Ricky Alexander 5/30-6/5
Imagine my delight when a CD called Just Found Joy came in the mail with a vaguely amused-looking horn player on the cover with a goat standing behind him digging the sounds.
Obviously, this musician was a fellow goat-lover and as my luck would have it, a wonderful, swinging player as well. Clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, Ricky Alexander. I immediately reached out to Ricky and arranged our conversation.
Melinda Rose and Frenchy Romero 6/6-6/12
Longtime friends and musical collaborators, vocalist Melinda Rose and pianist Frenchy Romero first met in their teens during a weekly jam session in Miami, then stayed in touch with mutual support and encouragement as they continued studying and developing their individual creative visions. Now, after years of gigging and teaching together and on their own, they’ve joined forces on their first CD as a team, I’m On My Way, a collection of standards and originals.
John Eaton 6/13-19
This is one of my favorite conversations with one of MY inspirations as a musician and person, jazz pianist John Eaton who passed away May 24th just shy of his 92nd birthday.
John was one of the last of a generation of pianists influenced deeply by the early jazz greats—Fats Waller and Art Tatum—as well as later pianists like Bill Evans. He was an educator and raconteur, making the following conversation one of my most enjoyable.
John Eaton was an old friend from my early days in New York City. This chat gave me a wonderful opportunity to revisit that time and some of the events that shaped John’s music and mine.
Julia Keefe Two 6/20-26
Native American jazz singer, Julia Keefe first came to Jazz Inspired in 2019, two days after receiving her master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
Now, seven years later, Julia has created her own path, celebrating her heritage by creating the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, one of the only jazz big bands comprised exclusively of Native and Indigenous people. With this band and her smaller ensembles, Julia has opened for Tony Bennett, Esperanza Spalding and two weeks after we recorded this show, Julia would open for one of her longtime heroes, Bonnie Raitt.