Holding down the bari chair at Saturday Night Live, performing with musicians like Christian McBride, and teaching at Julliard have saxophonist Ron Blake at full capacity. These time constraints left little time for him to focus on his own music, but fortunately he enlisted the help of his long time friend guitarist Bobby Broom and has recently released Mistaken Identity, his first recording under his own name in fifteen years. In this episode of LINER NOTES Ron talks about the journey that has taken him from the Virgin Islands to NYC and from classical saxophonist to jazz saxophonist.

Bassist Christian Dillingham’s debut release as a leader, Cascades on Greenleaf Music features ten original compositions written for his Chicago based quartet. In this episode of LINER NOTES he speaks of his desire to capture the moment with this recording both in the recording process and in music that pushes the boundaries of the tradition that he is obviously rooted in. 

Bassist Linda May Han Oh’s recording the The Glass Hours features the front line of vocalist Sara Serpa and tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, while pianist Fabian Almazan and drummer Obed Calvaire join her in the rhythm section. Being a new parent has caused her to reflect on what she does as a musician and in this episode of LINER NOTES she talks about how a new awareness of the fragility of life in a world that can be an unsafe place has repurposed her music. 

Guitarist Rez Abbasi’s recordings illustrate an artist that is pressing on, going for something new, rather than making alterations to what he has already done. So when sitarist Josh Feinberg approached him about a possible Indian-jazz collaboration he initially declined, as he already had several successful recordings of this nature with pianist Vijay Iyer and saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. However, he fortunately reconsidered and they recorded Charm, a recording that is fresh and likely unlike anything that you have heard before.

Trumpet player Derrick Gardener recently retired from his position at the University of Manitoba in order to move back to Chicago and focus on playing, but instead he found himself as the head of Jazz Studies at Northwestern University. In this episode of LINER NOTES Derrick explains how that happened as well as sharing some of the details about his life changing trip to Africa that transformed him as a person and gave birth to his latest record Pan Africa with the Jazz Prophets.

LINER NOTES beings season six with saxophonist and educator Steve Wilson. In this episode of LINER NOTES, Steve highlights his new quartet, The Analog Band, as well as an upcoming commissioning project with Billy Childs featuring Steve with wind symphony, two of the myriad projects that he juggles as one of today’s most in demand leaders and sideman.

Vagabond is the latest release from guitarist Dominic Miller on ECM and features Jacob Karlzon on piano, Nicolas Fiszman on bass, and percussionist Ziv Ravitz. In this episode of LINER NOTES Dominic shares the story behind this music that was conceived during the lockdown and talks about how his own projects fit into the demands of his ongoing thirty-three year stint as Sting’s guitarist.  

Vibraphonist Simon Moullier’s new recording Isla reflects the raw landscape of the islands off the coast of Brittany that shaped him in his youth. In this episode of LINER NOTES Simon talks about his journey from France to New York as well as his transformation from drummer to vibraphonist.

Trombonist (and baritone saxophonist) Michael Dease uses his new record, The Other Shoe, as an opportunity to shine the light on those around him. It features the music of the composer Gregg Hill and a young band comprised of clarinetist Virginia MacDonald, pianist Luther Allison, bassist Liany Mateo, and Colleen Clark on drums and cymbals. In this episode of LINER NOTES I am joined by Michael and Gregg as Michael shares his thoughts about the motivation behind this project.

  In his early twenties, saxophonist Jim Snidero had surrounded himself with the music of the John Coltrane quartet and the Miles Davis quintet, however upon moving to New York City forty years ago and coming face to face with the tradition, he did an about face and dedicated himself to the pursuit of bebop. In the last decade he has used the foundation of the tradition do give breadth to more contemporary leanings. His new recording, Far Far Away featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel is the latest offering in this path.