Keeping up with the Jazz world, Leander Young, carries out authentic conversions with and about musicians. Make sure to subscribe, leave a comment, and rating. Connect with us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @improvexchange #improvexchange www.improvexchange.com
Episodes
Monday Oct 17, 2022
Monday Oct 17, 2022
As a native of Louisville, Kentucky, Marcus grew up with aspirations of becoming a pro football player, but his goals changed after having committed over 13 years of his young life to the U.S. Navy honorably. During this time, his love for jazz grew by listening and learning from the late Grover Washington, Jr., David Sanborn, Kirk Whalum, Najee, Dave Koz, the late saxophonists, Art Porter and George Howard. Marcus says on one account,” I became truly inspired by a phone call from the late George Howard, a conversation and experience I’ll never forget.” Marcus would find his way before Rebbie Jackson (a Sister of Jackson 5 & Janet Jackson) and her family during a weekend show in Las Vegas. He knew his life was being routed towards a musical journey. Since then, Marcus has performed locally in Jacksonville, Florida and continued to travel abroad. To name a few notable events, Marcus performed for the Convoy of Hope (Super Bowl XXXIX) NFL Sponsored Event. Marcus won the Artist Music Guild’s (AMG) 2019 Instrumentalist of the Year Award. He was the headliner for the 2020 Orange County Mayor’s Jazz in the Park (Orlando FL). Other recent notable performances consisted of kicking off the 2019 Summer Jazz Series on Jacksonville Beach, FL before Jessy J. (saxophonist) and Canadian Jazz Band, Four80East. Most recently, Marcus set the tone by opening up the Main Stage at the 2021 Jacksonville Jazz Festival before the Legendary R&B Singer, Jeffrey Osborne and Legendary, Chart-topping & Famed Jazz Saxophonist, NAJEE.
During Marcus’s musical journey, he also received encouragement from famed percussionist, Sheila E., and saxophonists, Nelson Rangell, Najee, Mike Phillips, his sax mentors: Joe Yorio (Toured with Peabo Bryson) & Mel Holder (Billboard Saxophonist & Stellar Award Finalist), and the late great saxman, George Howard.Not too far in the recent past, Marcus released the single “Brand New Day” (2018), globally and to 200+ radio stations globally. The song was composed/produced by jazz sensation, International Recording Artist/keyboardist, Jonathan Fritzen, whom also performs on the single. It debuted at #1 song, with the most spins during its 1st week in rotation on Billboard Smooth Jazz radio stations across the US. It even received airplay in the UK and charted 7 consecutive weeks on The Smooth Jazz Network Top 100, along with peaking at #1, #5, #30 on other jazz charts. Marcus shares his background, education, and musical journey in this episode of Improv Exchange.
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Monday Sep 26, 2022
Monday Sep 26, 2022
Jeff Denson has released 16 albums as a leader or co-leader and toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe with both his own groups and others at some of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals such as the Village Vanguard, Birdland, The Kennedy Center, JVC Jazz Festival Paris, Montreal Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Festival, and SFJazz to name a few. Jeff has worked with some of jazz’s finest artists such as Brian Blade, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Jane Ira Bloom, Dave Douglas, Walter Smith III, Rachel Z, Omar Hakim, Gerald Cleaver, Warren Wolf, Leo Genovese, Edward Simon, Paul McCandless, Cuong Vu, Ralph Alessi, Dan Weiss, Lionel Loueke, Romain Pilon, and Mimi Fox, among many others and had an ongoing relationship with the legendary Lee Konitz for over a decade until his passing in 2020.
Jeff has been ranked in the DownBeat Rising Star Critic's Poll ten times in the Bass, Electric Bass, and Male Vocalist categories, and was voted #1 Rising Star Electric Bassist in 2021. Jeff is the Founder and Artistic Director of Ridgeway Arts, Inc., a 501c3 arts nonprofit organization, and the Dean of Instruction at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley. Jeff shares his background, education, and musical journey in this episode of Improv Exchange.
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Sunday Sep 18, 2022
Sunday Sep 18, 2022
Nicole Johänntgen, jazz saxophonist, composer, and coach, tours Europe-wide with her band "Henry" and her solo program. Her second solo album was released in June 2022 on her label "Selmabird Records". She has produced 20 albums to date and received numerous awards. Johänntgen also performs internationally as a guest soloist at the invitation of various bands and is given the artistic direction to put together projects for festivals. Her focus is on live playing, studio recording, and mentoring. Thus, in 2022, she will increasingly conduct workshops for young people, as well as adults, who want to expand their knowledge in music, in jazz. In 2015 she founded the "Kids Jazz Club" and in 2013 the music business workshop SOFIA Support Of Female Improvising Artists to support young female jazz musicians in self-management and networking. Nicole Johänntgen's musical career began 28 years ago. At the age of six on the piano and years later she found her way to the saxophone and jazz as well as pop. First, she founded her Saarland band "Nicole Jo" at the age of 17, of which there are now six albums. She quickly expanded her radius. Played in America with the Sisters in Jazz (2003). Was a member of the European Swinging Jazz Orchestra, the IASJ International Association of Jazz of Schools, and the Dutch Rembrandt Frerichs project. Nicole Johänntgen studied jazz/popular music at the State Academy of Music in Mannheim, Germany, and has lived in Switzerland with her family since 2005.
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Sunday Jul 10, 2022
Sunday Jul 10, 2022
For over fifteen years, John Yao has been honing his talents as a trombonist, a composer and arranger, and has cemented his place on the New York City jazz scene. Yao’s lyrical soloing and expressive round tone combined with his with a creative hunger for exploring the boundaries of harmony and rhythm in his compositions/arrangements has established him as a unique musical talent. Yao has released five solo recordings, all of which feature his adventurous, boundary-pushing compositions for small groups and big bands alike. As a composer, Yao has also been commissioned to write works for professional artists and ensembles including the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, Luis Bonilla, and HGM Jazzorkestar Zagreb among many others. His works have been performed internationally by many college and high school ensembles, including Temple University, Indiana University and the University of North Carolina, to name a few. Many of his works are published and available to professional and educational ensembles. As a trombonist, Yao has worked extensively as a sideman for Grammy-award winning New York City ensembles, such as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and Arturo O’Farrill, and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra among many others. Yao has also established himself as an in-demand educator in New York and beyond. Presently he serves as Assistant Professor of Trombone at Berklee College of Music, and as an Adjunct faculty member at Molloy College. He is an active guest artist and soloist at colleges and universities around the United States and abroad.
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Sunday Jun 19, 2022
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
Jonas Timm is a Leipzig-based pianist, composer und improviser. He grew up in Berlin in within his parental background of Choir music. Trained in classical Piano and Voice starting in the age of 5, he discovered improvised music in his early teens and went to study Music in Leipzig with Grandmaster Richie Beirach, Albert Bover and Michael Wollny. Besides he learned from: Alexander von Schlippenbach, Sebastian Schunke and Nils Klein among others...
As formative part of Leipzigs prospering young Jazz scene, he tries to develop new spaces in intercultural exchange between people and continents. Jonas is currently collaborating and touring with several Ensembles like the Berlin Radio Choir and the Gewandhaus Choir Leipzig and played with Norma Winstone, Theo Bleckmann, Johannes Enders to list a few...
He is a current scholarship holder of the State of Saxony, the German Foundation of Orchestra, the Performing Rights Society and the Foundation of the Castle of Rheinsberg. Furthermore he does curate the anually MJUZIK Festival and the „Reihe 22“ in Leipzig On April 22, 2022, Jonas released his Debut CD “Morbu” as JazzThing Next Generation Vol. 90 with Diego Pinera (drums), Tino Derado (accordion), Bertram Burkert (acoustic guitar), Lorenz Heigenhuber (Doublebass), where he combines the rhythms of Latin-American Dances with the harmonic heritage of the post-impressionistic composers of Spain and France. In this episode, Jonas shares his background, education, and musical journey.
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Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Sunday Jun 05, 2022
Joel A. Martin is a Norwalk CT-based pianist, producer, composer, and arranger who has collaborated with, and/or written music for, Grammy® Award-winners Alan Menken, Kathleen Battle, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, cellist Eugene Friesen of the Paul Winter Consort, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jaimoe of the Allman Brothers, among many luminaries.
At age 17 Joel was the youngest and the first African-American pianist to compete in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (1985). He has appeared as a soloist with the NY Philharmonic, El Paso Symphony, Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MA), Philadelphia Orchestra, Cab Calloway Orchestra, New Hampshire Festival Orchestra, and the Hartford Symphony, among many others.
Trained as a classical pianist at the Hartt School of Music and SUNY, Purchase, he created "Jazzical" in 1995 as a celebration of creative fusion: "the explosive union of classical composition and jazz innovation ignited with a fresh spirit all its own." This concept, form and vehicle "captures the dynamic force of multiple cultures and influences, unleashing a kinetic energy that breaks down boundaries and yields whole new worlds of musical expression." In this episode, Joel shares his background, education, and musical journey.
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Sunday May 22, 2022
Sunday May 22, 2022
Alyn Shipton is a writer, publisher, broadcaster, and jazz double bassist. He has broadcast about jazz since 1989, and currently hosts BBC Radio 3’s long-running and much-loved programmed Jazz Record Requests. His biographies of Dizzy Gillespie (1999) and singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (2013) both won Association for Record Sound Collections (ARSC) Awards for Excellence; and Nilsson also gained an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thompson Award. His New History of Jazz (2001) was the Jazz Journalists’ Association (JJA) book of the year’ by the Jazz Institute of Chicago. His most recent work, The Art of Jazz: A Visual History (2020), was described as ‘indispensable’ by Publishers Weekly. He co-leads the Buck Clayton Legacy Band, and is a research fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London (where he teaches Jazz History to Emma Rawicz). In this episode, Alyn shares his background, education, and musical journey.
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Monday May 16, 2022
Monday May 16, 2022
The JuJu Exchange is a jazz-fusion group founded by three childhood friends from Chicago, each bringing their own unique stories and traits to the collective.
Nico Segal (trumpeter and producer) is Grammy Awarded musician and producer who is a frequent Chance the Rapper collaborator and trumpet player in Chance’s band The Social Experiment.
Julian Davis Reid (pianist and producer) is an artist-theologian who also hosts spiritual retreats called Notes of Rest, which interweave texts and music to promote rest, contemplation and creativity.
Nova Zaii (drummer and producer) is a sonic designer and the inventor of the patented Nova Portals instrument, a touchless electronic instrument.
Whether performing at The Chicago Jazz Fest or The Songbyrd, The JuJu Exchange brings uncut emotion with the intent to move the audience in mind, body, & soul. The band’s debut project Exchange reached #1 on the Apple Jazz Albums Chart upon release and their new single Walk Cycle debuted #1 on the All-New Jazz Spotify Playlist. They released their second record, The Eternal Boombox EP, inspired to provide relief as the world grappled with a catastrophic year. Each song corresponds to a stage of grief from the Kübler-Ross “Five Stages of Grief” Cycle.
The JuJu Exchange creates experimental and nuanced music that calls us all to wonder and trust. Their music, primarily instrumental, blends acoustic and digital instruments to accompany meaningful conversation around spiritual, mental, and physical experiences amongst their audiences' diverse backgrounds. They hope their music inspires the listener to participate in the kinds of exchange the world desperately needs.
The band has been booked for Microsoft Teams Roundtable, Yale University, Northwestern University, Jazz Institute of Chicago, Chicago Ideas Week, and Apple On Michigan. The band’s members have worked, performed, and produced with artists including Chance The Rapper, Frank Ocean, Derrick Hodge, Andrew Bird, Tank & The Bangas, Peter CottonTale, Jamila Woods, Grace Weber, Jennifer Hudson, Tiff Joy, VIc Mensa, Prefuse 73, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, and The Chicago Children’s Choir. In this episode, Julian Davis Reid shares his background, education, and musical journey.
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Sunday May 01, 2022
Sunday May 01, 2022
Theon Cross is an award-winning tuba player and composer who not only redefines what can be done with his instrument but also transcends traditional genre conventions with his heady brew of low-end theory combined with strains of ‘jazz, dub, hip-hop, soca, grime, and other sounds from the Afro-Caribbean diaspora’.
His new album, Intra-I (meaning ‘Within Self’) syntheses the diversity of his musical art and experience to deliver an essential message to a world gripped by tribulation. Across ten sonically divergent and bass-rich tracks, Intra-I explores themes of self-reliance, origins, identity, and more. An exploratory and upful celebration of Afro-Diaspora Music, the album features songs that examine self-development, the importance of history and heritage, and the strength in adversity shown by the first generations of post-war Caribbean immigrants to the UK. In this episode, Theon shares his background, education, and musical journey.
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Sunday Apr 24, 2022
Sunday Apr 24, 2022
Tony Overwater is an award-winning bass player whose sound and unique way of playing have established him as a key player in the European music world. He is a remarkable solo performer and leader of his own projects but also a collaborative and attentive sideman. He is well known for his pioneering work in Arab music.
In 1995 Tony Overwater went on tour with the Yuri Honing Trio through the Middle East, notably Lebanon and Syria, and fell in love with Arab music culture. He met musicians from Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq and started a long-time collaboration with the Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich.
He has been involved in Arab music ever since and developed a uniquely new playing style on the acoustic bass which allows him to play the microtonality of the Arab scales. He has been studying the maqams (scales), rhythms, and songs of classical Arab music. He recorded several albums with Rima Khcheich and eventually became the musical director of her ensemble. Regularly Rima Khcheich and Tony Overwater play duo concerts in which they perform classical Arab music in muwashah style in which the acoustic bass replaces the Oud. This has never been done before and is highly successful at festivals around the world. In this episode, Tony shares his background, education, and musical journey.
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