The Live Music Show with Howard Britz: Recent Episodes
howardbritz
'Oceans' is a composition I wrote some time ago, first recorded on my 2008 CD "Here I Stand" This is a trio version with myself on both bass & piano, Eric Halvorson plays drums. We recorded the bass & drum tracks 1st in 2019 then I overdubbed the piano on this track on 3/24/20.
Trombonist, arranger, composer and band leader Noah Bless joins me in this episode, a native of Cincinnati, OH he came to NYC in the early 90s to Manhattan School of Music where he quickly got involved the very active latin/salsa scene that was going on at that time, as a great reader, he became in demand for section work, recording sessions and over time actually started leading bands and booking his own musicians. He became fascinated with latin music and learning about clave, the root of latin music and deeply studied the music. Noah recently had an opportunity to put together a large ensemble to celebrate HBOs documentary, 'The Latin Explosion.' on the huge influence that latin music and culture has had in the USA, the ensemble is named 'The Latin Explosion All Stars' and features many of the top players from the salsa scene. I met Noah a few years ago and was fortunate enough to do a few gigs with him and was impressed by his creativity and energy, I was great to be able to get him into the studio to play, hang out and chat about his life and music, he even brought over a loaf of fresh home baked bread to the session!
I first met Brian Charette in 1998 when I moved to NYC, he was in his 20s and already playing great piano, since then he has developed a fantastic career as one of the most important Jazz organists on the scene. In our conversation he talked about how it was kind of a happy accident that he went that direction after being called to do a gig on organ the day of the one he'd ordered arriving when he didn't ever really know how to play it yet. Everything that followed flowed from that gig, such are the breaks that often define a musicians life. We had a great time playing, this was a rare opportunity these days for Brian to play piano, not organ and it was a great pleasure for me to play with him after all these years. He's a deeply thoughtful person about music and life and the conversation was fascinating. Enjoy this episode with one of the most creative musicians on the NYC scene today.
Harmonica and vibes player Hendrik Meurkens describes himself as a New Yorker, an immigrant and American citizen for better or worse. He grew up in Hamburg, Germany and early on become attracted to American Jazz and Brazilian music. He came to the US at first to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston as a vibes major but during his time there was secretly practicing Harmonica after hearing what the great Toots Thielemans could do on the instrument. He was reluctant to play in on that instrument in public at first until he felt he'd reached a high level. After Berklee, he spent a year in Brazil studying the music up close, then a time back in Germany when he began to tour as a harmonica as well as vibes player, he moved back the US, to NYC where he's been since 1992 forging a highly individual path as a creative musician and bandleader and has been one of the major forces in fusing Brazilian music and jazz, which he likes to call Samba Jazz. He released 6 albums on the Concord Label as well as many other recordings. Also returning to the studio for this episode, pianist and long time collaborator with Hendrik, Misha Tsiganov who was featured two episodes ago on this show. Some beautiful music and interesting and provocative conversation on this show. Tunes this week are, Hendricks 'Second Waltz' Jobim's 'If You Never Come To Me' and Hendrik's tune 'Slidin' Enjoy Howard
Matt Fries is one of the busiest Jazz musicians on the New York scene, on any given week if he's not touring he can be seen at one of three residencies around the City as well as many other venues. He grew up in a small town in PA and originally went to college for science at Ithaca NY but whilst there he got interested in music and hooked on Jazz, changing to the small Jazz program that Ithaca College offered at the time. Choosing to do a Masters degree he ended up in Tennessee studying with the great pianist composer Donald Brown (ex Art Blakey.) Eventually Brown told him that he had to move to New York to hone his playing. Since doing that he has become one of the most in demand players on the scene. This was a really fun conversation, we talked about mentors, inspiration, the hard work of trying to become a good musician and knowing the history of the music. The tunes this week are 'Clockwork' & 'The Man From Memphis' both by Matt Fries and 'You and the Night and the Music'
Trumpeter Dave Scott grew up in Kansas City and remembers seeing Cannonball Adderley's group as a teenager and knowing that he wanted to play Jazz. He lived in NYC in the late 70s, moving back to Kansas then California, becoming an educator before moving back to NYC in 2000. Leonard Thompson is California born and raised, his father was a Jazz pianist who also taught but even though he took lessons as a kid, it wasn't till he was in college that he got interested in Jazz seriously and considered it as a profession, going back and forth between NYC and CA. Dave has played in lots of different styles of Jazz from Dixieland to free but on this show we were the Jazz standards realm, songs this week are 'Beautiful Love', 'You Don't Know What Love Is' & 'I'm Old Fashioned'
Freddie Hendrix is one the leading trumpet players around, he can sizzle on the trumpet and play intimately on the flugelhorn. Born and bred in Teaneck NJ, he started on guitar, switched to violin then finally settled on trumpet after hearing the band director play, the sound of the horn spoke to him. A neighbor lent him his vinyl jazz collection and he was hooked. He's played in the bands of bassist Rufus Reid and the week of the release of this show he will be appearing with the great bassist, Ron Carter's big band at Birdland. Freddie recently released his first CD as a leader, 'Jersey Cat', and it reveals his skill as a composer as well as player. We got to play two of his compositions on the show, 'Whims of A Waltz' and the title track of the CD 'Jersey Cat' we also played one of mine and Freddie's favorite ballads, 'You Don't Know What Love Is' . I mostly stuck to bass for this episode except for the ballad where I went over to the piano. Our conversation was wide ranging, Freddie's musical education, mentors, inspirations, the differences between trumpet and flugelhorn, composition and the Jazz life. This was a lot of fun, enjoy the conversation and the music.
This week on the show, bass Jim Whitney and drummer Eric Halvorson. Jim has worked for many years in both the Jazz and Bluegrass scene holding down the bass chair since the late 90s with virtuoso clarinetist and mandolin player, Andy Statman, he recently released a CD of his own music and we get to play one of his compositions on the show. I crossed over with Jim as students at New England Conservatory in Boston around '94. Bass gets a big feature on this show and Jim has a beautiful sonorous sound. Eric Halvorson is the consummate NYC working musician, he came to NYC to be a Jazz musician but he can be found in Broadway Shows, Singer/Songwriters, Cabaret, Funk and R&B. He's a member of '718' a sort of funky Jam band centered around processed Rhodes and synth sounds. He's a good friend of mine and we've worked together numerous times including on my most recent CD 'The Feeling of Jazz' . He's a great Jazz player who just happens to be great at a lot of other things too, or as he puts it "I like to play the drums" Enjoy our musical offerings and conversation. Tunes this week are 'My Heart Belongs to Daddy' Jim composition 'Solar Shower' and Monk's 'Ask Me Now'
This week on the show, the great guitarist and educator, Sheryl Bailey. It took a while to fix a date given her incredibly busy schedule but we finally got one. She came into the studio, it was well worth the wait, not only is Sheryl one of the best most swinging guitarists on the scene today but she is also shared some of the many insights into the process of music making, learning and teaching music gained from a career of playing, recording, touring all over the world and as professor of guitar at Berklee College of Music and her online classes and lectures. We had a really good time, played three tunes, had some laughs and generally had a great hang. Hope you enjoy this show, I'm on the bass, Sheryl, well you know! Repertoire this time is; 'The Man I Love' 'Alone Together' & 'Tenor Madness'
This week my guest on the show is pianist Misha Tsiganov. Misha was already a busy working musician in his home town of St. Petersburg, Russia when he got an invitation to come to the United States from Berklee College of Music in Boston, arriving there in the early 90s he only stayed a short time in Boston before moving to New York City where he established himself as one of the most in demand pianists around. He's a great jazz piano player and is equally at home in the Afro-Cuban as Brazilian music scenes as much as straight ahead contemporary Jazz. He's also a composer and bandleader who recently released his second CD for the Criss Cross label. I've had the opportunity to play with Misha a few times and it's always been a blast so I was curious to find out how he came up and how the transition from Russia to America has affected him and his music. We had a great time playing and hanging together and a good conversation. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Howard
Bennett Paster is a pianist, organist, keyboards player and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. We go back a fair way, I met Bennett when we were both students at New England Conservatory and he had shoulder length hair. Bennett know a lot of music, he's a Jazz musician but he has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of pop, R&B, Motown and pretty much everything in between which he uses to great effect in his role as top call session musician and owner of a recording studio, Benny's Wash & Dry in Brooklyn. He's a prolific composer, even writing music on planes away from the piano, something I've never felt comfortable doing. This was great to have an old friend on the show and good to be back playing the double bass, my first instrument, after a bit of a layoff when I was focussing on piano. We played 'Regina' by Michel Petrucciani, Bennett's composition 'Percocet Smile' and my song 'Paris' Enjoy.
Jason Brown and Gary Wang are two of the busiest musicians on the New York scene. Drummer Jason is currently playing and touring with the great organist Joey Defrancesco and bassist Gary can be seen all over town and tours with musician/performance artist Taylor Mac. Jason grew up in the Bronx in the early 80s before moving to the suburbs and heard all the hip hop, latin and funk grooves in the neighbourhood whilst playing classical clarinet at school, only coming to the drums later against the wishes of his band director and parents. Gary played throughout his teens but never considered being a professional musician until after he'd earned a degree in computer science from Columbia University in NYC. They're both fine musicians and as bass player myself, I have a special appreciation for Gary's tone, steady beat and musicality. This was a lot of fun, we played, 'My Ideal', 'I Remember You' and Monk's 'Evidence'.
Ivan Renta, is a tenor saxophonist from Puerto Rico. At the age of 17 he came to NYC to study at the New School, he's been playing around the city and around the world ever since. One of the early members of the then, Lincoln Center's Afro Latin Jazz Orch. now the Afro Latin Orchestra with Arturo O'Farrill, he is a mainstay of the Latin and Latin Jazz scene in the city. He's got some great stories like getting the call to come and record with Tito Puente whilst still in school, playing with Eddie Palmieri, Paquito D Rivera being mentored by Mario Rivera and touring the world with Arturo O'Farrill's ALO and many others. He recalled his shock and delight at finding Kenny Kirkland & Jeff Tain Watts playing at an Italian restaurant in Manhattan in the mid 90s, laying it down whilst people were eating and drinking, an introduction to some of the many contradictions that are New York City! This was a fun one, lots of laughs, I learned a lot and we played some good music, my composition 'Used To Be', the beautiful ballad 'Laura' and Keith Jarrett's great (but terribly titled) song 'Late Nite Willie' Enjoy.
Marianne Solivan is a true Jazz vocalist in the tradition of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McCrae etc, she swings, sings the blues, takes chances and has fun while she's doing it, she's also passionate about the American Songbook often finding forgotten or underused gems of songs and making them her own. From her childhood growing up with parents who were both Pastors in the Baptist and Pentecostal Church she was always singing but didn't really discover her love for Jazz until later on. Marianne is a character, not shy about her views on music and life, we had a great conversation and played 'Devil May Care' 'I Wanna Be Loved' and 'Close Your Eyes' together. Enjoy.
Sax and multi reeds player Jay Rodriguez moved to NYC at 3 years old from Columbia, he's never left the area since, recognized for his musical talent at an early age, he was given free lessons by the classical virtuoso father of the famed Cuban saxophonist, Paquito D'Rivera, later he studied with Jazz great Phil Woods and was mentored by Mario Rivera. Jay is an eclectic musician to say the least, he plays many instruments because he needs those different sounds for his vast musical palette, from playing Salsa with Tito Puente, to touring with Pop/R&B great Prince he's taken in all the influences of music and culture in New York from the 70s and on. In the 1990s he was part of the highly successful group, the Groove Collective which tapped into the growing DJ culture and fused it with Jazz. We had a fun, wide ranging conversation and played some music that reflected some of Jay's many musical leanings with the standard, Golden Earrings, Ornette Coleman's Kathlin Gray and Jay's own 'March 30th'. Enjoy.
Nobuki Takamen, grew up in a suburb of Hiroshima, Japan as a child he heard the guitar of Paul Simon on 'Sound of Silence' and knew he had to learn to play it, not being from a musical family he asked his mother what it was and she said, 'guitar', Nobuki says, "if she'd have said ukulele then I would have been a ukulele player now". Paul Simon led to Eric Clapton the blues, a local fusion guitarist showed him some of what's possible in the instrument. Blues and rock led to a passion for Jazz and coming to study and play in the US where he now lives just outside NYC. We had a great conversation, ranging from dealing with college when you barely speak the language to gymnastics and we played some cool music.
I was very fortunate to have the English guitarist and new New York resident, Phil Robson and American bassist Peter Brendler on the show this week, both Phil and Peter are composers and bandleaders too, we played one of Peter's songs. It was great to talk about our UK connections with Phil and got into thoughts about the creative process and even sports statistics with Peter (didn't see that coming.) Both these guys are monster players, I had a blast playing and talking to them.
Greg Glassman is great trumpeter and proponent of Jazz music, he should be, he had mentors like the legendary Duke Ellington trumpet master Clark Terry and Detroit native, Marcus Belgrave. He a fixture on the New York scene with a long running residency at the NYC institution that is 'Fat Cat' a billiards, table tennis & Jazz establishment (only in New York!). We talked about Dizzy Gillespie and played his composition 'Con Alma' , mentorship in music and the importance of protecting our love for the music. Greg is a thoughtful, intelligent person & that comes out in his music. Good talk.
Dylan Taylor is a bassist and composer from Philadelphia PA, he started off on cello at school and was encouraged to play bass thinking it would be an easy transition, not so easy, he said, yep upright bass is a serious undertaking, I know that. Dylan learnt on the gig, when a bandleader of a restaurant gig he had early on asked him if he played upright, he'd just started but said yes anyway, after that the guy said, leave the electric bass at home from now on, so Dylan figured it out as he went along, it all seems to have worked out though because he's a great bass player now as you'll hear. Also I remenis about the Jazz scene in Philly where I lived from '96 - '98 which Dylan says is as vibrant as ever.
Tim Armacost is a saxophonist and composer, son of a American diplomat who spent large chunks of time in Japan (he speaks fluent Japanese)and India absorbing the culture and language whilst developing a passion for Jazz which he now plays in the US and around the world. Yoshi Waki is a first call double and electric bassist in NYC, from Japan, who first came to the US when he was 5 years old then after returning to Japan came back to the US to attend Berklee College of music at 19. It was fascinating to listen to these two superb musicians talk about some of their overlapping experiences in Japan and the US and play some swinging music together in the studio.
This week on the Live Music Show Podcast we have the bassist, composer Mary Ann McSweeny, long time New York City first call musician for Jazz, Broadway, singer songwriters and classical music. Mary Ann is a natural musician who studied classical piano as a child practicing four hours a day, won competitions, played conciertos with orchestras before picking up the violin then eventually the bass. We talk about how she got to study with world famous bassists, Ray Brown and John Clayton, came to New York from CA and her incredibly varied career. We play Monk, Ellington and an original of mine together, fun interview.
This week on the show while I was in England we present some more great tracks from the archive, featuring, wow!, some amazing musicians, Donny McCaslin (David Bowie), George Colligan, John Swana, Uri Caine, Sylvia Cuenca, David Smith, Casey Benjamin, Eric Halvorson, Bill Moring and Ellio Villafranca. It was nice to see my old friend, Queen Elizabeth II who just dropped by to hang out during the show, great jazz fan that she is (WARNING this last sentence may contain NO facts) I had a great time putting this together, hope you enjoy the music from 1997 - 2013.
This week on the show, while I'm away in England at my sister's wedding drinking more tea than usual, I've taken the opportunity to go into the vaults of my recordings to share with you a few gems from my previous albums/CDs. It's a pleasure to be able to share music made with such fine musicians as Jacques Schwarz-Bart (tenor) Terrion Gully (Drums) James Hurt (piano) George Colligan (piano) Casey Benjamin (Alto) David Smith (trumpet) John Swana (trumpet) Sylvia Cuenca (drums) Eric Halvorson (drums) Bill Moring (bass) and Donny McCaslin (tenor)
I talk about the recordings, of the impact of first hearing the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio in the Mid 80s and how it seemed to affect the Jazz scene in London at the time. There's a track I specially recorded for the show that I hope recalls that vibe in my own way. I hope that you enjoy episode 4 of the LMS podcast and if you haven't checked them out, all previous episodes are at iTunes or Soundcloud.
Tal Ronen, is an Israeli double bassist living in NYC, I remember when he first came to New York because we crossed over briefly at City College CUNY, he on the way in, me on the way out. The word was, look out, this guy is great! well they weren't wrong, Tal has a big beat, beautiful sound and melodic swinging solos, he also, as it turned out was a great conversationalist and I had a great time finding out from him about Jazz in Israel and the link to NYC and his thoughts on the role of the bass in Jazz. Some really nice music and great conversation on this episode.
The weekly podcast featuring live music recorded at my studio in Brooklyn by myself and and some of the finest musicians around New York City. In addition to the music, I will be trying to find out the backgrounds of the musicians, what keeps us motivated and what we're working on.
This week we feature the wonderful young trumpeter, Pasha Karchevsky. From Siberia, Russia Pasha's fascination with Jazz brought him to New York City, where he's playing all over town. It's a great indication of how the power that Jazz has to cross cultural and physical boundraries to reach & inspire people all over the world. We talk about his background and how he discovered Jazz in the interview later. Enjoy the music and as always, love to read your comments
The weekly podcast featuring live music recorded at my studio in Brooklyn by myself and and some of the finest musicians around New York City. In addition to the music, I will be trying to find out the backgrounds of the musicians, what keeps us motivated and what we're working on.
Episode 1 has me at the piano playing one of my compositions 'Journey' that was originally recorded on my first CD 'The Future The Past' featuring, John Swana tpt. Uri Caine pno, Byron Landham dm & myself on bass plus the beautiful standard 'Old Folks'.
Today and every Tuesday, I hope you'll check the podcast to hear some good music and see who's dropping by.
Please leave (polite) comments if you're so inclined and thanks in advance for checking it out.