability to blend composition and improvisation  - He’s been around America and t...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Drummer Sherrie Miracle of the DIVA Jazz Orchestra … She opened up with us about their latest 25th Anniversary CD that is doing very well on the jazz charts .. She also reflected on the beginnings of the band, the paths they have taken together collectively to arrive at today .. and she talked about her career and what the future of t...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Baritone E.J. Decker .. He spoke with Neon Jazz off Broadway in NYC about his 2018 CD Bluer Than Velvet: The Prysock Project – He delved into his childhood – his mother was a pianist and his dad a Big Band-era baritone who worked with many N.Y.-area bands of the day – Over the years, E. J. has gone from jazz through pop and stand...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Guitar Phenom Andreas Varady .. He is born of Hungarian Gypsy descent and  began to explore sharing his talent when his family moved to Ireland in 2007 – His latest sophomore album is The Quest and Producer Quincy Jones loves it .. To give you an idea of his future .. Un 2011, at 13 years old, he became the youngest headlining ar...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Eddie Roberts of the jazz group The New Mastersdounds .. Eddie was running a club night in Leeds called “The Cooker.” Add that was the beginning of starting this legacy .. so, fast-forward 15 years and the recorded catalogue boasts 24 more 7” singles, 9 studio albums, 2 live albums, 1 remix album and 3 compilation albums, released var...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Kansas City Jazz Drummer, Performer, Producer and Educator Brandon Draper .. He’s a restless sort of cat who a friend just aptly called him a chameleon .. He grew up in Lindsborg, Kansas and went to Bethany College there .. Then moved on to University of New Mexico – Over the years, he’s been a a lot of different outfits other than ja...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Jazz alto saxophonist, composer, arranger, author and educator Jim Snidero ..  He grew up in Camp Springs, Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC  and is promoting his newest 2018 CD with Jeremy Pelt called JUBILATION! CELEBRATING CANNONBALL ADDERLEY – So, As a teenager, he studied with the great Phil Woods and attended world-r...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Pianist and Composer George Kahn .. He opened up about his latest 2018 CD – Straight Ahead – and talked about his childhood in  New Rochelle, New York, studying classical music from the age of nine. He began composing while in high school and that he did some gigs in Boston, toured the East Coast with a disco band and eventually...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Jazz Musician Karl Berger .. He grew up in Heidelberg, Germany and started to play piano at 10 and worked in his teens at a club  .. He learned modern jazz from visiting American musicians like Don Ellis and Leo Wright. During the 1960s, he started playing vibraphone and received a doctoral degree in musicology and worked as a...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Kansas City Jazz Drummer John Kizilarmut .. On the heels of a CD release party at the Record Bar for KC Saxophonist’s Stephen Martin’s album Vision, John opened up about his journey in music .. getting to KC, his projects, gigs, wisdom and so much more .. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information ab...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Talented Jazz Pianist and Vocalist Champian Fulton .. She spent some time talking about her 2018 CD The Stylings of Champian Fulton … Her celebratory 10th album – a two disc set featuring 85+ minutes of non-stop swinging Jazz. So, she was born in Oklahoma, and grew up with music in the home .. her father is jazz trumpeter and educator...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Bassist & Composer Chris Lightcap .. He talked to us at length about his latest 2018 CD Superette on Royal Potato Family .. He was born and raised in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and played violin and piano before taking up the electric bass at fourteen. As a senior in high school he started to study the upright bass - Over the years h...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Jazz Pianist Kenny Werner .. He was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Oceanside, Long Island and started playing and performing at a young age – it was 11 that he first recorded on TV .. and he’s never stopped .. He talked about his latest 2018 CD The Space .. and it’s great story of creative fortitude .. He’s been a world-class...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Pianist, Composer and Educator Cyrus Chestnut  .. His musical roots began with playing piano at the Mount Calvary Star Baptist Church at the age of five in his hometown of Baltimore, MD. From there, he would move on to Boston for the Berklee College of Music and would go on to dedicate his life to jazz .. honing his craft as a si...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Kansas City Jazz Saxophonist Ernest Melton .. He talked about his latest 2018 CD The Time of the Slave is Over .. This local busy musician was born in Goldsboro, NC and would relocate Kansas City at 10 - He picked up the sax that same year when he was enrolled in Longfellow Academy joined his first jazz program through the American Ja...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Drummer & Radio Host Sam Wisman  .. This busy jazz cat is a member of the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra and gigs all over town .. He’s also known as the “Jazz Insider” on KKFI 90.1 FM with a weekly jazz radio show .. He also teaches private drum lessons and enjoys playing the piano and guitar. Sam is the son of a classical musician...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Modern Day NYC Jazz Pianist Andy Milne .. He delved into his latest 2018 CD The Seasons of Being showcasing a 10-piece ensemble featuring Dapp Theory .. He’s a former student of Oscar Peterson and was at the center of the M-BASE Collective as a core member of saxophonist Steve Coleman’s bands, as well as performing with Cassandra Wils...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Modern Jazz Pianist Christian Sands .. This very talented cat talked about his latest 2018 CD Facing Dragons ..  He grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and started playing the piano very early on and would go on to get mentored by pianist Billy Taylor - In the last few years he has toured around the world as a bandleader and recently ap...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with International Jazz Pianist Roberto Magris .. He opened up about his newest 2018 CD World Gardens featuring Kansas City jazz talent like  Dominique Sanders and Brian Steever .. He opened up about growing up in Italy and his ties to Kansas City – working with JMood Records and being honored by the City Council of Kansas City for his con...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Jazz Saxophonist Ron Aprea  .. He grew up in Astoria, NY - got his own alto saxophone at age 16 and started taking lessons in a studio across the street from Radio City Music Hall – being so close to New York he got the best education in the world going to the famed Birdland seeing the likes of Count Basie and Blakey’s Jazz Me...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Drummer Donald Edwards  .. He grew up in Louisiana and studied music at Southern University in Baton Rouge where he met and was highly swayed by renowned teacher Alvin Batiste – These days he is promoting his 2016 CD Prelude to Real Life and has spent the years learning and gigging with the likes of Freddie Hubbard, Tom Harrell,...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Jazz Saxophonist & Clarinetist David Murray  ..  While on tour in Montreal, he opened up about his life .. growing up in Oakland – and then arriving in New York as a 20 year-old student back in 1975 – And things have been on the up every since .. Amongst so many things, he is a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet an...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Modern Jazz Trumpeter Jonathon Finlayson  .. Born and raised in Oakland, CA – He just released 2016’s Moving Still and talked about it at some length .. Early on he came under the tutelage of Bay Area legend Robert Porter and studied at the New School for Jazz with Eddie Henderson, Jimmy Owens and Cecil Bridgewater – Then went on to s...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Jazz Drummer & Vibraphonist Warren Wolf  .. Originally from Baltimore, he grew up studying the classical composers likeBach, Beethoven, Mozart – and the rest of his jazz life trying to find a good melody .. He talked with Neon Jazz about his March 4, 2017 gig in KC at the Folly Jazz Series with the Cyrus Chestnut Trio – it will featur...

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Veteran Denver Jazz Saxophonist Keith Oxman .. Along with being an active educator these days, he is now promoting the release of 2017’s East of the Village – Since he was 12 – he has hand his hands on a sax and that instrunment would take him to the stage with cats like  Sonny Stitt, Mel Torme, Louis Bellson, Phil Woods, Buddy Rich B...