Butch Thompson | After the Monologue

April 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Butch Thompson [10:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It was my pleasure to speak with Butch Thompson on the show today — about playing after Garrison Keillor’s monologue in the early days of Prairie Home Companion, and about his long career in the music industry!More about Butch Thompson from his website:

In a career spanning 40 years, pianist Butch Th ompson has earned a world-wide reputation as a master of ragtime, stride, and classic jazz piano. He spends much of his time on tour in the U.S. and internationally. Although he often travels as a soloist, he also appears with his well-known trio or his eight-piece New Orleans Jazz Originals band. He performs with symphony orchestras, among them recently the Hartford Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Cairo (Egypt) Symphony. Widely known for his 12-year stint (1974-1986) as house pianist and bandleader on public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, he continues as a frequent guest on that show. Th ompson was born and raised in Marine on St. Croix, a small river town in Minnesota, where he was playing Christmas carols on his mother’s upright piano by age three, and began formal lessons at six. He studied clarinet in high school, and led his ﬁ rst professional jazz group as a senior. At 18, he made his pilgrimage to New Orleans, where he befriended and studied with the late clarinetist George Lewis, and was one of the few non-New Orleanians to appear at Preservation Hall during the 1960s and ‘70s. After two years in an Army band during the ‘60s, Th ompson returned to Minnesota. While studying Latin American music at the University of Minnesota, he spent some time in Ecuador, and wrote music based on that country’s folk tunes. Th e Minnesota Orchestra with Th ompson at the piano, premiered his Ecuadorean Suite, based on those early pieces in June 1998. In 1974, Th ompson began his well-remembered 12-year run as the house pianist on A Prairie Home Companion, beginning with the show’s ﬁ rst broadcasts in July of that year. Th e Butch Th ompson Trio, formed as the show went into national distribution in 1978, remained the oﬃ cial house band until 1986. During the 70s and 80s, he toured widely in Europe. In 1985, to commemorate the 100th birthday of jazz cornetist Joe “King” Oliver, he formed his eight-piece King Oliver Centennial Band for tours in Switzerland, Germany, and England. In 1987, Th ompson commissioned composer Gordon Wright to orchestrate the ﬁ ve-part Gordon Wright to orchestrate the ﬁ ve-part Gordon Wright Scott Joplin Suite for Piano and Orchestra. Since then, he has toured widely as a pops concert soloist, specializing in such American composers as Joplin, Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and James P. Johnson. During the early 90s, Thompson began an association with the oﬀ -Broadway show Jelly Roll! Th e Music and the Man, Th e Music and the Man, Th e Music and the Man which won Obie, Lucille Lortell and Outer Critics Circle awards as best oﬀ -Broadway musical of 1995. Th ompson worked onstage with the show in New York and on several national tours through 1997. In addition to his career as a performer, Th ompson writes articles and reviews on jazz and produces his own weekly radio show, Jazz Originals, on KBEM radio in Minneapolis. His writing has appeared in Th e Mississippi Rag, Keyboard Classics, New Orleans Music and other Th e Mississippi Rag, Keyboard Classics, New Orleans Music and other Th e Mississippi Rag, Keyboard Classics, New Orleans Music magazines, as well as in various CD booklets. One of Th ompson’s latest CDs, an album of holiday duets with cellist Laura Sewell, is titled Bethlehem After Dark. Th is release is the 10th in Th ompson’s acclaimed series for the Daring/ Rounder label of Boston. He also played on the Grammy-winning 1997 Verve release Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton. His 1968 solo recording debut, Butch Th ompson Plays Jelly Roll Morton, is currently available as a Biograph CD.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, Classical, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Jeff Beal | Film & TV Music

April 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Jeff Beal: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It was our great honor to speak with Jeff Beal, composer of Ugly Betty, Monk and other television themes, and Pollock as well as many other movie scores. His music is compelling, fun, intense, brooding — and always wonderful. More information from www.jeffbeal.com

Jeff Beal is a composer, performer, producer, improviser. He is a consummate musician. He writes music for film, the concert hall, CDs and television. This web page came about because Jeff wanted to have one place available to his listeners. A place to unite his many pursuits. One location where people could go to find out more about his jazz CDs, how to rent his orchestral music, learn about film scoring or just get in touch with him. I’ve known Jeff for over twenty years, now. Sharing a passion for music comes easily to this man, but getting him to talk about himself or promote himself doesn’t. I, however, have no problem talking about Jeff. Let me fill you in….Jeff was born in 1963 in Hayward, CA, the East Bay area of San Francisco. His parents both grew up with music making in the home; naturally music was always present in their house. His mother studied piano as a child, and from an early age, Jeff enjoyed picking out tunes on the family’s upright piano. In the third grade, his father took him to a school assembly where students could listen to and select band instruments to borrow and study…(In those halcyon days before Prop. 13) Jeff sat through the assembly quietly, until the trumpet was demonstrated. “That’s it!” he told his father. “That’s what I want to play!”Jeff began practicing and improving on the trumpet. He worked a paper route on his bicycle, mornings before school, to purchase his own trumpet. His father’s mother Irene had performed as a pianist on live radio broadcasts , and now lived in San Francisco. Not your average grandma, she was an artist, bohemian and an avid jazz fan; sitting in on Mile’s Live at the Black Hawk recording sessions. She gave Jeff a copy of Sketches of Spain as a gift when he was ten. He had never heard music like this before…Gil Evan’s emotive, expressive orchestrations, combined with Mile’s haunting trumpet. Jeff began to study jazz improvisation, theory, and harmony on his own, later taking classes at a local college. He immersed himself in jazz recordings and transcribed the solos of Woody Shaw, Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker and Miles…eventually writing his own jazz charts and performing them with the Monterey Jazz All Stars. Jeff also played in the Oakland Youth Symphony, conducted by Kent Nagano, and at 16 wrote an orchestral jazz trumpet concerto for that group. At night after school, Jeff would ride BART across the bay to San Francisco; sitting in at jam sessions led by musicians twice his age… listening, playing, and learning.Going to the Eastman School of Music was an opportunity for Jeff to continue his trumpet studies and to formally study composition. As an undergraduate, he took all of his double major classes, along with the classes offered to the master’s students in the jazz department. His spare moments were spent gigging with jazz professors and writing, writing, writing more music in the piano lab. Jeff was known to hide under the synclavier in the computer music lab, until the night watchman had passed, so that he could spend his nights undisturbed, writing and producing his own music.These synclavier demos lead to Jeff’s first solo album, Liberation; released in 1987. Now a conservatory graduate, living in New York City and working as a gigging musician, Jeff was signed by the Antilles division of Island Records. He played more dates with his own group, and began working on the music for a second album, when a move to San Francisco (for his wife’s career) lead to scoring work. Jeff’s first film score, Cheap Shots, was produced in a home studio in the tiny office of a rented home. Jeff soon was working as a ghost writer and arranger for other composers, always longing to be the guy with the gig and the credit.Moving to Los Angeles in 1992 provided Jeff with more opportunities and relationships. He continued making solo CDs, performing with his own jazz ensemble, and also contributed compositions to friend’s CD projects, like his Bass Concerto, written for John Patitucci and recorded at the request of Chick Corea. The opportunity to create an orchestral jazz trumpet concerto, a lifelong dream from the Sketches of Spain days, was realized when childhood friend and conductor Kent Nagano approached Jeff to write a piece for the Berkeley Symphony. The end result, Alternate Route, is a signature piece for Jeff, representing a union of his love for orchestral and improvised music.More opportunities for scoring came about as Jeff became known around town as the eclectic, classically trained, improvising, computer savvy composer. His scores ran the gamut from the earthy world music of Guy, to the ethereal music of Nothing Sacred, to the jazz inspired score to The Passion of Ayn Rand. It was in 2000 that Jeff’s most monumental opportunity presented itself. Jeff has heard that Ed Harris was producing, directing and starring in a biographical film about artist Jackson Pollock, and his agent had submitted his music for this independent film. Learning that another composer had been selected, Jeff tried to forget about the project, but it was difficult to dismiss. When he heard that Ed Harris was once again looking for a composer, he tried not to get his hopes up. What Jeff didn’t know was that Ed Harris had already fired two composers, and kept returning to Jeff’s submitted CD of cues. When Ed finally called Jeff personally to ask him to meet on Pollock, Ed admitted he didn’t know who Jeff was…he had lost his sheet of credits, and only had that one CD. The one CD he kept playing over and over. Jeff and Ed met and spotted Pollock that same day. They had an instant rapport. Ed spoke later of Jeff’s immediate understanding of the film and his ability to translate that into musical ideas. The rest, as they say, is history.Jeff Beal now finds himself happily living the life he has always imagined for himself. Composing music, collaborating with creative individuals, traveling, playing trumpet, riding his bike, and living a rather peaceful, reclusive life with his family in the rural outskirts of Los Angeles. We hope that you enjoy browsing this site, listening to the music and learning more about this immensely talented individual. Please contact Jeff with any questions or comments on the Contact page.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Hollywood, Classical, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Mike Marshall | Mandolin Melody

March 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Mike Marshall: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It was a great pleasure to speak with musician Mike Marshall on the show today, about his newest projects and his upcoming work. His playing is always full of life, rich, touched with the heart of classical, world, jazz, folk and bluegrass music… More information about Mike from his website www.mikemarshall.net:

Mike Marshall is one of the world’s most accomplished and versatile acoustic musicians, a master of mandolin, guitar and violin whose playing is as imaginative and adventurous as it is technically thrilling. Able to swing gracefully from jazz to classical to bluegrass to Latin styles, he puts his stamp on everything he plays with an unusually potent blend intellect and emotion a combination of musical skill and instinct rare in the world of American vernacular instrumentalists.

Now living in Oakland, California, Mike grew up in Central Florida, where throughout his teens he played and taught bluegrass mandolin, fiddle and guitar. In 1979, at the age of 19, he was invited to join the original David Grisman Quintet. Mike has since been at the forefront of the acoustic music scene, playing on hundreds of acoustic-music recordings both as lead artist and ensemble performer. His 1982 Cd, Gator Strut, is a classic example of a new generation of bluegrass virtuoso instrumentalists forging new directions in this vital musical style. Throughout his career, Mike has performed and recorded with some of the top acoustic string instrumentalists in the world, including jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, fiddle virtuoso Mark O’Connor, five-string banjo phenom Bela Fleck, bassist and MacArthur Fellowship winner Edgar Meyer, and classical violinist Joshua Bell.Mike and violinist Darol Anger formed a partnership in 1983, together they formed the band Montreux with pianist Barbara Higbie, bassist Michael Manring, and steel-drum virtuoso Andy Narell. The group released five recordings on the Windham Hill label and toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan from 1984 to 1990. While continuing to be an active member of Montreux, in 1986 Mike founded a classical string quartet of mandolin family instruments — two mandolins, mandola and mandocello. The Modern Mandolin Quartet released four recordings for Windham Hill Records that redefined the mandolin in a classical-music setting. In 1995, the Quartet made its Carnegie Hall debut and, in 1996, received a “Meet The Composer” grant from the Lila Wallace Foundation.Meanwhile, Mike had traveled to Brazil and begun his love affair with choro, an indigenous music that is to Brazil what bluegrass is to the U.S. He embarked on an in-depth study of the style that resulted in the CD “Brasil (Duets).” This recording showcases Mike at the top of his form as a mandolinist in duet settings, and features top instrumentalists such as Andy Narell, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, bassist Michael Manring, and keyboardist and flutist Jovino Santos Neto. Mike has continued to push the boundaries of acoustic instrumental music. After tapping Fleck and Meyer for the “Brasil (Duets)” roject, he collaborated with the two masters on a 1997 Sony Classical release titled “Uncommon Ritual.” The album charted on the Billboard Top Ten Classical Chart, where it remained for more than three months. The follwing year, the ensemble opened the Chamber Music Series 1998 season at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Mike worked with Meyer yet again on the 1999 “Short Trip Home,” another Sony Classical recording with Joshua Bell and fiddle-and-mandolin player Sam Bush.Mike has two holiday recordings to his credit: In 1998, he released “Midnight Clear,” a solo guitar recording, and in 2000 he recorded “A Christmas Heritage” with banjo player Alison Brown, Darol Anger, mandolinist Tim O’Brien, Todd Phillips and pianist-composer Phil Aaberg. That band, called New Grange, also released an eponymous CD on Compass Records.Today Mike can be heard on the Car Talk soundtrack recording every week on NPR along with Earl Scruggs, David Grisman and Tony Rice. In addition Mike composed and recorded the theme music for the San Francisco based radio program Forum heard daily on KQED radio.Darol Anger remains an important collaborator for Mike. To date, they have released 6 albums as a duo on Compass and Windham Hill Records. Together they have also recorded under the moniker Psychograss with guitarist David Grier, banjo player Tony Trischka and bassist Todd Phillips.Over the past several years, Mike has also been collaborating Chris Thile, of Nickel Creek. The two mandolinists began playing together at festivals, and their performing together eventually evolved into a duo, recording their first album in 2003. The cd, entitled Into the Cauldron, is a mandolin duet project performed entirely on mandolin and mandocello. Into the Cauldron was released on Sugar Hill records, and was listed in the top ten of Amazon.com’s favorite recordings for 2003.As he does so engagingly in music, Mike also applies his adventurous aesthetic to his two principal hobbies: wine making and food. Already known as one of the best cooks in the music business, he has been trading guitar lessons for cooking lessons from Michael Peternell a chef at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse. “Cooking is quite a passion for me,” he told Bluegrass Now in a 2003 interview. “When I moved from Florida to join David Grisman’s band here in California, it became very evident that I was too broke to afford the food I’d grown up on! So I’d call Mom: Hey, how do you make those roasted peppers? What’s the deal with the sauce?’ Now I make all my own pastas by hand-ravioli, gnocchi, all that stuff.”Back in the realm of music, Mike is currently working on further collaborations with Darol Anger, performs intermittently with Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile and has just released a CD project with pianist Jovino Santos Neto entitled Serenata featuring the music of Hermeto Pascoal Brazil’s most important musician/composers living today. The Cd has been released on Mike¹s own label called, appropriately, Adventure Music.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, Bluegrass, Classical, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Anonymous 4 Transcript

February 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to “Sound Authors.” On the fourth segment of each show we like to feature authors of sound. One legendary group is called the Anonymous 4. They’ve sold almost 1.5 million copies of their records worldwide. They’ve been all over the radio, TV; I’ve listened to them for many years. And now they’ve started to venture into Sacred Heart music, which is a personal passion of mine as well.My guest on this show is Marsha Genensky from the Anonymous 4. Welcome to the show.

Marsha Genensky: Hi there!

Dr. Kent: Am I saying your name correctly?

Marsha: It’s Ge-nen-ski.

Dr. Kent: Ge-nen-ski. Wonderful.

Marsha: It’s a challenge every time, isn’t it?

Dr. Kent: It certainly is. Now, what’s the origin of that name?

Marsha: It’s a Russian, or somewhere out there, Jewish name. The borders were constantly changing around the time when everybody was running away from all those countries in…

Dr. Kent: There’s a wonderful place to start because I know that you are very passionate about Sacred Heart music and you’re even part of a group. Obviously the last two records “Gloryland” and “American Angels”, gorgeous albums, feature that music. How did you end up singing that genre?

Marsha: Well, before there ever was an Anonymous 4, and that was a really long time ago, I was a graduate student in folklore at the University of Pennsylvania. Some of my peers at school and I just took it up. There were a few of them who were from Texas and they had some Sacred Hearts in Texas so we formed our own little group.That was the first place that I heard it. That was only months after I had made my first trip to rural Arkansas near the Ozarks where I had been studying secular folk songs. Sacred Heart music is mostly sacred. So, I got my taste of both and that was the end of me.

Dr. Kent: That’s wonderful. I have a PhD in Classical Composition but I’m obsessed secretly with Sacred Heart and Apocalypse music. So, an interesting thing about the two Anonymous four albums is that you’re very well known for Baroque music.

Marsha: We’re actually not well known for Baroque music we’re well known for medieval music, much, much older music.

Dr. Kent: Right.

Marsha: The oldest music that we have done is from around the year 1000.

Dr. Kent: Oh my!

Marsha: And then we go up in our recordings through the 14th century. And then we make a leap to the 20th and the 21st centuries with some contemporary compositions some of which we commissioned or were commissioned for us. And then we have this sort of left turn into American music some of which is purely traditional and some of which is thought of as traditional but actually we know the authors of the hymns and we know the composers of the tunes.

Dr. Kent: Now, I do know that in the 60s they were just starting to discover this music and Charles Seeger talked about… he was one of the first to talk about, the different harmony that exists in this music. It’s sort of eerily similar to that medieval music that the Anonymous four sings as well. Do you find that connection sometimes?

Marsha: I think that’s probably what brought me, the folky, who had heard Sacred Heart and other American kinds of music to medieval music because it sounded eerily familiar to me. So, when I found myself in New York after folklore school I found myself meeting up with these three other wonderful women who wanted to try singing medieval music with higher voices and a lot of the sounds are very, very similar.

Dr. Kent: I’d love to listen to a little bit of “Merrick.” Can you give us some background info on that one?

Marsha: Well, “Merrick” is a really fun tune. We don’t really know exactly where on earth it comes from. When I first found it, it was in four; one, two, three, four but I knew it had to swing in three. I didn’t want to go against whomever it was who had written it so I looked through thousands and thousands of pages of tune books at a special collections library at UCLA and I found the same tune in three. So, we’re going to sing it in three and this is an Anonymous four arrangement of the tune.

Dr. Kent: Wonderful! This is “Merrick”[music]

Dr. Kent: That’s a beautiful song “Merrick” from the Anonymous 4’s fairly new album called “Gloryland.” Tell me a little bit about the process that brought Darol Anger and Mike Marshall in. It’s wonderful to hear that in that connection of instruments with this a cappella sound.

Marsha: Yes, in fact Darol likes to joke that this is the first a cappella recording with instruments ever.

Dr. Kent: [laughs]

Marsha: We met Darol quite a long time ago on the “Garrison Keillor Show,” “Prairie Home Companion at Town Hall.” And he was then a member of the Turtle Island String Quartet. We really enjoyed meeting him and we thought some day we should really do something with him. And of course, we went our separate ways and years passed and he left the Turtle Island String Quartet and went on to other things.Then however many years later we had done our first American Music recording, “American Angels” which really was an a cappella recording. We were just pondering what to do differently to add a little spice for the new recording that turned out to be “Gloryland”. We thought let’s do this a cappella recording with instruments.I was living in the Bay area and he was right across the Bay. So I said, “Hmm!” like that and it started like that. Then when we met he said, “Well, let’s bring Mike into the picture” and so we did. It was really a great collaboration.

Dr. Kent: It’s really a brilliant sound. I’m a fan of in particular John Tavener and I find it fascinating that a group…I’m fascinated also about the secret harp, and I think it’s pretty interesting that a group would both premier a John Tavener piece, very beautiful Asperge but extremely difficult classical music and at the same time doing the folk music interpretations. How do you connect that in your mind?

Marsha: Well, we just do music. We don’t really think too much about [inaudible]. We hear something that we really are fascinated by than we like to pursue it. As long as it works for a girl group it’s great.

Dr. Kent: [laughs] Now what are you doing solo? I’m sure you are working on some projects as well?

Marsha: Well, each of us is working on separate projects. I’m actually continuing to work on more American projects. I actually have one going for the group. This is going to be a folksong project focused on themes of girls who are on their own for whatever reason. It’s going to be called “Lost Girls.” That’s for the whole group.In addition to that I’m just starting a new project with guitarist Scott Nygaard who’s actually been touring the “Gloryland” project with us along with Darol because Mike Marshall wasn’t available to tour with us. We’ve made new best friends with Scott. He and I and another person are starting a new project together, which we hope to start doing in the summer.

Dr. Kent: Wonderful.

Marsha: Amongst us we’ve got people teaching at University, teaching voice lessons, singing oratorio, doing sound healing, it’s really quite the gamut but much of it related to music.I guess the most off-the-beaten track thing that one of us is doing is Susan, who is another founding member of the group, in addition to all her singing stuff, is a volunteer EMT.

Dr. Kent: Wow, wow!

Marsha: She lifts heavy people and drives an ambulance and things like that.

Dr. Kent: [laughs] It’s a good gamut to run. Now the website is www.Anonymous4.com and there’s a whole bunch of fun sites there as well as all the information about many albums. They’ve sold so many copies. The two latest albums have this wonderful folklore but with the incredible sound of these four women. “American Angels” is the previous one and “Gloryland” is the newest one. It’s been a real pleasure having you on the show.

Marsha: Thanks for calling.

Dr. Kent: Let’s listen to a little bit of “Just over in the Gloryland”[music]

Dr. Kent: This is the incredible sounds of the Anonymous four with special guests Darol Anger and Mike Marshall on their latest album “Gloryland.” Visit www.Anonymous4.com.My other guest on the show today were Deborah Johnson with her new fiction book, and Ron Lipsman speaking a little bit about politics. Have a wonderful week; we’ll see you the next time. Checking out with Anonymous 4.

Posted by admin | Filed Under TRANSCRIPTS, Folk, Classical, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Anonymous Four | Medieval & Folk

February 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Anonymous Four: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We spoke with Marsha Genensky on the show, one of the four stunning singers in the classical quartet Anonymous Four. She told us about their recent folk craze, as well as the early medieval music they specialize in… This interview was a great honor, and paints a small picture of the group that does Tavener and Sacred Harp in the same breath!

More information from their website www.anonymous4.com (a quote taken from the Wall Street Journal):

I first heard Anonymous 4 in 1990 on a mixed program at Music Before 1800, New York’s most important early- music series. A female quartet singing unaccompanied medieval music, the group was only a few years old: little known, unrecorded and without professional management. The singers were extraordinary. Their haunting vocalism, uncovering the depths of this harrowing music, was unlike anything I had ever heard. It was like finding a treasure in the attic. Why weren’t they famous?

Now they are. Anonymous 4’s final New York concert this Sunday evening at Music Before 1800 at the Corpus Christi Church has been sold out since the first week of April, which was also when “American Angels,” the group’s 15th recording for Harmonia Mundi, reached No. 1 on the Billboard classical chart. In the past 14 years, Anonymous 4 has become a powerhouse, popular beyond imagining for an early-music ensemble. Its recordings, which helped put its boutique record company on the map in the U.S., have sold close to 1.3 million units world-wide. When Anonymous 4 announced last February that the 2003-04 season would be its last, presenters began falling all over themselves to secure a date. The concerts have been getting standing — even screaming — ovations, which is gratifying, if a little amazing, for Anonymous 4. “Imagine if we’d had a ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ kind of last tour,” says Jacqueline Horner with a theatrical shudder.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, Classical, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

George Winston | Linus and Lucy

December 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Interview with George Winston [9:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week, we talked with world-famous pianist GEORGE WINSTON, who mused with us about his album Linus and Lucy (featuring Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts music), and about his lengthy career in the music business. He also told us that one of his next projects will be the sequel to Linus and Lucy, another piano tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts music.

Here is his complete biography from his website (www.georgewinston.com):

George Winston, best known for his melodic rural folk piano style, has made no secret of the debt his playing owes to the musicians of New Orleans. Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions–A Hurricane Relief Benefit was inspired by Winston’s desire to support the Gulf Coast after the recent hurricane related devastation. This beautiful and vast region has a mystique all its own and he has been to it many times, from Corpus Christi, to Galveston, to Lake Charles, to New Orleans, to Gulfport/Biloxi/Bay St. Louis, to Mobile, to Pensacola, to Panama City, to the Tampa Bay, to Ft. Myers, to Naples.

Winston cites the pianists of New Orleans as the biggest influences on his own piano playing. He will donate all of his artist royalties from the album to organizations involved in helping those on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans to rebuild and return – organizations such as Common Ground, ACORN, and others. He has also donated all the proceeds of his September and October 2005 concerts to the same causes. In unity with the artist, RCA Records will be donating the bulk of its net profits to benefit musicians in the New Orleans area.
Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions features six Winston compositions inspired by the Gulf Coast as well as pieces written by or influenced by six of the greatest New Orleans pianists: Henry Butler, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, and Jon Cleary. “Much of my work on the piano is studying the musical languages of the great New Orleans R&B pianists,” Winston says. “Especially Professor Longhair, the founder of the New Orleans R&B piano scene in the late 1940s who inspired so many; James Booker, whose language most influences the way I think of playing; and Henry Butler, who is the pianist I have studied the most since 1985. I’m also indebted to New Orleans pianists Dr. John, Jon Cleary, and the eminent composer/pianist Allen Toussaint.”

James Booker’s Pixie lives up to its title with a treatment that features syncopated phrases in the right hand and Booker’s trademark left hand with a moving bass line and partial chords. “James Booker was the first one to take R&B, soul music, the Blues, New Orleans music, and more, to make a solo piano style which encompassed seven different ways of playing,” Winston says.

Henry Butler’s complex composition The Breaks is full of dramatic chords and flurries. Says Winston: “Henry is the pianist I have been studying the most since I first heard him in 1985. In my view he has taken R&B piano to its pinnacle, and he is the only pianist I know of who plays the deep Blues and R&B and mainstream jazz. You need to see him live to fully experience his music.”

Creole Moon, a pensive version of the title tune from Dr. John’s 2001 album, is full of emotions that residents of The Crescent City might have felt in the aftermath of the storm.

Winston’s own compositions for Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions run the gamut from up tempo to melancholy. New Orleans Shall Rise Again, delivered in a style that is inspired by Allen Toussaint, James Booker, and Dr. John, is an ode to The City and its music, a buoyant salute to the rhythms of jazz, blues, and R&B that also tips its musical hat to Henry Butler, and Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton.

Pixie #3 (Gŏbajie) borrows its form from James Booker’s Pixie, but is delivered in a more stately tempo, marked by dancing rippling runs on the high keys. “Gŏbajie was a kitty who loved music,” Winston explains. “She would listen attentively to live playing or recordings; whenever the music stopped she would respond by singing.”

Stevenson is an emotional piece for a friend lost as a result of the hurricane. Says Winston: “This is dedicated to my dear late friend, New Orleans filmmaker Stevenson J. Palfi (1952-2005), who made the wonderful film Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together about Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, and Isidore “Tuts” Washington.”

The centerpiece of Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions is Winston’s epic arrangement of When the Saints Go Marching In, one of the oldest traditional New Orleans songs. The arrangement starts at a deliberately ominous tempo inspired by Dr. John, before breaking into the song’s familiar celebratory melody and variations inspired by James Booker. The festivities are interrupted when Winston’s left hand moves up an octave, inspired by Henry Butler, before returning to the melody. At the end of the tune he breaks into a stride piano section before ending with two hand rolls inspired by the South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (aka Dollar Brand).

The album closes gently with Blues for Fess, Beloved, a eulogy for Professor Longhair that leaves each note hanging in the air reverberating, thoughts offered to fallen friends and a region and a city struggling to get back on its feet.

Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions–A Hurricane Relief Benefit follows on the heels of Winston’s 2001 album Remembrance-A Memorial Benefit, a six song album of piano, guitar, and harmonica solos. All the artist’s proceeds from that CD are being donated to benefit those affected by 9/11. He is currently touring to support Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions and working on his next recording, Beloved-The Music of Professor Longhair.

With a tour schedule that includes more than 110 shows a year - solo piano concerts, solo guitar concerts, solo harmonica concerts, and solo piano dances, Winston is driven by a deep rooted realization that his craft is still evolving, and by his desire to bring music to life through live performances, musical interpretation of other composers’ works, and the recording and production of albums of many of those who have influenced and inspired him. Constantly traveling, he draws inspiration from the places and people he encounters.

George Winston was born in 1949 and grew up mainly in Montana, and he also spent his later formative years in Mississippi and Florida. His favorite music was instrumental rock and R&B - artists like Floyd Cramer, The Ventures, Booker T & The MG’s, the late jazz organist Jimmy Smith, and many more. “I was always an avid listener, especially to instrumental music and especially organists,” Winston recalls. “In 1967, when I heard The Doors, I started playing organ. I studied chord structures, music theory, and recordings of organists, especially the great jazz organist Jimmy Smith. In 1971 when I heard the 1920s and 1930s recordings of the great stride pianist Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller, I switched to solo piano.”
“I play three styles: New Orleans R&B piano, and the majority of songs I play are in this style; stride piano, which was the main way of playing that I worked on after hearing Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson; and third, folk piano, the style that I came up with in 1971 which is influenced and inspired by instrumental R&B and rock, North American folk music, and even more by the sounds of the piano itself. Many of the songs on my albums are in this melodic folk style, and it has a rural sensibility, the opposite of the urban sensibility of the R&B piano and the stride piano. My approach is North American and I basically treat the piano as an Afro-American tuned drum, as well as using the natural overtones that the piano has.”

In 1972 Winston recorded his first solo piano album Ballads and Blues 1972 for the late guitarist John Fahey’s Takoma Records. “I would not be doing anything that I am doing now - solo piano albums, solo instrumental concerts, and recording the great solo Hawaiian Slack Key guitarists on my own label - without John’s influence and inspiration,” Winston states. “He is certainly the only person in the world who would have recorded a solo piano album of me in 1972.” Since 1980 George has released ten more solo piano albums: Autumn (1980), Winter Into Spring (1982), December (1982), Summer (1991), Forest (1994), Linus & Lucy-The Music Of Vince Guaraldi (1996), Plains (1999), Night Divides The Day–The Music Of The Doors (2002), Montana-A Love Story (2004), and Gulf Coast Blues & Impressions-A Hurricane Relief Benefit (2006).
In 1984 George also recorded the solo piano soundtrack for the children’s story The Velveteen Rabbit with narration by Meryl Streep. In 1988 he recorded the solo piano soundtrack for the Peanuts® animation This is America Charlie Brown: The Birth of the Constitution, playing mainly the late Vince Guaraldi’s pieces. In 1995 he worked with the late George Levenson of Informed Democracy on three projects: a solo guitar soundtrack for Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes with narration by Liv Ullmann; and two soundtracks with piano, guitar, and harmonica solos for Pumpkin Circle with narration by Danny Glover, and Bread Comes to Life with narration by Lily Tomlin.

In 1983 Winston founded Dancing Cat Records to record the Masters of the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, the finger style guitar tradition unique to the Islands, which began around 1830 (and predated the steel guitar by about sixty years). As of 2006, thirty six titles have been issued in the ongoing Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters Series, recordings that have introduced many of the Slack Key guitarists to a global audience.

Since 1980, George has released eight more solo piano albums: AUTUMN (1980), WINTER INTO SPRING (1982), DECEMBER (1982), SUMMER (1991), FOREST (1994), LINUS & LUCY - THE MUSIC OF VINCE GUARALDI

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, Classical, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Gabe Shuford | Keys Virtuoso

October 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Gabe Shuford [8:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Gabe Shuford started playing the guitar first, learning to play the stride-picking method of Leo Kottke and Mississippi John Hurt. He started playing the piano in high school, and studied classical music in college. He now has a master’s degree in piano, and one in harpsichord, and in spring 2008, he will have his doctorate in Early Music performance. He is a versatile pop and jazz player as well, and his most recent project is forthcoming with musician Lars Jacobsen. Visit www.larsjacobsenmusic.com for more information and sounds from the album.

We spoke with Gabe about his music, and feature a track from his upcoming jazz album, and a track of his baroque harpsichord playing.

For more information about Gabe, visit www.stolenshack.com, www.larsjacobsenmusic.com, or Google him!

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, Classical, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Gabe Shuford Transcript

October 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors. In the fourth segment of every show, we like to showcase authors of sound, and Gabe Shuford is a special guest who is indeed that ‑ he plays the harpsichord. He won a composing competition when he was young. He won the top prize at an international harpsichord competition down in Texas recently. He’s an extraordinary baroque player, as well as, a jazz pianist and folk harpsichordist. What don’t you do, Gabe?

Gabe Shuford: Thanks that’s awfully nice. I don’t know. There are probably some things I don’t do.

Kent: Let’s chat about your upcoming project. You’ve been working with a saxophonist?

Gabe: Yeah, a friend of mine, Lars Jacobsen, who I met through another friend, Nicholas Walker, who I think you know. Lars is a great saxophonist. We started collaborating together a couple years ago, working in his studio apartment and recording some stuff with tenor sax, soprano sax, and Fender Rhodes. So, we got a great sound on the Rhodes, and it was just a blast doing that. A lot of free improvisation, it was a good time.

Kent: People can check out the music at his website.

Gabe: Yeah, you can check it out at LarsJacobsenMusic.com.

Kent: LarsJacobsenMusic.com.

Gabe: That’s right.

Kent: So, let’s listen to one of my favorite clips of you playing piano. For most of the album you play Rhodes. Now is the clip where you play piano also part of the album?

Gabe: Yeah, absolutely. And the way it happened was that we recorded some stuff with Rhodes and sax. To fill out the album, we decided to add a couple tracks that had piano in them. I like this tune a lot too.

[music]

Kent: Just a little piece of that song from Gabe Shuford and Lars Jacobsen. You can find all of the music at www.LarsJacobsenMusic.com.

Gabe: That’s right.

Kent: Now, this is jazz. It’s sort of crossover jazz and something else. But how do your worlds relate to each other? You’ve got a degree in harpsichord and you’ve won awards in early music. How does that relate to jazz? How does that relate to popular music?

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, TRANSCRIPTS, Classical, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Silken Rags | Folk Music

October 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Silken Rags [8:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On Sound Authors, both authors and musicians are featured… The sounds of authors, and the authors of sound. One segment per show will be reserved to spotlight an independent musician.

The music group interviewed on today’s show was Silken Rags, a duo of composer and pianist Peter Winkler, and his wife Dorothea Cook, violinist. Their music ranges widely in style, from jazz to classical to folk.

Winkler is a professor of classical composition at Stony Brook University in New York, and Dorothea Cook is a teacher and musician in New York as well.

Featured in this interview are two pieces of music written by Winkler, and performed by Silken Rags. The first is a segment of the tune Betty’s Creek, and the second is an excerpt from Partita for Baroque Ensemble.

Find out more about Peter Winkler at www.peterwinklermusic.com, and about Dorothea Cook at www.dorotheacook.com

Their album Stolen Shack is available from www.cdbaby.com, itunes, and through our store here.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Folk, Classical, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST