Ben Solomon

Ben Solomon is an incredible saxophonist who I first heard through the music of the late Wallace Roney. I was immediately struck by his sound, the energy and his love for the music. In fact, that was the only note I wrote down prior to this interview: Love. You can often tell when people are in love. You can see and feel it. With Ben I can feel that he’s in love. I had to talk to Ben about his love for the music of John Coltrane, about his process and how he was able to to gain such a deep understanding of it. We also get into many other topics like our shared love for classical composers Igor Stravinsky, Ravel and Carlos Salzedo, working with Wallace Roney and Chick Corea, composing, and much more. I’m glad that we now can all learn together from Ben!

Melissa Aldana

I had been admiring Melissa Aldana’s playing and music for many years, when I suddenly received a message from her, saying that she really liked the podcast. I was flattered and amazed that she would reach out to me. We made plans to do an interview and here it is!

We talked about learning from Melissa’s heroes Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Heath and Mark Turner and how she incorporates these influences into her world, about leading a band, practicing creativity, her latest album 12 Stars and the process behind it, self-doubt/self-acceptance and much more.

After following Melissa’s musical journey from afar for a long time, it was great to now get a more personal and deeper view into her process. It felt like we were hanging out. Come and hang out with us!

Jochen Rueckert

Master drummer Jochen Rueckert is a personal hero of mine. I’ve been checking him out since my teenage years, when I discovered Achim Kaufmann’s “Weave”, Paul Heller’s “Kaleidoskop” & Jochen’s own “Introduction”, three massively influential records for me. He is an outstanding drummer and a great guy who always speaks his mind, and this conversation is no exception. We talked about him coming up in the Cologne scene and then making his move to NY in the late 90s, winding up playing with Kurt Rosenwinkel & Marc Copland, his clarity, dynamics, what he expects from bandleaders and fellow musicians, self doubt and much more.