Producer and Bassist David Robaire - "The artist has to love it"

Producer/bassist/artistic director at Sam First Records, David Robaire, and Joe talk about going from bassist to leading a label, how David thinks about taking a live performance and putting it on vinyl, and the ways in which a label can develop a very specific identity while offering a variety of …

Bassist Bill Crow - "I'm still figuring stuff out"

Joe and bassist Bill Crow talk about the 98-year-old's lifetime spent in and around jazz. Crow talks about gathering stories from the jazz scene to write his monthly column for Allegro, which Crow wrapped up after 43 years in April, turning those stories into several books, including "Jazz Anecdote…

Comedian Robert Klein, Part 2

In the second episode featuring comedian Robert Klein, he and Joe continue their conversation about jazz and comedy,  Klein remembers a special breakfast with Groucho Marx, and reflects on what it's like to go from the one looking up to older comedians, to new comedians looking up to you. 

Comedian Robert Klein, Part 1

In the first of two episodes featuring the comedy legend, Joe and Robert Klein get together to talk about Klein's career in comedy. Despite not being a musician, Klein explains how improvisation in comedy is not so different from improv in jazz, opening for jazz greats like Sarah Vaughan and The Mo…

Kelly Peterson - "He was always looking to the next thing" 

Joe has a conversation with Kelly Peterson, whose husband was Oscar Peterson, about the legendary pianist. Peterson shares the story of how she and Oscar built a life together, some of his more underappreciated skills as a pianist, as well as developing the new box set of previously unreleased reco…

Pianist John Beasley - "There is no clear cut path"

Joe and pianist John Beasley have a chat about Beasley's new album, Invisible Piano, which was inspired by a tour of an art museum in Stuttgart, Germany, how he found musical inspiration in non-musical art forms, his time playing alongside Miles Davis, and how spiritual practice and practicing musi…

Larry Goldings - "That makes the challenge of being myself harder"

Joe talks with pianist and organist Larry Goldings about finding his ​own sound while playing a range of styles with a variety of people, "Rhombus," Goldings's new album with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart, and how being able to listen back to a recording of yourself is both a b…

Luther S. Allison - "It's a gift to be able to love this"

Joe and pianist/drummer Luther S. Allison sit down for a discussion about exploring jazz by learning how to play different instruments, how the places you live shape the kind of music you play, and how the hope he finds in jazz is through its connection to the history of the United States.

Tia Fuller and Shamie Fuller-Royston - "We've always embraced all types of genres"

Pianist Tia Fuller and saxophonist Shamie Fuller-Royston have a chat with Joe about playing music as a family when they were kids and now together as adults, their latest album, "Dynasty, Vol. 2," and how, as long as the music is good, they embrace all genres.

Harry Connick, Jr. on Finding Your Own Sound

Joe sits down for a conversation with pianist, singer, actor, bandleader, and author, Harry Connick, Jr. to talk about learning piano from James Booker and Ellis Marsalis in New Orleans, musical influences, and the importance of accepting what one has to offer when looking for your own sound. If y…