Tell us about how you got into playing drums and what you get out of it. “I started out around 14 at my secondary school in London. Luckily the drum teacher at the time was a jazz drummer and he hipped me to the likes of Max Roach, Tony Williams and more early on. […]
Clarinettist Arun Ghosh discusses his music, ahead of his appearance at the 2016 South Coast Jazz Festival this month. Did you always want to be a clarinettist? “I always wanted to be a musician, ever since I started playing the recorder at primary school! I got the bug, played it all the time […]
Brian O’Connor has been photographing jazz musicians since the 1970s and has photographed a number of jazz legends. Here he talks about his images and his upcoming exhibition at the South Coast Jazz Festival. How did you first get into jazz? “Although I enjoyed pop music of the late 50’s you would occasionally […]
Charlie Anderson: I last interviewed you a year ago, what have you been doing since? Alex Garnett: “Hi Charlie, nice to talk to you again. Since we last spoke I’ve been busy, I feel blessed. Apart from a myriad of one-offs and rent jobs, I'm a regular part of the Ronnie Scott's team and I have […]
Acclaimed pianist John Law talks to Charlie Anderson about his latest project set around Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Tell us about your latest project, performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations. How did that come about? “Because I’m originally from classical music, Bach is something that I play pretty much every day. For me it’s like praying […]
Multi-reeds player and arranger Robin Blakeman has recently collaborated with vocalist Tina May. Here he talks about his life in music. [Photo: Robin Blakeman with James Moody] Tell us how you first got into music. “I was raised in the Anglo-Catholic religion (though now I have none) and my love for music originates from […]
Tell us about your Tetra project and the new album. “I met Kit Downes and James Maddren through a bass player called Euan Burton, we did some gigs together in Scotland, I was surprised that they knew some of my tunes. Sam Lasserson, I found after a bit of research after getting some recommendations […]
Up and coming saxophonist Dan Cartwright has recently appeared in Terry Pack’s Trees ensemble and been a guest at The Bristol Bar in Brighton. Here he talks to SJM about how he started out and who his influences are. How did you first get into jazz? “Well, I always knew it was there. […]
Tell us about your new album, Into Forever, and how that came about. “It was a slightly different record to the previous five albums that I’ve done. They’re all jazz records inspired by modal jazz. With this one I wanted to be much more like a composer/producer role. I was more focussed on the […]
Bassist, composer and record label owner Michael Janisch took time from his busy touring schedule to talk about his latest album, Paradigm Shift. Tell us about your latest album Paradigm Shift. “It's been four years since I originally recorded the music for my next solo double-disc album Paradigm Shift and the music was […]