Singer Tierney Sutton’s band were in deep discussion five minutes before their live in-studio performance on KPLU last Wednesday, trying to decide which three songs to play for our audience. It was just one example of how interconnected each member of this quartet really is. We learned more about each band member’s extra-musical skills were [...]

In the first generation of be-bop musicians, Ray Brown was King of the Jazz Bass.  Today, the ‘go-to’ jazz bassist is Christian McBride, so we felt quite lucky when he said he had the time to stop into to KPLU studios for a performance with pianist, Peter Martin. Christian talked about his formative years, the [...]

When pianist Lynne Arriale released her first CD in 1994, KPLU began playing music from it right away. It was clear to us that Lynne had that “something extra” that separates good musicians from great musicians. Over the course of her career she’s continued to build on that quality, so we were especially pleased to [...]

By Justin Steyer & Abe Beeson Tenor saxophonist/composer, Benny Golson is now in his second half-century as a touring and recording jazz artist.  He began performing almost 60 years ago and recorded his first LP as a bandleader 55 years ago … and if his stop by the Jazz24 studios last week with pianist, Sharp [...]

    Blues singer and harmonica player, Kim Wilson, thinks it’s very healthy for people to drop their emotional guard every now and then and let themselves get smacked around by a great blues performance. And he should know.  He’s been doing a fair amount of the smacking for almost 40 years with his bands, [...]

“If you’ve got music in your heart, you’re gonna be a happy person, no matter what.” That’s what trumpeter Arturo Sandoval told KPLU’s Jazz on the Grooveyard host Kevin Kniestedt, as he recalls growing up in rural Cuba and having a trumpet teacher tell him (at age 10) that he had no talent and should [...]

  In November, Chick Corea celebrated his 70th birthday with four weeks of concerts at The Blue Note in New York. However, when he walked into the KPLU studios in early December it was impossible to see him as a 70-year-old man. He looks 20 years younger, acts 40 years younger and plays piano with [...]

It would seem that jazz vocalist, Sophie Milman is in motion constantly.  She was born in Russia, raised in Israel and moved to Canada when she was in her late teens.  Now, at age 27, she’s just released her 6th CD and seems to be perpetually on tour. With someone moving as fast as Sophie, [...]

19-year-old saxophonist/singer, Grace Kelly is immensely gifted.  She’s also a lot of fun to hang around with.  Right before this studio session, interviewer Kevin Kniestedt asked her if she had already chosen the songs she would be performing that day. She said she might not know what songs she’d be doing until she did them, [...]

John Scofield is one of the most innovative and genre-bending guitarists in jazz.  Over the years, his great talent and eclectic tastes have garnered him a huge international following; a following which includes a lot of people who didn’t know they liked jazz until they heard Scofield. On a recent swing through Seattle, Scofield, along [...]

When Joe Sample (piano), Wilton Felder (saxophone), and Wayne Henderson (trombone) moved from Houston to LA to being their collective recording career, they called their band The Jazz Crusaders.  Their focus was acoustic be-bop tinged with R&B and soul music.  In 1971, they dropped the word ‘Jazz’ from their name, began delving into jazz-funk and [...]

Brazilian-born, New York-based pianist/vocalist, Eliane Elias, has covered a lot of musical territory in her recording career.  Some of her CD’s have been straight-ahead be-bop. Others have focused on Brazilian music. She has also very successfully transformed familiar pop tunes into fresh-sounding jazz. In this interview, KPLU’s Nick Francis asks Eliane how she balances all [...]

In this studio session, we welcomed Donald Harrison (alto saxophone, congas) and Glen David Andrews (trombone), both of whom were born in New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood, cut their musical teeth on the music of Treme, and can be seen in the HBO television series, Treme. Currently they’re also part of an ever-changing line-up of New [...]

Relive last week’s studio session with vocalist/pianist, Karrin Allyson, who was joined by guitarist Rod Fleeman. Karrin has just released a CD called Round Midnight, which explores heartbreak. The first song she performed in this studio session was Paul Simon’s April Come She Will, from the new CD. “Choosing the material [for the CD] was [...]

When Julian Lage was 8 years old, his skill as a guitarist was the subject of a documentary film, Jules at Eight. Before he entered his teens, he had already performed with Carlos Santana and jazz vibraphonist, Gary Burton. He made his first jazz recording with Burton at age 15, and at age 22 he [...]

We were pleased to welcome jazz violin virtuoso, Regina Carter to the KPLU studios on June 1 for a unique performance and interview with Evening Jazz host, Abe Beeson. Accompanying Carter were Will Holshouser on accordion, and Yacouba Sissoko on the kora, a beautiful and unique African harp. The trio performed two selections from Carter’s [...]

Pianist, vocalist, producer and songwriting legend (and Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame inductee), Allen Toussaint stopped by the Jazz24 studios on June 1 and took us on a sweet and uplifting trip to New Orleans with his music. Mr. Toussaint has crossed many paths in his illustrious career in music. He has produced, written [...]

Pianist, Taylor Eigsti and vocalist/guitarist, Becca Stevens, stopped by the KPLU Seattle studios on May 16th to brighten an otherwise rainy Monday afternoon in the Pacific Northwest with an performance and interview, hosted by Evening Jazz host Abe Beeson. Both artists are in the process of building strong solo careers for themselves.  However, their paths [...]

Live sessions in the KPLU Performance Studio are always fun.  However, when saxophonist, Joe Lovano, stopped by with his group, Us Five, it was more than fun.  It was also an honor. New York Times jazz critic, Ben Ratliff, put it very succinctly: “It’s fair to say that (Lovano’s) one of the greatest musicians in [...]

Some jazz singers excel at singing standards. Others excel at scat-singing or vocalese (writing lyrics for instrumental improvisations and singing them). However, Grammy award-winning vocalist Kurt Elling can do it all. He easily proved it in front of a small studio audience of Leadership Circle members on April 15th with along with two long-time musical [...]