Vintage Metheny
“Icefire (featured on the album Watercolors) was like the tune San Lorenzo, based on the idea of taking an electric 12 string guitar and totally restringing it with light gauge unwound strings – tuning them in fourths and fifths to each other in their pairs, and essentially making a ‘pentatonic/diatonic’ tuning of the open strings. Read more
Stanley Jordan Solo
Stanley Jordan is an inventive and emotional musician. Whether performing on guitar or piano or both, he always finds a way to communicate a unique and rich musical narrative to the listener. Read more
Swingin’ with Sting
The great jazz bassist Christian McBride has played a supporting role to everyone from Herbie Hancock to Pat Metheny to Diana Krall and many more. Aside from his core work in jazz, he has also performed and recorded with a slew of legendary popular musicians including the late James Brown, The Roots, Queen Latifah, Bruce Hornsby and most notably fellow bassist Sting. Read more
Thinking of New York
In honor of the tenth anniversary of the tragic events of 9/11, we present a New York themed playlist as a tribute to the greatest city in the world. Click here to listen via Spotify.
Living Room Spin: Kyle Eastwood
“At home we had music all the time. My father always made sure I listened to jazz. He took me to the Monterey Jazz Festival every year. What was really great was that being the son of Clint gave me backstage access to all the gigs and I was very fortunate to meet and talk with Sarah Vaughan, Stan Getz and all the legends.”
– Kyle Eastwood Read more
George Benson – Guitar Man (album preview)
Legendary artist George Benson has a new album coming out on October 4th titled Guitar Man. Featured on this recording are a dozen mixed tracks varying from jazz to pop standards and performed in either in a solo or combo setting. Read more
Video: Pat Metheny – Cherish
“This was a huge hit in the late 60’s. One day i started playing around with it and while under the hood of the tune I found myself marveling at all the interesting moves that happen with the chords, especially on the bridge. Read more
Video: Pat Metheny – The Girl From Ipanema
“People are often surprised to hear that this is one of the first songs I ever learned, but any beginning guitar student knows about the dreaded “F” chord; the first time you are asked to “barre” two strings together with one finger. For me, in that first week of playing the instrument, it was impossible to make my fingers do that. Read more
Video: Pat Metheny Covers a Carly Simon Classic
“To me, there were always several interesting things about this piece,” Metheny says of Carly Simon’s first major hit (That’s The Way I Always Heard It Should Be), “not the least of which is the way that she moves from root minor key to the major key just a half step above it so effortlessly in a way that is almost invisible. Read more
Pat Metheny Introduces “What’s It All About”
After nearly 40 recordings under his own name, this is the first Pat Metheny album where there is not a single Metheny composition represented. But far from being a “covers” album, this a personal view of ten classic songs, some very well known, some less so, filtered through the harmonic and melodic ideology of a modern master with a most individual approach. Read more
Living Room Spin: The New Gary Burton Quartet
I recently had the great pleasure of hanging out with the new Gary Burton Quartet in support of their recording. To prepare for the video shoot and interview, I listened to the new CD at least five times straight through and the music captured on Common Ground was even better than I expected. Read more
Creed Taylor: The Impulse Years
Interview by Marc Myers (JazzWax)
The founding of Impulse Records in 1960 by Creed Taylor is a fascinating story. My interview with Creed in today’s Wall Street Journal here looks at how he came up with the Impulse name while working as the jazz producer at ABC-Paramount. Read more
