Episode 24-Walter Smith III: Jazz Educator and Saxophone Virtuoso
Strictly Jazz Sounds
World-renowned saxophonist and Blue Note recording artist Walter Smith III is the model music educator and practitioner. This enormously talented saxophonist pursued music education as a profession as far back as high school. In this episode, Walter’s storied career follows the path beginning with performing at McDonald’s at age 7, to an exciting area of study at one of today’s premier high schools, Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) in Houston, Texas to leadership roles at Berklee College of Music, reflecting on experiences at the Thelonious Monk Institute...
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Episode 23-Kris Davis: Creative Processes and Mentorship in Jazz
Strictly Jazz Sounds
In this episode, I spend time with Grammy Award-winning pianist and Berklee College of Music professor of Jazz Kris Davis on 'Strictly Jazz Sounds.' We do a deep dive into her latest project, Run the Gauntlet, dedicated to six influential women jazz pianists, which drops on September 27, 2024. A common thread is woven throughout the hour, mentoring. As a recipient of it herself, Kris Davis discusses the importance of fostering the next generation of jazz musicians. She also provides a detail description of her fascinating composition process. Kris Davis and I spend time discussing her label,...
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Episode 22-Yuhan Su: The Imagination is in the Music
Strictly Jazz Sounds
Award winning vibraphonist Yuhan Su is another Gary Burton/Chick Corea-inspired musician, lured away from classical to the art form where improvisation reigns, jazz. This Taiwanese-born, New York based artist, left her homeland pursuing a jazz education at Berklee College of music, a frequently told story. Yuhan Su draws on her strengths to survive the intense transitions as a single woman migrating to the US to learn a completely different style of music, knowing no one, new to the language and cultures. And she plays the vibraphone, not an easy instrument to lug around given she’s...
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Episode 21-Wayne Escoffery: Fostering Pride in Black American Music-Jazz
Strictly Jazz Sounds
Grammy-Award winning saxophonist Wayne Escoffery is my guest on the 21st episode of Strictly Jazz Sounds. What attracted me to Wayne was his prolific traveling, extensive performances and recordings with his own band (11 recordings), the Mingus Big Band (3 recordings, one a Grammy Award winner), the Black Art Jazz Collective (4 recordings), and as sideman with trumpeter Tom Harrell (7 recordings, co-producing 4) plus works with other notable jazz musicians. He is now a Harlem resident in the neighborhood where Sonny Rollins grew up, Sugar Hill, but he was born and spent his childhood years in...
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Episode 20-Roni Eytan: Jazz Harmonica Colossus
Strictly Jazz Sounds
Roni Eytan, a renowned Israeli-born, New York based jazz harmonica player, performs with a passion that differs from other harmonica artists. Perhaps it’s the region from which he derives-the Middle East and North Africa. His culture greatly influences his compositions and inspires his passions. Roni’s work is influenced by harmonica legend Toots Thielemans but only partially. The folk cultures that make up the regions and his spiritual influences mostly inspire his writing. Roni Eytan stopped by my studio to talk about his harmonica work and how he got interested in this...
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Episode 19-Alexandra Ridout: Her Journey Into Jazz
Strictly Jazz Sounds
Alexandra (Alex) Ridout is a young jazz trumpeter from the UK, now residing in New York City. In this episode of Strictly Jazz Sounds, she lays out her journey as a musician, comparing the experiences and educational backgrounds between the UK and the US. Ridout recalls her time at the Royal Academy of Music in London and Manhattan School of Music, emphasizing her family's influence, especially her jazz musician parents. Highlighting her musical achievements, the conversation includes her participation and victory in the BBC Youth Competition, winning at 17 years old. She talks about her...
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Episode 18-Jocelyn Gould: Striking a Chord
Strictly Jazz Sounds
In this episode of Strictly Jazz Sounds, I have a conversation with Jocelyn Gould, a professional jazz guitarist who fills all the shoes it requires to drive a successful career. Jocelyn shares her journey from pretending to play a cardboard guitar at the age of four to winning a Juno Award for her first album, Elegant Traveler. She later discusses the challenges and triumphs of her career, including her education in the U.S. at Michigan State University, her experiences in New York's rough and tumble jazz scene, and her recent endeavors, including her podcast and latest album releases....
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Episode 17-Yasushi Nakamura: The Shy Bassist with the Groove
Strictly Jazz Sounds
Yasushi Nakamura loves his music. And he truly loves laying down the groove lines behind a hot band like he does for almost a dozen bands. However, being one of today’s first-call bassists means frequent and long show tours that can take him away from his family of two-children and spouse for weeks, even months at a time. It has resulted in an impressive list and number of recordings made on both electric and acoustic or double bass. Pianist and longtime friend, Emmet Cohen, says that Yasushi “…is known in the music community for playing in over a dozen bands and is hardly ever seen...
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Episode 16-Terri Lyne Carrington: Changing the Faces of Jazz
Strictly Jazz Sounds
Question: What would jazz music sound like if it had been born in a country without patriarchy; taught without bias and performed on a stage with radical inclusivity? That’s what jazz titan Terri Lyne Carrington says is the foundation behind Berklee College of Music’s Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. Terri Lyne is the founder and artistic director of the Institute and a professor at Berklee, her alma mater. In this episode of Strictly Jazz Sounds, I spend time with Terri Lyne Carrington, getting deep into this question along with how to lift women and nonbinary individuals in this...
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Episode 15-Brandee Younger: Jazz Harp Meets Hip-Hop
Strictly Jazz Sounds
In jazz, two legendary harp musicians come to mind. Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Now, there is a third musician whose image immediately erupts into focus. For harp artist, educator, and Grammy nominated musician Brandee Younger, both Ashby and Coltrane made a tremendous impact on her. And with her latest recording, Brand New Life, on Impulse Records, Brandee Younger embraces Ashby and her impact on the harp. I caught up with Grammy nominated harpist Brandee Younger at the Spoleto Jazz Festival in Charleston, North Carolina. This was a major opportunity for me to learn how the harp,...
info_outlineIn jazz, two legendary harp musicians come to mind. Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Now, there is a third musician whose image immediately erupts into focus. For harp artist, educator, and Grammy nominated musician Brandee Younger, both Ashby and Coltrane made a tremendous impact on her. And with her latest recording, Brand New Life, on Impulse Records, Brandee Younger embraces Ashby and her impact on the harp.
I caught up with Grammy nominated harpist Brandee Younger at the Spoleto Jazz Festival in Charleston, North Carolina.
This was a major opportunity for me to learn how the harp, this extraordinarily large instrument, can be used in improvisational jazz. I am unfamiliar with how to play the harp so talking with Brandee Younger was a good time to learn how she does it. And learning about her major influence, Dorothy Ashby was an extra for me.
Brandee’s latest recording, Brand New Life, finds her embracing Ashby’s compositions and styles as she crosses genres on this album. Chicago producer, drummer and bandleader Mikaya McCraven produced this album, infusing hip-hop and R&B influences in this recording. Some of the artists include Mumu Fresh (Maimouna Yousef), rapper, bassist and singer-songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello and Blue Note recording artist and vibraphonist and bandleader Joel Ross.
She was nominated for a Grammy in 2022 for Best Instrumental Composition for “Beautiful is Black” from her 2021 Recording Somewhere Different becoming the first black woman to do so. That same year she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award and named winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll in the category of "Rising Star" Miscellaneous Instrument. In 2023 Brandee Younger won in Jazz Journalists Association annual recognition awards in the category Rare Instrument.
Brandee's discography includes Somewhere Different (Impulse, 2021)-composition Grammy nominated; Force Majeure (International Anthem Recording Co.) 2021; Soul Awakening (Self-Released) 2019; Wax & Wane (Disk Union) 2016; Prelude (Self-released) 2011.
Brandee Younger is currently on the teaching artist faculty at New York University and The New School College of Performing Arts. She also serves as Symphonic and Jazz Harp Artist in Residence at the Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts.
The photo of Brandee Younger is by Erin O'Brien.