All That's Jazz

Season 2 Episode 30 Michael Leonhart

Michael Leonhart is a New York-based trumpeter, composer, producer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who has carved a niche for himself, leading his multi-piece Michael Leonhart Orchestra.

On Sunnyside Records, Michael’s new release, titled “The Normyn Suites” is a requiem and celebration, inspired by the life and death of the bandleader’s 15-year-old dog, a female mini dachshund named Normyn. In keeping with the MLO’s eclectic musical palette, the album features several collaborations with Elvis Costello, with contributions by Bill Frisell, Joshua Redman, Nels Cline, and JSWISS as well as two bonus offerings with Donny McCaslin.

 

It’s a beautiful backstory of love and loss that in these times speaks personally - and universally. 

Season 2 Episode 29 Blue Note Entertainment Group

In this episode, we speak with the President of Blue Note Entertainment Group, Steven Bensusan, about the past, present and future plans for one of the most iconic names in jazz worldwide. Since 1981, Blue Note has been a cultural institution in New York City and one of the world’s premiere jazz clubs.  We speak with Steven Bensusan who is the son of Blue Note’s founder Danny Bensusan and his dad’s vision to create a jazz club in Greenwich Village that would treat deserving artists with respect, and how it has become a worldwide presence on the jazz scene with clubs in Hawaii, Napa, Tokyo, Nagoya, Rio, Milan and Beijing. Blue Entertainment Group has also expanded its business portfolio to include festivals and other enterprises and investments within the music industry. 

Season 2 Episode 28 Grace Fox

In this episode we are introducing the world to the formidable Grace Fox Big Band, Grace Fox is a 19-year-old trumpeter, composer, arranger and now a bandleader who has debuted an album release called Eleven O'Seven. It features an amazing, ground-breaking all female ensemble.   

 

Finding inspiration and empowerment from listening to the powerful all-female ensembles ‘The International Sweethearts of Rhythm’, and ‘The Diva Jazz Orchestra’, Grace was moved to create a big band of her own, one that could feature some of the most formidable young female artists within the jazz idiom.

  

On Eleven O’ Seven, Fox presents decidedly modern arrangements of innovative, insightful and hopeful compositions for a brighter future – and that future is female. 

Season 2 Episode 27 David Benoit

 Iconic pianist, composer, arranger, producer, film and TV scorer, David Benoit, IS music. He is an extension of what he creates.  A Founding Father of Contemporary Jazz, rooted in the tradition of Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans, David - who started playing piano as a young child - is a true trailblazer unbound by categories and rules. 

 

Now, with his new release ‘A Midnight Rendezvous’, David records for the first time with a big band under his own direction and joined by numerous special guests including  pianist Jeff Lorber and saxophonist Eric Marienthal. Our conversation covers not only his career, his connection to the music of ‘Peanuts’, and how excited he is to finally have his big band dream become a reality.

ATJ S2 Episode 26 Riverside Trio

Oz Noy, Ray Marchica and Ugonna Okegwo’s new album, Riverside, was released on January 21, 2022 via Outside in Music. Their first release as a trio, this is a fresh, life-affirming collection of standards that stems from the group’s spontaneous outdoor jams held in New York City’s Riverside Park during the Covid-19 lockdown.

It’s a conversation with all three about what brought them together and how their collaboration saved them mentally and musically.

 

Season 2 Episode 25 Pete Malinverni

Pianist, composer and educator Pete Malinverni has been a fixture on the New York City Jazz scene since moving there in the early 1980s from his hometown of Niagara Falls, NY. Pete has recorded fourteen times as a leader in solo piano, trio, quartet, quintet, big band and choral contexts. He’s performed and recorded with a host of masters including Joe Lovano, Vernel Fournier, Charles Davis, Mel Lewis, Dennis Irwin, Jon Faddis, Karrin Allyson, Steve Wilson and many, many others.

Having taught at William Paterson University and New York University, Pete now serves as Head of Jazz Studies at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, State University of New York. 

Dropping on January 14, 2022, Pete’s newest release, “On the Town – Pete Malinverni plays Leonard Bernstein” is an intimate trio album that features bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Jeff Hamilton. The album was penned in tribute to the composer who he met in a serendipitous moment while playing in an upscale Manhattan restaurant 25 years ago. This episode is more than a conversation, it’s an education, as Pete sits down at his piano to walk us through some of his creative process as he weaves us through his unbelievably diverse background and the process that led to his new album.

You can listen to “On the Town – Pete Malinverni plays Leonard Bernstein” via Planet Arts Recordings (planetarts.org) by streaming “New York New York.” Learn more about Pete on his site petemalinverni.com

Season 2 Episode 24 Carlos Henriquez

Join us for another in-depth conversation, this time with 

Carlos Henriquez,  one of the preeminent bassists of his generation, as we learn the backstory to his new GRAMMY nominated album “The South Bronx Story.”

 

A member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for over two decades, Carlos has been called one of the first truly “bilingual” musicians - a master of both jazz and Afro-Latin traditions. His upbringing in the South Bronx, a rich musical hub that boasts local legends such as Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and Celia Cruz, played a major role in his musical and personal development. 

 

On The South Bronx Story, a project that first premiered in 2018 at Jazz at Lincoln Center to wide acclaim, the multi-talented bassist and composer takes listeners on a wide-ranging musical journey through his stomping grounds.

Season 2 Episode 23 Jazz Empowers

ANDREW JOHNSTON is an accomplished trombonist who has performed with jazz greats such as Terrell Stafford, Jeff Hamilton, and Phil Woods. He is also EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER of an organization called JAZZ EMPOWERS, a non-profit organization that’s mission is to transform the lives of youth in underserved schools through jazz education.  

Jazz Empowers fulfills this mission by partnering with underserved schools across the country, helping them to start and develop jazz programs. They are driven by a belief that every child in America has the right to a high-quality music education. They teach jazz because it is rooted in improvisation which maximizes students’ creativity and self-expression, and has the power to transform students’ lives intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Their vision is that one day all students in America will have the opportunity to learn, love and play jazz. 

Andrew taught music and math at an underserved high school in Nashville. He founded Jazz Empowers in 2014 after seeing the major need for jazz programs in underserved schools, and in 2015 launched a pilot program in two schools in Nashville. Since the launch of the pilot program, he’s led the organization to significant growth. Jazz Empowers currently serves 1400 students in 26 states and Andrew has raised over $650,000 for jazz education and amassed an impressive volunteer Advisory Board including Miguel Zenon, Terell Stafford, Dave Douglas,Michael Dease, Jon Irabagon, Ted Nash, Allison Miller, Lakecia Benjamin, Jeff Coffin, and Bob Mintzer.

Season 2 Episode 22 Cory Weeds

Cory Weeds, the saxophonist and creative and entrepreneurial force behind Cellar Music Group and its imprints—Cellar Live, Cellar Music, and Reel to Real Recordings—released his 18^th album as a leader, “What Is There To Say?”, in November. It’s his first backed by a 13-piece string orchestra. Though Weeds headlines and co-produces, he tapped saxophonist, pianist, composer, arranger, and bona fide Canadian jazz hero, Phil Dwyer, as the project’s other co-producer and de-facto music director. In addition to playing piano, Dwyer wrote all the arrangements.

In order to ensure this would be a project Dwyer would really believe in, Weeds gave his pianist and arranger carte blanche over all eight tunes here, even Weeds’ own.

Weeds has compiled some real musical gems on this latest release while also contributing an eclectic trio of original compositions to round out an extremely enjoyable musical program. We talk about the vision of this remarkable album, his partnership with Dwyer, what Cellar Music is doing to find and preserve lost jazz recordings – and about an exciting new project he is working on with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt to record Black jazz artists.

Season 2 Episode 21 Graham Dechter

At the age of 9, jazz guitarist, Graham Dechter, first caught the attention of drummer Jeff Hamilton. He was later hired at age 19 by Hamilton and John Clayton to join the Clayton–Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. He was the youngest member in the history of the band. He was only 22 when Right On Time, his first recording as a leader, was released. His second release, Takin’ It There, spent 22 weeks on the Jazz Week chart, including 12 weeks in the top five and two weeks at #1.

Now years later for his third release titled Major Influence, Graham reunites with his dream team rhythm section from his earlier recordings: Tamir Hendelman on piano, John Clayton on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums. The album was recorded prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the release was delayed until the group could return to touring and live performances.

About the cuts on Major Influence, Graham says, “After completing seven originals and co-arranging the classic ‘Pure Imagination’ with Mr. Hamilton, I came to the realization that every song on this recording, whether consciously or subconsciously, was dedicated to and/or directly influenced by one or more of my musical heroes.”

Those musical heroes include jazz guitar luminaries Herb Ellis and Wes Montgomery, Charlie Parker, George Shearing, Hank Mobley, Louis Cole, Art Blakey, Larry Goldings - and Genevieve Artadi of the synth-heavy avant-pop duo KNOWER.

This is a delightful conversation we know you’ll enjoy, and it will make you want to know more about this talented guitarist. It’s quite a journey.