We continue our 25th anniversary celebration with my conversation with the late singer/pianist/songwriter, Dave Frishberg, one of my heroes whom I met early in my career. I even spent a memorable afternoon with him when we both lived in L.A. getting a piano lesson, really just playing for each other. I flew out to where he was living at the time of this conversation, Portland, OR, to talk about his early years accompanying some of the greatest musicians in jazz, writing his play (which didn’t go so well), his memoir and the state of jazz today.
Nnenna Freelon
Talks about starting as a healthcare worker and evolving into a jazz singer.
Dave Frank
Jazz pianist and Berkelee College of Music Professor Dave Frank discusses combining his poetry and music for a new kind of jazz experience.
Chris Flory
Jazz guitarist, Chris Flory discusses his work with the great Bennie Goodman and how his rock roots affect his jazz playing.
Renee Fleming
Opera star Renee Fleming talks about singing jazz in college and her jazz CD, Haunted Heart.
Stephen Flaherty
Stage/Film composer, Stephen Flaherty discusses writing the music for the Tony-winning musical, Ragtime, the influence of jazz on his career and his current project on Gertrude Stein.
Chad Fischer
TV and movie composer discusses how jazz influences him and how his career changed since writing the theme for Scrubs.
Tedd Firth
Jazz pianist Tedd Firth talks about his many collaborations with artists from Tom Wopat and Brian Stokes Mitchell to John Pizzarelli and Benny Golson and the challenge of finally recording his first CD under his own name.
Eric Ernst
Eric Ernst compares painting to an extended jazz solo. His "painting-sculpture," heavily inspired by jazz, is also influenced by his father Jimmy's work. Ernst discusses the inspiration he's gotten from both his father and his grandfather Max.
We're sorry this interview isn't available for listening now. Please check back with us.
Richard Dowling
Steinway Artist, Richard Dowling has traveled the world playing Chopin, Beethoven and much of the repertoire one would expect from a top classical pianist. Richard is a music scholar as well. We discuss the differences between Ragtime and Novelty music and how it all grew into jazz.
Richard’s second appearance on Jazz Inspired. Although Richard fell in love with ragtime as a child, he didn’t make it a focus of his performances until the last few years, when, against the judgement of his agent and just about everyone else, he decided to record and perform the complete works of Scott Joplin. Now, with multiple sold-out concerts across the country—including Carnegie Hall, where he did Joplin’s fifty-three works in afternoon and evening sessions—and a highly acclaimed double CD, Richard has more than proved his point. I talked with Richard about this tour de force and the continuing appeal of this classic style of music.
Bob Dorough
Singer/songwriter Bob Dorough talks about his enthusiastic embrace of life and creativity and what it takes to write with wit and swing in this age with little of either.
Melinda Doolittle
Even Simon Cowell was wowed by vocalist Melinda Doolittle, on the sixth season of American Idol, and although he said she should have won, she placed third in the competition. Melinda discusses what her music education and career as a back up singer brings to the solo career she enjoys now.
Mat Domber
Arbors Records owner/producer, the late, Mat Domber talks about his unlikely entry into the music business and how he keeps swing music alive in a time of Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. George talked to Judy onstage at the 2011 Ascona Jazz Festival.
E. L. Doctorow
Celebrated American novelist, the late E.L. Doctorow and I met on a tennis court in Sag Harbor, NY in the mid-1990s and became a doubles team for a while--he the tall terror at the net and I the whirling dervish covering the rest of the court. One of my great thrills was occasionally being included in his long-running weekly men’s doubles game with the late writer Peter Matthiessen and one of several other celebrated writers, playing on Peter’s court in nearby Sagaponack, another gorgeous Hamptons village. These men were great players but much older than I, so I was included not for my riveting repartee (they provided plenty) but for my spry legs and forehand crosscourt.
Doctorow was an early supporter of my idea for Jazz Inspired and generously agreed to be in my initial group of thirteen interviewees.
I spoke with E.L. Doctorow in 2000, shortly after the publication of his novel City of God in his home in Sag Harbor.
Caroline Doctorow
Singer/songwriter Caroline Doctorow talks about the influence her famous father E.L. Doctorow has had on her writing and how she marries jazz and folk music.
Eames Demetrios
Eames Demetrios, film maker and grandson of design icons Charles and Ray Eames, discusses the jazz collaborations Charles and Ray had with Elmer Bernstein and Buddy Collette on their classic short films (Powers of Ten, Fiberglass Chairs, Toy Trains) and his own thoughts on improvisation and creativity in his own work.
Elaine Delmar
British jazz and cabaret vocalist talks about her work on Broadway and West End Theater and how jazz influences her acting and musical theater performances.
Jacqui Dankworth
British jazz vocalist, Jacqui Dankworth came to jazz singing after pursuing a theatre life, performing everywhere from the Royal Shakespeare Company to the West End. Jacqui talks about the advantages and challenges of being the daughter of two well-known parents, Dame Cleo Lane and Sir John Dankworth.
Jim Czak
Recording engineer discusses his years recording the best jazz musicians at his famed Nola Studios in NYC and working with everyone from Peggy Lee to Paul McCartney.
Tommy Coster
Producer/pianist/composer Tommy Coster talks about the influence jazz has had in his life - from his work in movies and TV to writing "The Slim Shady" with Eminem.