The Afternoon Cruise

Roy Hargrove was born October 16, 1969. In his too-short life (Hargrove died in 2018) he became an icon; sharing stages with musicians from across genres, winning Grammys and penning songs with will live on. Minnesota-based trumpet player Omar Abdulkarim had occasion to share stages and conversations with Hargrove during Abdulkarim's time living in New York. Omar was nice enough to visit our studi...

Stokley is an internationally acclaimed R&B star, both as a solo act and with his 20+ year career with Mint Condition. Hailing from the Twin Cities, Stokley can keep a low profile in town and he doesn't perform in town too often. But when he does. . .it's an EVENT. This Saturday Stokley is playing at the Uptown Theater alongside Jordan Johnston, Bakarii and LA Buckner and Big Homie. This week Stok...

Grammy award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling took some time out of his touring itinerary to chat with the Afternoon Cruise's Sean McPherson about his new album SuperBlue 2: The Iridescent Spree. Listen to find out how the tour is going and how some of the best songs on the new album came to be.

Celebrated trumpeter, bandleader and composer Randy Brecker is swinging back into town to join the JazzMN Orchestra at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater on Monday night. Jazz88's Peter Solomon caught up with Brecker to find out about the program on Monday and much more!

John Raymond was raised in the Twin Cities but is now based out of Bloomington, Indiana and New York. Raymond will be back in town to kick off a tour supporting his new collaborative album with S. Carey, Shadowlands. Jazz88 caught up with Raymond to find out about how this unique collaboration came to be.

Braxton Haulcey, the Executive Director of Walker-West and Ernest Bisong, a violin instructor at Walker-West as well as the curator of the new season of the Rondo Community Music Series visited Jazz88 to discuss the launch of their Rondo Community Music Series.

Dorothy Doring has added a new chapter to the long story of her life as a musician. In the past couple years Dorothy Doring has started writing songs and she's ready to share them with the world. She'll be playing at Metronome Brewery in St. Paul on Saturday alongside her host and opening act Trish Sisson.

Pavielle, celebrated vocalist and bandleader as well as host on Jazz88, has teamed up with vocalist and curator Dennis Spears to kick of season 14 of Legends at the Capri Theater. This weekend the Capri will be transformed into a juke joint in a show titled "Hot Times at Zona's Cabaret and Blues Joint". Listen for how Pavielle and Dennis Spears are bringing their musical histories into an exciting...

Yohannes Tona, an internationally renown bassist, and vocalist Dibekulu have teamed up to bring Ethio-Jazz to the Twin Cities. Listen to the interview to find out how Yohannes discovered the sounds of Ethio-jazz while learning other styles of music. And discover how the notes of the Amharic scales of Ethiopia combining with Latin and jazz rhythms and harmonies brought about a new sound, largely ca...

Cuban and American piano phenom Alfredo Rodriguez is coming to the Turf Club for a show on Sunday night with his trio. He's celebrating the release of his new Mack Avenue recording "Coral Way". Listen to the conversation between Alfredo Rodriguez and Sean McPherson and prepare for Rodriguez's trio first visit to the Twin Cities at the Turf Club Sunday, September 24.

David Feily, Greg Byers and Ernest Bisong are all first call players in the Twin Cities music world. As members of the small world of string players working in improvised settings they might've been destined to cross paths regardless, but it was the urging of violin master Randy Sabien that initially brought them together. After a couple days of free recording time at the Institute for Production...

Kavyesh Kaviraj is in demand in the Twin Cities as a phenomenal piano player. That means that in his ten years in the Twin Cities he's developed quite the network of players to call on when he's the leader. So as Kavyesh Kaviraj took on the duty of curating a Jazzclectic Concert, he knew the right people to call. Listen to the conversation between Kavyesh Kaviraj and Sean McPherson to hear about K...

Marcus Kar, the Northside program director at Youth Farm and co-chair of the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Council came to visit Jazz88 and brought along Jesse Miller, a Youth Farm lead. This Saturday they are celebrating the season with Playing For the Plants 2023. A concert featuring free food while supplies last and music from Lady Midnight, LA Buckner and Friends, Hastings 3000 and more.

Twin Cities vocalist Aja Parham fell in love with the voice of Sarah Vaughan on CD. From there, Parham has made an effort to celebrate Sarah Vaughan on stages across the Twin Cities and beyond. She'll be exploring the Sarah Vaughan songbook on Sunday night over at Crooners. Listen in for a conversation between Aja Parham and Sean McPherson about all things Sarah Vaughan.

Jon Reyerson is with the Wayzata Chamber of Commerce and they are preparing for James J Hill Days this weekend. This year Jazz88 is part of the event, presenting a Jazzclectic Concert on Friday night with the Jack Brass Band. Jon stopped by to chat about the concert and about the larger offerings of James J. Hill Days, including llamas in costume.

Grammy nominated artist Najee took the time to connect with Jazz88's Patty Peterson in advance of his headlining show on Saturday, September 9 at the Selby Avenue Jazz Festival. Najee discussed his time touring and recording with Prince, his "COVID" record and he went over the details for the stellar band he's bringing to St. Paul this weekend.

In anticipation of the Zorn at 70 event at the Walker Art Center on Saturday, September 9 Sean McPherson from Jazz88 sat down with Philip Bither from the Walker Art Center to highlight some tracks from Zorn's vast catalog and talk about Zorn's significance in the musical world.

Celebrated pianist Larry McDonough has been a fixture on the jazz scene for decades and he's well-known for his love of Bill Evans. This Thursday Larry and company are gracing the mainstage of Crooners to play Bill Evans' material. They'll also share part of a moving documentary about Evans' life.

Maud Hixson is a mainstay of the jazz scene in the Twin Cities and she has churned out another exemplary disc. On Saturday she's taking the stage of Crooner's to celebrate the new release "Permanent Moonlight". Listen in to Maud's conversation with Sean McPherson from the Afternoon Cruise about the new disc and about Hixson's upcoming performance at Lincoln Center.

Jack Barrett (piano) and Charlie Bruber (bass) are kindred musical spirits. And during the pandemic they found their way back to creativity by doing brisk, low-pressure sessions with Ben Ehrlich and Jake Baldwin bright and early in the morning. These sessions grew into the record that they are releasing as the Jack Barrett Quartet on Wednesday night at Icehouse.

On August 21, 1904 Count Basie was born in Red Bank, NJ. In his seventy-nine years on planet earth he contributed immense amounts to the development of jazz. And the legendary orchestra that he led for the majority of his life continues on to this day under the tutelage of Scotty Barnhart. Rick Carlson, a Twin Cities pianist who holds an after hours residency at Crooners, was raised on the piano w...

Jamecia Bennett took time out of her busy schedule to chat with Jazz88 in advance of her headlining show at the Art and All That Jazz Festival this weekend in Burnsville. Ms. Bennett, well-known for her long tenure with Sounds of Blackness, is bringing her critically acclaimed solo show to Nicollet Commons Park and already planning out further performances later in the year at the Ordway.

Deedles, aka Diane Schuur, is making her way back to the Twin Cities for two shows on Saturday, August 12 with the JazzMN Orchestra. She'll be exploring the Count Basie songbook, something she's been doing since the mid 1980s. Diane was joined for this interview by her feline partner, Puss Puss. This interview was edited by Ben Ere’imul.

Celebrated pianist and MacPhail instructor Michael Cain spent about a decade working with Jack DeJohnette from '90-'99. He was nice enough to swing through Jazz88 and talk about his love of Jack DeJohnette. He also reflected on DeJohnette's larger importance in the music world at large.

Award-winning pianist Isaiah J. Thompson is navigating life as a rising star in the jazz world, an in-demand sideman touring the world with John Pizzarelli and a newly-wed! It's a lot to balance but Thompson finds a way to that and also serenade his mother's old Volvo in song form.