Liner Notes with David Bixler

The week of March 5 guitarist Peter Bernstein brings a quartet to the Village Vanguard in New York City that includes pianist Sullivan Fortner, bassist Doug Weiss, and the iconic drummer Al Foster. In this episode of LINER NOTES Peter expresses a genuine gratitude for being able to play music. He also offers insights on how he personally approaches this music as a guitarist, sharing valuable lessons learned from his legendary teachers Gene Bertoncini, Ted Dunbar, and Jim Hall.

As an improviser, trombonist Joe Fiedler describes himself as living half in the inside world and half in the outside world. This is evident in his new recording Will Be Fire. For this project, Fiedler collaborates with guitarist Pete McCann, tuba virtuoso Marcus Rojas, and percussionist Jeff Davis, in an elegant instrumentation that pays homage to the late Arthur Blythe. In this episode of LINER NOTES Joe articulates his perspective on the evolution of the trombone and his aspirations for its future direction.

The last several years have brought about significant change for saxophonist Loren Stillman. A lifelong New Yorker, Loren and his family did a 180, and moved to Montana several years ago. With the time afforded to him by the pandemic, Loren, having made a name for himself as an alto saxophonist focused his energies on the tenor. The fruit of his labor is a new recording,Time and Again, released on Sunnyside Records featuring himself on the tenor along with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Mark Feber. In this episode of LINER NOTES, Loren speaks about the significant changes in his musical and personal life as well as the place that he envisions the tenor will have in his music going forward.

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.

After more that 30 years as an omnipresent side man on the NYC scene, trumpeter John Bailey decided it was time to step out as a leader so in 2018 he recorded his first record, In Real Time. This was followed in 2020 with Can You Imagine, and now, in 2023, he has released Time Bandits, with George Cables, Scott Colley, and Victor Lewis. In this episode of LINER NOTES John talks about his music and the patient path that led to his first recording as a leader.

In Shift Bad Hombre Vol. II drummer and composer Antonio Sanchez takes ownership of the pejoratvie remark made by the former president about Mexicans coming to the United States and hits back with a stunning musical counter-punch that features Dave Matthews, Trent Reznor, Pat Metheny, and many others. In this episode of LINER NOTES Antonio shares his feelings about the former presidents remarks and provides the listener with insight behind this innovative project.

On his new record Dedication drummer and composer Dan Weiss presents the listener with sonic portraits of musicians and family members that have figured prominently in his life. He acknowledges
the seemingly disparate Elvin Jones and Burt Bacharach as well as honoring his daughter and late grandmother with affectionate tributes. Joining Weiss on the recording are the members of his long-standing piano trio, pianist Jacob Sacks and bassist Thomas Morgan.

After the GRAMMY winning album, Back to the Sunset, and his pandemic sextet project, Transparency, drummer and composer Dafnis Prieto was in search of something new. This journey brought him back to his roots and he again began to compose songs with lyrics as he did in his youth. Collaborating with  Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza he has created his latest project, Cantar. I am joined in this episode with both Luciana and Dafnis as they talk about the genesis and future of this unique project.

Chicago based bassist and band leader Ethan Philion pays tribute to the iconic Charles Mingus with his new recording Meditations on Mingus on Sunnyside Records. In this episode of LINER NOTES Ethan discusses the care with which he approached the musical canon of the iconic Mingus while simultaneously endeavoring to highlight the social justice themes of the music which are as relevant today as they were fifty years ago when the music was composed. 

It was about five years ago that saxophonist David Binney relocated to California after establishing himself as a fixture on the NYC jazz scene. In this episode of LINER NOTES he shares some of his thoughts behind this move and extols the virtues of what he perceives to be a musically transformed Los Angeles that affords musicians like himself time and space for creativity.

Earlier this year, bassist Gerald Cannon brought a septet into Dizzy’s that included a front line of Joe Lovano, Eddie Henderson, Sherman Irby, and Steve Turre, along with pianist Dave Kikokski and the legendary Lenny White. The music features the music of two of Gerald’s former employers, Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner and the performances were captured in an energetic live recording. In this episode of LINER NOTES Gerald reflects on lessons learned in his time playing with Jones and Tyner. We also talk about his other passion-painting.