Gallery 41 Podcasts
Interviews with Jazz Legends
Gallery 41 is produced from a collection of rare, historical, and personal conversations that I have been fortunate enough to have with many of the greatest Jazz legends of our generation. People like Max Roach, Teddy Edwards, Billy Higgins, Joseph Jarman, Abbey Lincoln, Frank Morgan, and Sam Rivers to name only a few.
Contact us to learn more about the Gallery 41 archives, and to find out how you can hear full-length versions of these and other interviews.
Gallery 41 Interview with a Jazz Legend - Mike Moreno
#16
Posted: Sept 2008
Guitarist Mike Moreno along with drummer Kendrick Scott, singer Julie Hardy, and trombonist Nick Vayenas is a core member of the New York based music collective and record label known as World Culture Music.
It’s been less than a year since recording this telephone conversation with Mike, as well as individual interviews with both Kendrick and Julie which I will share with you later.
Mike and Kendrick have known each other for quite a while, both having grown up and ultimately attending the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston Texas. A high school with an incredible music program closely rivaling those in many universities.
Mike Moreno is a guitarist with a uniquely genuine style. His CD on World Culture Music called “Between The Lines” is a collection of 8 of his wonderfully creative compositions.
Gallery 41 Interview with a Jazz Legend - David Axelrod
#15
Posted: May 2007
Composer, Arranger, Producer David Axelrod, born and raised in Southern California was there making history in the center of a thriving Jazz scene in South Central Los Angeles that rivaled any other.
A young author, a truck driver, a light-welterweight boxer who lost only 1 of his 16 bouts before turning to music in the 1950’s when he learned how to operate a sound board and began producing records by Gerald Wiggins and Buddy Collette. The album most often credited as his first Jazz project is The Fox by saxophonist Harold Land featuring the underrated trumpeter Dupree Bolton and pianist Elmo Hope. In the 1960’s he produced the first Jazz recording to earn a place in the top 10 on the Billboard charts (number 2 with a bullet to be more exact)….Mercy, Mercy, Mercy written by Joe Zawinul and recorded by Cannonball Adderley. David and Cannon, as he refers to him, were the closest of friends. Other projects through the 60’s and 70’s included multiple hits by Lou Rawls / eclectic rock by The Electric Prunes / and the hard-swinging big band of Stan Kenton. He’s earned 1 Grammy, 5 nominations, and 7 Gold Records.
Now there is a new project. A wonderful package that contains both an audio cd and a dvd of a concert at Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the Ether Festival on March 17, 2004. The project was produced and directed by his son Dana Axelrod.
Gallery 41 Interview with a Jazz Legend - Pianist Cedar Walton
#14
Posted: Mar 2007
On this program we feature pianist Cedar Walton. From Dallas, Texas as he tells us in this clip from a conversation recorded in December of 1982, he grew up surrounded by music and some of his earliest memories are of some of the major Jazz figures of the time coming to his family's home to play and share the wonders of the music.
Cedar eventually of course became quite well known for his work with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the early to mid 1960's, and for many years since he continues to lead his own groups that have included saxophonist Hank Mobley, drummer Billy Higgins, and far too many others to try to name them all here.
Gallery 41 Interview with a Jazz Legend - Producer Todd Barkan
#13
Posted: Dec 2006
For well over the past 30 or more years, Todd Barkan has distinguished himself as one of the world's outstanding Jazz performance and record producers. We recorded this conversation in 1983 when Todd was the owner and manager of the legendary San Francisco Jazz club, The Keystone Korner. We discussed the issues of public support and the survival of important Jazz venues. Then our focus turned to someone who was a very close friend and influence for Todd, Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Gallery 41 Interview with a Jazz Legend - Milcho Leviev
#12
Posted: Oct 2006
Composer, arranger and pianist Milcho Leviev was born in Eastern Europe on December 19, 1937. Milcho graduated from the State Academy of Music in 1960 majoring in Composition and his professional development as a composer began at the Drama Theatre in Plovdiv. He later became conductor of the Big Band of Bulgarian National Radio, as well as from 1963 to 1968 he accepted an appointment as conductor of the Sofia and the Plovdiv Philharmonic. In 1970, for various reasons he tells us, he left Bulgaria moving first to Germany, and then to the United States. It wasn’t until 1980 by the way that he once again performed in Bulgaria. It’s interesting to note how the world politics have changed since this conversation took place in February of 1982 in Los Angeles, California. He tells us in this clip of his first experiences in the US as composer, arranger and pianist with the Don Ellis Orchestra, then drummer Billy Cobham, saxophonists John Klemmer and Art Pepper, drummer Roy Haynes and others.
Gallery 41 Interview with a Jazz Legend - Abbey Lincoln
#11
Posted: Aug 2006
Born Anna Marie Wooldridge on August 6, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois Abbey Lincoln grew up in rural Michigan on a large farm in a large family. The family had a piano, and Abbey early on developed an interest in music, and will credit the early recordings of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington with teaching her how to sing.
In her late teens or early 20’s, she moved to California which is where eventually she met a man named Bob Russell who would become her manager and renamed her, Abbey Lincoln.
In this clip from a conversation recorded in Los Angeles, California in the late 1970’s, she talks about meeting drummer Max Roach who she tells us played a major role in her artistic growth.
Gallery 41 Interview with a Jazz Legend - Anthony Braxton
#10
Posted: July 2006
It's happened a couple of times in taping these sessions that the telephone proved to be the best tool to get the job done and in this instance it saved the day. Anthony wasn't scheduled to arrive in San Francisco for another few days and timing was, as always, everything. It’s a good thing we taped this telephone interview in advance of his arrival since his schedule filled up quickly and we were not able to meet for a second taping while he was in the area.
The time was the mid-1980's and Anthony had just returned to his home in Woodstock, New York from a European tour with a quartet that included trombonist George Lewis. His trips to the western United States were all too infrequent, and often solo. We managed still to cover quite a bit as we discussed his experiences with the music on both American coasts and in Europe. I still look forward to an opportunity to sit down for that "in-person" session, but am certainly fortunate to have this interview to share with you now.
Gallery 41 Interview with a Jazz Legend - Joseph Jarman
#9
Posted: May 2006
From an interview recorded on June 11, 1979 in Los Angeles, CA. the subject of this program is one of the founders of what could be one of the longest running bands in the history of creative music. This is saxophonist Joseph Jarman talking about the formation of the A.A.C.M. in the 1960's and the evolution of the music played by The Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Gallery 41 Sampler
Posted: Aug.2005
Featuring clips from conversations with drummer Shelly Manne, bassist Reggie Workman, clarinetist John Carter, and singer Joe Williams.
