Smooth-jazz artists started out like most modern jazz players, collecting records, hanging out at gigs and copping licks from their bop, cool and fusion forefathers. Eighteen of smooth’s most revered practitioners tell us about the jazz luminaries who influenced and inspired them.
Wynton Marsalis came to New York as a teenager to attend Juilliard. In the decades since he’s become the public face of jazz in the city. The renowned trumpeter looks back and shares his reflections with David French.
The saxophone colossus turns 75 in September. Fellow tenor player Joshua Redman speaks to the master about his life, music and forthcoming live CD, recorded just days after 9/11. Plus, fellow musicians weigh in on the significance of Sonny.
Lyle Mays, both in tandem with Pat Metheny and on his two mid-’80s outings as a leader for Geffen (Lyle Mays and Street Dreams), has … Read More “Lyle Mays: Shop Talk”