All That's Jazz

Season 3 Episode 14 Gonzalo Rubalcaba & Aymee Nuviola

This episode we catch up with Multi-GRAMMY® winning jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and both GRAMMY® and Latin GRAMMY® winning vocalist Aymée Nuviola to focus on their latest collaboration, Live in Marciac, out on 5Passion Records  and which is nominated to a Latin GRAMMY in the category of  Best Traditional Tropical Album. 

 

Live in Marciac was recorded during the duo’s  2021 tour performance at the Jazz in Marciac festival in France at the Chapiteau Concert Hall. The album has been described as “a breathtaking display of music’s power to unite, heal, dream, merge and elevate our spiritual capacities.” After listening, we wholeheartedly agree. 

 

The Latin GRAMMY® Awards are November 17 and will be broadcast live on Univision TV. 

If you missed our first conversation with Gonzalo and Aymée from Season 1, here is the link. 

 

https://www.allthatsjazz.net/podcast-1/episode/4d2051d9/episode-50-gonzalo-rubalcabaaymee-nuviola

Season 3 Episode 13 Kate Baker

Celebrated vocalist Kate Baker and her late husband, guitar giant Vic Juris, chronicle a moving love story on Return to Shore, their evocative, newly released album featuring a stunning recorded document of tender connection and supreme musical synergy.  

The album’s origin began several years prior to Juris’ untimely passing in December of 2019 at the age of 66 from neuroendocrine cancer. His untimely death created a crater-like  hole in the music community. Known as a true “musicians' musician,” his career spanned 40 years with several important musical partnerships, including a 20-year tenure in saxophonist Dave Liebman’s band.  

However, the most meaningful partnership was with Kate. They performed together often and their uncommon collaboration left audiences floored. Despite their frequent live appearances, the duo never released an album together. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Baker had never issued a formal recorded debut. When Vic passed, the recordings they had done in studio from earlier that year took on new significance, and with producer and guitar great Dave Stryker’s help, Jill wanted to deliver one last document of her late husband’s work to the world. The results are revelatory and cathartic. 

Our conversation chronicles Kate’s personal and professional journey of releasing Return to Shore. The music speaks for itself, and we share clips with you in this episode. This story can’t be adequately told without hearing the immense love and respect behind it.  

Season 3 Episode 12 David Chesky

In this episode, we catch up David Chesky, an American pianist, composer, producer, arranger, and co-founder of the independent, audiophile label Chesky Records. He is also co-founder and CEO of HDtracks, an online music store that sells high-resolution digital music.  

 

David is considered a technological and musical innovator with eclectic interests that come shining through with his new release, The Great European Songbook. Here, David transforms  classical European standards by Bach, Beethoven, Strauss and Chopin into a modern jazz genre, with David on piano, and accompanied by jazz greats Peter Washington on bass and Billy Drummond on drums. 

 

“It is amazing to me how well Bach’s music sounds as jazz. Bach was the ultimate jazz player of his time, a master improviser, and his music swings.”

 

It’s a fun conversation that highlights clips of music sure to surprise and delight those who love both classical and jazz.

Season 3 Episode 11 Spicy G & Lia Booth

Jason Goldman, known professionally as “Spicy G”, is a multi-platinum selling hit record producer, songwriter, composer/arranger, and engineer. Jason’s produced, written, and arranged for some true heavy weights in the music industry including Michael Buble, mega-producer David Foster, Rod Stewart, Herbie Hancock and many more. As a performer, he’s played with legendary artists Michael Bublé, Queen Latifah, Wayne Newton, Chris Isaak, Michael Feinstein, Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, and Wayne Shorter.

Vocalist, Lia Booth, is quickly establishing herself as one of Southern California’s most talked about young jazz vocalists. Her daring yet effortless musical style is rooted deeply in the past but with a contemporary sensibility that breathes new life into classic jazz standards night after night. Lia Booth has shared the stage with Jeff Goldblum’s Mildred Snitzer Orchestra as well as with trumpet great Arturo Sandoval.

In this episode of “Catching Up” with Jason (we first spoke with him in Season 1), he introduces us to Lia and we talk about their collaboration on Jason’s latest project, There’s Only One, released on September 16, 2022 that he produced, engineered, mixed, mastered and also was a contributing composer and musician. Recorded at G Street Studios, the album is infused with many different styles of music, from classic jazz swing, to Latin grooves to modern pop sounds, all while honoring the traditions of The Great American Songbook genre.

Season 3 Episode 10 Julie Benko & Jason Yeager

Making beautiful music together is what actress, singer and writer Julie Benko, and husband, pianist and composer, Jason Yeager, do - both separately as well as hand in hand, which is also the name of their debut duo album that they produced and arranged. 

 

JULIE  is currently on Broadway as the standby for Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. She has performed on stages on and off-Broadway and across the country, including Broadway turns in Fiddler on the Roof and Les Misérables. She holds a BFA and MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. 

 

JASON  has performed across five continents at such noteworthy venues as Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note, Panama Jazz Festival, Qintai Concert Hall, and more. He’s released five albums as a bandleader and will soon release Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite (Sunnyside Records), with his septet and special guest Miguel Zenón.  He also currently serves as Assistant Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music, and where he’s taught since 2012. 

 

Our conversation not only highlights their musical careers, but also tells the fun almost theater script-like backstory of their chance meeting and how it brought the two of them to this collaborative album called ‘Hand In Hand,’ the concept which developed during their weekly virtual performances performed for friends, family and fans during the height of the pandemic. 

Season 3 Episode 9 Eli Degibri

An internationally recognized saxophonist-composer-bandleader, Eli Degibri possesses a treasure trove of gifts as a musician, boasting a seemingly bottomless fountain of artistry. His prodigious talents have resulted in Eli being honored with the Israeli “Prime Minister Award for Jazz Composition”, and the “Landau Award for Jazz Performance” for his achievements.

On his self-released ninth album, “Henri and Rachel,” titled for his parents and recorded on March 19, 2020, just days before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Eli continues to reveal his ability to convey profound emotions through his intricate language of notes and tones. Joined by his immensely talented Israeli rhythm section, the 44-year-old maestro spins an intimate love story, portraying the personalities and idiosyncrasies of his tight-knit family.

As Henri and Rachel’s only child, Eli found himself splitting his attention and energy between his musical production and caring for his aging and ailing parents, both of whom had emigrated to Israel following World War 2. Henri, a native of Bulgaria, passed away in the fall of 2020 after developing cancer; his mother, Rachel, born in Iran, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and dementia. Although Eli says he was not thinking consciously of them during the development of his newest album - or of his other dedicatees, including his fiancé and best friend - their essence is deeply entwined throughout his compositions.

Our wide-ranging conversation gives you a look inside the mind, dedication, heart and music - of this extremely talented, versatile man who Herbie Hancock noted as “the caliber of which is a rare find in jazz today.”

Season 3 Episode 8 Joy Lapps

Toronto native, steelpan artist and composer, Joy Lapps, is an award-winning instrumentalist of Antiguan and Barbudan descent who treats the steelpan as a tool for engagement, and anchors her artistry in a profound, community-centered musical tradition.  She is a 2022 Grammy nominee, and a Juno award winner. 

 

In her new release, Girl In The Yard (2022)-her fifth, Joy’s repertoire is colorfully painted with Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian inspired rhythms and harmonic patterns, garlands of melody and plenty of space for spontaneity, pays tribute to the community, especially the many women who have helped facilitate her mastery of the steelpan and supported her success in the steel band movement.  

 

We had a lot of questions about steelpan, and Joy answered them all while providing an in-depth backstory to Girl In The Yard. It’s a conversation chock full of fascinating facts about panning that are “pure gold.”

Season 3 Episode 7 John Minnock

Born and raised in Albany, New York, John Minnock is a classically trained musician who has a degree in music from Boston University. John first gained popularity in Boston.

 

Now a fixture in the New York jazz and cabaret scene he often branches out into jazz improvisation and scat singing and brings a rich history of the music to every performance. He’s played at the finest cabaret clubs in New York, including the Metropolitan Room, the Triad Theater, iconic Don’t Tell Mama, and most recently at the stellar Feinstein’s/54 Below. John recently made his debut at the iconic Jazz club Birdland with NEA Jazz Master, Dave Liebman, who was executive producer and featured artist for his acclaimed 2020 album “Herring Cove,” as well as on John’s new release for Dot Time Records titled “Simplicity,” which is the subject of our conversation.

 

“Simplicity “ signals an evolution of John’s artistry. The repertoire  includes original compositions as well as nuanced treatments of familiar songs, each reflecting harmonic sophistication, heartbreaking subtlety and homage to his beloved LGBTQ community. 

 

For John, the story’s everything, and he weaves it for us creating a colorful and fascinating tapestry.

Season 3 Episode 6 Dmitri Matheny

Flugelhornist/ composer/educator, Dmitri Matheny, has been lauded as “one of the most emotionally expressive improvisers of his generation” by the International Review of Music, and “one of the Jazz world’s most talented horn players” by the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

With a discography that  lists over 120 albums on which he appears as a composer, arranger, producer, annotator or flugelhorn soloist, and 11 critically-acclaimed albums as a leader, Dmitri’s  new album, CASCADIA - released on Origin Records- shows yet another side, showcasing timeless classics and original jazz from the Pacific Northwest.

 

Dmitri’s backstory is woven from the threads that led him from  his father’s collection of jazz and classical LP records to piano lessons at age 5, the trumpet at 9, then the flugelhorn at 18. It took Dmitri from his birthplace of Nashville to Georgia, Arizona, Interlochen in Michigan, Berklee in Boston, then to New York, to touring worldwide, and on to his current home in Washington state. His experiences have created an expansive tapestry in his music that shine brightly throughout our conversation. 

Season 3 Episode 5 Aaron Seeber

In this episode, we talk with accomplished 29 year old drummer, Aaron Seeber, about not only his background but his new album, First Move, recorded live in Brooklyn at Ornithology Jazz Club on October 19, 2021, and released in May, 2022, on Cellar Live Records. 

On this extraordinary album, he’s joined by vibraphonist Warren Wolf, alto saxophonist Tim Green, pianist Sullivan Fortner, and bassist Ugonna Okegwo. The recording highlights selections by timeless luminaries including Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus, as well as modern legends such as Geri Allen and Mulgrew Miller.

While in high school, Aaron attended Paul Carr’s Jazz Academy of Music (JAM) Camp, where Aaron is now on as faculty drum instructor and combo teacher. He later attended SUNY Purchase, where he studied Jazz Drums under the tutelage of renowned instructors Kenny Washington and John Riley. 

Aaron’s shared the stage with numerous greats including Eric Reed, Pete Malinverni, Warren Wolf, Grant Stewart, Cyrille Aimée, Jeremy Pelt, Paul Bollenback, Tim Green, Ugonna Okegwo, Bruce Harris, Gary Smulyan,  Mike Ledonne, Freddie Redd, Butch Warren, Chuck Redd, and many others. 

First Move is Aaron’s first release as both drummer and bandleader.