Mark Hollingsworth

On his current CD, Chasing The Sun, smooth jazz artist and producer Mark Hollingsworth blew it in a big way. The popular saxophonist and flautist could have gone in a more traditional direction with his music to ensure the album’s success, but he defied conventional wisdom and blew it.  We are of course referring to the fact that Hollingworth simply used a lot of wind to play four different saxophone voices (soprano, tenor, alto, and baritone), a vast array of flutes, clarinets and penny whistles for his daring and imaginative arrangements.  

“I set out to create an album that might be difficult to categorize. If we had referred to it as eclectic, people would not have known what that meant. I am not sure quite what I want to call it. When I started to conceive this album, I felt like the direction of smooth jazz in recent years had been getting narrower and narrower, as it became more exclusive rather than inclusive. The guys that I work with can do all this and more. I wanted to go outside the box to say that there are a lot more possibilities out there. I wanted to make this album as fun as we could make it, and take advantage of the things that we can do, to see if people liked it,” says Hollingsworth in commenting on the vision that he had as he set out to create the upbeat, tracks with the lively grooves that we hear on his CD. 

Geoffrey Keezer©Brad Buckman

“A refreshingly open-eared sensibility in the modern manner, and he has more than enough virtuosity and sheer musical wit and intelligence to weave all of his apparently disparate strands of influence into an original and compelling whole.” –Time Magazine

Interest in global music is neither new in jazz nor new to American pianist Geoffrey Keezer. Jazz from its inception melded cross-continental influences, predominately the rhythms of Africa and the Caribbean with the forms and instrumentation of European cultures, and the pervasive influence of other world traditions has been evident throughout the genre’s evolution. And Keezer, one of the most respected performers and composers on the scene today, has already consummated projects based on the folk roots of Hawaii (Falling Up, MaxJazz 2003, with slack-key guitarist Keola Beamer) and Okinawa’s Ryukyu Islands (Yasukatsu Oshima with Geoffrey Keezer, JVC Victor 2007). It’s perfectly logical in the development of both jazz and Keezer, then, that new interest has surged in Afro-Peruvian music. For Geoffrey Keezer, the attraction has pushed him to his newest project on ArtistShare, Áurea.

Carolyn Leonhart©Manuel Apaz

Jazz vocalist and composer Carolyn Leonhart has always been surrounded by gifted artists. Her father Jay Leonhart is a highly respected acoustic double bass player; her mother was a talented singer who left a promising professional career to focus on raising her family; and her husband Wayne Escoffery, besides being a very talented tenor saxophonist, is considered to be one of jazz music’s most insightful composers and arrangers. In addition, a few months ago Leonhart came off of an extensive tour with Steely Dan, whom she first joined straight out of high school. In some ways all of those experiences have, as one would expect, contributed to who the singer is today. However, Leonhart has served notice with her new CD, If Dreams Come True, that she is establishing a significant legacy of her own.

Randy Brecker©Merri Cyr

I walked into the green room at the Triple Door in Seattle, Washington last November, and there he was, with his trademark hat on his head, his Sean Connery-like beard, dressed in blue jeans, and sitting on a chair in the center of the room. In some ways it was a little like being ushered into a room with royalty. Grammy Award winner Randy Brecker seemed a little bit wary of the journalist who was about to pepper him with questions that he probably presumed he had heard hundreds or perhaps thousands of times before and could answer in his sleep. Brecker is a jazz icon, and for the first time in a long time, I was feeling just a bit intimidated about doing an interview. I took a little bit of comfort knowing that if he was mean to me, I was also here to review his performance, as one of the musicians in Brian Bromberg’s Downright Upright All Star Band. The comfort didn’t last long and the nervousness soon returned. What was I going to do, be the only person on the planet to ever diss the legendary trumpeter Randy Brecker?

Darren Rahn

“It is great to look to the guys who are most successful in the business, and ask what they have done, but I would say without exception that the greatest [artists] are the ones that when they play one or two notes, you automatically know who they are,” says Denver Colorado native Darren Rahn, and he ought to know. The transplanted Canadian has established himself as one of the premier smooth jazz saxophonists while building a dual career as a highly respected producer, who among other accomplishments helped send Wayman Tisdale’s CD Way Up all the way to the # 1 spot on the Billboard music charts.  

The cool groove sax man is one of the most likeable guys in the music industry, and the preceding comment was his response to my question concerning what advice he would offer to young artists at the beginning of their career. “Rather than encouraging an artist to move to New York City or LA (as the most important priority), you really have to find out who you are as a musician, and who you want to be. It is then your responsibility to go get it. That can be done nowadays from almost anywhere,” he says. 

James Spaulding

James Spaulding's pedigree is an impressive one. He has been called upon to add his touch on both alto saxophone and flute for countless classic 60's Blue Note albums. Now, as a leader and owner of the Speetones label, he continues to add to his rich legacy.

The Early Years

MC: Your father was a professional touring musician. Did he encourage you to take up music?

JS: I was strongly influenced by my father but it was because of the recordings he brought home for me to listen to: Charlie Parker, Illinois Jacquet, and Dizzy Gillespie, and I wanted to play like Bird. Unfortunately, my dad's music career was interrupted by his responsibilities of supporting a family. I was the third sibling of seven children. I remember his selling insurance to pay the bills, but he also often played his guitar while I listened. By the time I was born in 1937, my dad no longer traveled with his band. You could probably say that I was given a bugle to play by my dad at 5 years of age and from that first encounter, I knew that I would play a musical instrument. It was like a fish takes to water.