PODCAST · music
Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show
by Jeffrey Siegel
The Award-winning jazz podcast, hosted by Jeffrey Siegel.
Episodes
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Podcast 997: Previewing the 2025 Saratoga Jazz Festival with Danny Melnick
There's a new sponsor for the first big jazz festival of the season, but the same great music as always seems to be ready to go. The 2025 Saratoga Jazz Festival is sponsored by GE Vernova, and is scheduled for June 28-29 on the scenic grounds of Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). As always,...
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Podcast 996: A Conversation with Susan Hinkson
Sometimes jazz musicians get their big breaks at school, and others from mentors on the bandstand. And others…from their job in land use regulation? Such is the case for singer Susan Hinkson, whose debut album Just In Time (on windfall creations, LLC) is a spirited romp through the Great American...
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Podcast 995: A Conversation with Richard Underhill and Stich Wynston from the Shuffle Demons
You don't judge a book by it's cover, and you don't judge a band by its name. Toronto-based Shuffle Demons may sound like a retro-blues band, but in fact the sounds they have captured on their latest album, Are You Really Real? (Alma/Universal ) don't easily get categorized. There's the jazz-funk...
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Podcast 994: A Conversation with Eric Scott Reed
I last caught up with pianist Eric Reed almost two years ago, as he marked the release of his fine tribute album Black, Brown and Blue (Smoke Sessions Records). He returns to original music with his full name on the album Out Late (Smoke Sessions Records), buoyed by a killer band featuring...
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Podcast 993: New Holiday Jazz for You All
There's a bumper crop of new Holiday Jazz out there folks, so i you are looking for last minute enjoyment for Christmas and Hanukkah (and all the rest of the seasonal celebrations) you can listen to Podcast 993, featuring: Nick Maclean - "Christmas Time is Here" from his single on Browntasauras...
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Podcast 992: A Conversation with Sivan Arbel
At its heart, Oneness is Israeli-born vocalist/songwriter/arranger Sivan Arbel's musical response to the divisions she sees in society. Seamlessly blending Eastern and Western influences, she invites listeners to embrace their cultural and ideological differences and yet recognize the universal...
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Podcast 991: A Conversation with Mauricio Morales
On its own merits, the music on Seven Days, Mauricio Morales' latest album, speaks with a strong, persuasive creative voice. The respected bassist-composer-bandleader's fourth album presents seven distinctive compositions for sextet, with sophisticated shifts in mood and musical structure. In a...
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Podcast 990: A Conversation with Janis Siegel and Yoran Gershovsky
With The Colors of My Life: A Cy Coleman Songbook, Manhattan Transfer founding member and Grammy Award-Winning vocalist Janis Siegel and acclaimed pianist/arranger/musical director Yaron Gershovsky, together have co-produced their first duo songbook album. And it comes from a classic "When a door...
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Podcast 989: A Conversation with Youn Sun Nah
Long hailed for her style-blurring renditions of artists spanning Tom Waits and Jimi Hendrix to Marvin Gaye and Metallica, Elles sees Youn Sun Nah bringing her remarkable voice and unique perspective to a range of songs that have deeply fueled her own indescribable musical approach, all made…
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Podcast 988: A Conversation with Orrin Evans
No Cowards in Our Band is a musical drama telling the story of renowned activist and abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) through his own words. With the performance just days before the 2024 Presidential Election, the piece is a striking reminder of the power of the pen, the voice, and…
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Podcast 987: A Conversation with Tord Gustavsen
Tord Gustavsen has gone down many musical paths in his still-blossoming career. Classically trained and educated in musicology, Tord also has a deep knowledge of jazz, which he has seamlessly integrated with the folk and religious music of his upbringing in Oslo. In many ways a quintessential ECM...
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Podcast 986: Previewing the Hudson Jazz Festival with Cat Henry
I'm always happy to preview jazz festivals across the US on Straight No Chaser. The big ones like Newport or Monterey are always great, and regional festivals like those held in Saratoga or by NJPAC are a blast. But I have a special place in my heart for the cities and towns who present…
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Podcast 985: A Conversation with Dan Siegel
Pianist and keyboardist Dan Siegel has covered a broad swath of the jazz spectrum over the course of his four-and-a-half decade career, from straight ahead swing to sleek contemporary sounds. While that's a testament to Siegel's multi-faceted talents and restless curiosity, it's also the result…
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Podcast 984: A Conversation with Ethan Margolis AKA Emagerio
'Genre-fluid' is a great word to describe the music of guitarist Ethan Margolis, aka "Emaginario." A life-long student of music, he has traveled the world from his native Cleveland to bring African diaspora-Caribbean sounds and flamenco stylings to his musical base of the blues and folk-rock....
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Podcast 983: A Conversation with Norma WInstone
Norma Winstone has been a one of a kind musician in the jazz scene for more than fifty years. A unique artist as both jazz vocalist and lyricist, and ability to sing in ensembles from Big Bands to Avant-garde ensembles to intimate duets and trios have made each release in her distinctive career a...
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Podcast 982: A Conversation with Greg Skaff
A reliably swinging presence and facile improviser on the New York scene since the late '80s, guitarist Greg Skaff has shared the bandstand with such jazz greats as Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, David "Fathead" Newman and Ralph Peterson Jr., as well current notables like Mike LeDonne…
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Podcast 981: A Conversation with Conrad Herwig, Part Two
The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner is Conrad Herwig's latest reimagination of music from his musical heroes, and in this case, former boss on the bandstand. Backed by a band that includes his closest friends and long-time collaborators, including Craig Handy (tenor & baritone saxophone), Alex Norris...
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Podcast 980: A Conversation with Conrad Herwig, Part One
The Latin Side of McCoy Tyner is the latest installment in a critically-acclaimed series that started in 1996 with The Latin Side of John Coltrane. It's the work of Conrad Herwig, a musically gifted, bilingual artist, a master trombonist who grew up admiring jazz's greatest practitioners but, at...
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Podcast 979: Previewing the Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival with Danny Melnick
An early highlight of the summer for jazz fans in the US Northeast is always the Freihoer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, held on the grounds of the lovely Saratoga Performing Arts Center ("SPAC"). This year's lineup should please almost any jazz fan, bringing ta wide ranging lineup to two stages on…
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Podcast 978: A Conversation with Edy Forey
Those who cover music love to categorize the music and musicians we focus on. I put myself all too often into this group. What should I call it? Is it Acid Jazz? Post Bop? Downtown Loft? But far too often muscians fall in between the cracks of these often arbitrary categories, and we are left...
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Podcast 977: A Conversation with Nicola Caminiti
""In a world where it's easy to be cynical and bitter, what strikes me most about Nicola and his music is the pure joy and excitement that he brings and carries with him at all times. To be present in the euphoria of this art form is the most difficult skill the way I see it and many young…
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Podcast 976: A Conversation with Zaccai Curtis
Zaccai Curtis continues to be one of the most engaging piano players of the past decade. Whether as a band leader (alone or with his brother Luques) or backing the likes of the late Ralph Peterson, Lakecia Benjamin and Cindy Blackman Santana, his strong sense of rhythm and deep knowledge of Latin...
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Podcast 975: A Conversation with Charles McPherson, Part Two
Podcast 975 continues my conversation with the great Charles McPherson. A giant of the saxophone, Charles is a product of the rich jazz city of Detroit, where he was mentored by the late Barry Harris. His closest childhood friend was the future trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer; the two later played...
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Podcast 974: A Conversation with Charles McPherson, Part One
Reverence is Charles McPherson's first release for Smoke Sessions Records, and a few listens reveal why he's been held in such reverence for the last 64 years. The album captures a scintillating live performance from Smoke Jazz Club, where McPherson is joined by his remarkable current group...
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Podcast 973: A Conversation with Linda Purl
You've probably seen Linda Purl act more often than you've heard her sing. Besides being Richie Cunningham's girlfriend and Fonzie's fiancée on Happy Days, Matlock's daughter Charlene Matlock, and Pam's Mom/Steve Carell's girlfriend on The Office, she has had stints on Homeland, True Blood, and...
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Podcast 972: A Conversation with Dane Alderson of Yellowjackets
Since Yellowjackets' eponymous 1981 debut album, the group has hewed its own creative path, influencing colleagues with enviable compositional craftsmanship and an ever-shifting blend of influences. In many ways Yellowjackets embody both continuity and renewal, with founding pianist/keyboardist...
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Podcast 969: A Conversation with Fernando Trueba
Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal's Bossa Nova-themed animated film They Shot the Piano Player will be in wide release nationwide from Sony Classic Pictures this week. Trueba and Mariscal are the duo behind the 2012 Academy Award nominated Chico and Rita, and their latest work features a who's...
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Podcast 971: A Conversation with George Coleman, Part Two
The legendary George Coleman's latest project is a release from hard-bop supergroup One For All, an album appropriately called Big George on Smoke Sessions Records. One For All is composed of tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, trumpeter Jim Rotondi, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist David Hazeltine,...
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Podcast 970: A Conversation with George Coleman, Part One
New York's premier hard-bop supergroup, One for All has evolved over the course of its quarter-century history from a sextet of young torchbearers to an assemblage of the music's most revered traditionalists. Just how in-demand these six artists have become can be traced by the span of time that...
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Podcast 968: A Conversation with Ada Rovatti
Italy-born, Long Island, New York-based saxophonist and arranger Ada Rovatti's seventh album as a leader, The Hidden World of Piloo is deeply personal, and stylistically varied. It features six improvisationally rich instrumentals that include blues grooves, samba vibes, straight-up lyricism,...
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Podcast 967: A Conversation with Sullivan Fortner, Part Two
In Part One of our conversation, pianist and composer Sullivan Fortner talked about the creation of his latest release, the creative two-disc Solo Game. One disc is solo piano, the result of a curation in the studio with his mentor Fred Hersch, and the other electric keyboard and other musical…
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Podcast 966: A Conversation with Sullivan Fortner, Part One
The latest release from the rising star Sullivan Fortner shows off two very different sides of his musical pallet – lyrical and moving solo piano, and electronic explorations. Both will leave you wanting more, and to hear what he has next up his sleeve. Frustrated by his lack of musical outlets...
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Podcast 965: A Conversation with Giorgi Mikadze
Giorgi Mikadze (pronounced "Gih-ohr-gih Mih-kahd-zeh") is a pianist who values his heritage and roots, having been born and raised in Georgia, at the foot of the Caucasus mountains. While his training and early carer arch may have seemed typical for an aspiring jazz musician – classical training,...
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Podcast 964: A Conversation with Nitai Hershkovits
Following in the footsteps of the giants of solo piano who have recorded for ECM Records, Call on the Old Wise is Nitai Hershkovits' first record as a leader for the famous label, presenting his powerful pianistic ingenuity in a largely improvised solo setting. A veteran of Oded Tzur's quartet…
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Podcast 963: A Conversation with Buster Williams
As 2023 comes to a close, Straight No Chaser posts a few conversations with artists who produced memorable albums this year. Today's podcast features bassist Buster Williams, who released Unalome on the Smoke Sessions label this past winter. While the band on Unalome is familiar – drummer Lenny...
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Podcast 962: A Conversation with Dominic Miller
Dominic Miller may be best known to the world as Sting's "right-hand man on guitar" and co-writer of "Shape of My Heart," among the ex-Police bassist's other pop hits. But the multi-faceted Miller has a completely different outlet for his improvisatory talents as well. Vagabond is the guitarist's...
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Podcast 961: A Conversation with Ralph Towner, Part Two
On Part Two of our conversation, guitarist Ralph Towner talks about his growth as a guitarist from his early days playing trumpet and piano, through his time with influential bands like the Paul Winter Consort and Oregon, and then his many solo, duo and trio recordings. We talk about his work…
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Podcast 960: A Conversation with Ralph Towner, Part One
At the age of 83, guitarist Ralph Towner continues to write, perform and improvise on the highest of musical levels. He has been an ECM artist for more than fifty years, appearing in many different contexts, one of the most important being a run of solo recordings which began with Diary in 1973.…
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Podcast 959: A Conversation with Christine Jensen
One of the few positives of the horrid COVID pandemic that shook the music world to its core has been the release of musci composed during those uncertain days. Alton and soprano saxophonist Christine Jensen's lastest album, Day Moon (Justin Time Records) stands as a shining example of how a…
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Podcast 958: A Conversation with Sean Mendelson
For the first time ever, the complete Vince Guaraldi soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, the timeless 10th animated Peanuts special, from writer and creator Charles Schulz, director Bill Melendez and Phil Roman and producers Melendez and Lee Mendelson. Originally airing on November 20…
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Podcast 957: A Conversation with Michael Dease and Gregg Hill
Perennial DownBeat Critics Poll winner trombonist Michael Dease has embraced his role as a torchbearer for his mentors and the great jazz ancestors over his 15 deeply-swinging, state-of-the-art mainstream recordings. For The Other Shoe (Origin Records), Dease teams with the formidable composer...
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Podcast 956: A Conversation with Jon Cowherd
Keyboardist Jon Cowherd has been on my list of interview subjects for a long time, and after an unconscionable delay, Podcast 956 features him and his latest release, a trio album on the Le Coq Records imprint called "Pride and Joy." And what a trio it is - Cowherd joined by long-time friend and...
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Podcast 955: A Conversation with Douyé
As a fan of the Great American Songbook (and really, who isn't?) I'm always looking for new and different approaches to these storied songs. Enter the Nigerian born singer Douyé, whose latest release The Golden Sèkèrè, is a wonderful meld of polyrhythms, swing and soul. Having grwon up listening…
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Podcast 954: A Conversation with Joe Alterman about Les McCann
Pianists Joe Alterman and Les McCann make something of an odd couple. The pair are separated in age by more than half a century; McCann is confined to a medical rehab facility in Los Angeles, while Alterman left New York City to return to his native Atlanta, Georgia six years ago. But since their...
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Podcast 953: A Conversation with Omer Klein
Listeners to Straight No Chaser know I have great fondness for the music of the piano trio, an art I consider one of the highest forms of jazz in terms of improvisation and collaboration. The music these groups make grows richer over time, so those groups that stay together can often take their...
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Podcast 952: A Conversation with Eric Reed
"I'm freer than I've ever been in my personal life, and I'm freer than I've ever been in my music. I'm accepting who I am. I love who I am. And as I continue to evolve – my artistry, my sexuality, and my overall humanity – my music will continue to become more and more personal" - Eric Reed…
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Podcast 951: A Conversation with Wayne Escoffery
Wayne Escoffery was riding high the morning I spoke with him. And why not? Just that weekend he had become the first person of color to conduct a performance of Charles Mingus' epic "Epitaph.," a piece he had played before under the direction of Gunther Schuller. His latest album, Like Minds, ws...
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Podcast 950: A Conversation with Tomer Cohen
A new face on the New York jazz scene, 25-year-old guitarist-composer Tomer Cohen made his debut as a leader earlier this year with the release of Not the Same River, an album that shows how painting with sound and silence can create often striking musical moods. Accompanied by the highly...
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Podcast 949: A Conversation with Joe McCarthy
If you think Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's remarkable, 1960 interpretation of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet, The Nutcracker, is the final jazz word on the popular orchestral work, think again. Performed by drummer/leader Joe McCarthy's New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band, The Pan...
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Podcast 948: Previewing the Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival with Danny Melnick
If it's June, then jazz festival season must be underway. As always, the early highlight for me is Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, held in lovely Saratoga Springs' Performing Arts Center June 24-25. Impressario Danny Melnick has a strong lineup for the festival this year, with acts performing...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Award-winning jazz podcast, hosted by Jeffrey Siegel.
HOSTED BY
Jeffrey Siegel
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