Rasmus Sørensen

Pianist and composer Rasmus Sørensen joins Pablo Held to discuss dynamics, odd meters, their shared piano duties on a Sasha Berliner tour, and lessons learned from studying with Phil Markowitz. Other topics include harmonic progressions in Herbie Hancock’s “Textures”, comping ideas, transcription, what Rasmus loves about composing and his upcoming album project “You Live And You Learn”.

Kris Davis 2

Pianist & composer Kris Davis returns to the podcast to discuss the compositional process behind music from her latest albums “The Solastalgia Suite“ and “Run The Gauntlet“, practice methods, their favorite composers, and finding fresh ways to improvise. Other topics include working with Dave Holland, piano technique, preparing for a tour, and challenging musical constructs.

Walter Smith III

Saxophonist Walter Smith III joins Pablo Held to discuss working on articulation, Walter’s compositional process behind songs like “Seesaw“, “ACE“ and “A Brief Madness“ and lessons learned from jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Roy Haynes. Other topics include learning standards like “I Should Care“, “Little Melonae“ or “Nothing Like You“, working with the Bill Stewart Trio and Terence Blanchard and what goes into planning an album like his newest record “TWIO Vol.2“.