During the 2015 Newport Jazz Festival, JazzTimes set up a make-shift video production studio backstage inside the old barracks of Fort Adams. During three afternoons, a succession of artists-including Mike Stern, James Carter, Arturo O’Farrill, Scott Robinson, Frank Kimbrough, Fred Hersch, Kate McGarry, Billy Childs and many others-came in to talk about the festival, jazz education, their creative process and their own projects. You can also see more of these video interviews at the JazzTimes YouTube channel.
In this interview from Newport, organist Pat Bianchi talked about growing up in the Rochester area and about his musical development and important mentors during his formative years there. He talked about discovering jazz and the organ. Bianchi was performing at the festival with guitarist Pat Martino with whom he’s worked for several years. Bianchi talked about what he’s learned from Martino over the years. Bianchi’s latest album is A Higher Standard, which he discussed as well.
The 2016 Newport Jazz Festival is scheduled for July 29-31.
Interview by Irene Lee. Video production by Paul Park. Editing by Lee Mergner.
Pat Bianchi on discovering jazz and the organ and on working with Pat Martino:
Pat Bianchi on his album “A Higher Standard”:
