Kevy Metal’s Gateway to Jazz
Are you a hardrocker or metalhead looking to dip your toes into jazz music, but you don’t know where to start? Or do the media you have tried to consult tend to treat jazz as this greater artform that should not be tainted with the vulgarity of rock music? That is exactly what happened to me when I was trying to get into jazz in my late teens and early twenties.
Kevy Metal’s Gateway to Jazz will hopefully help you find your way into jazz-rock, fusion and other styles of jazz that combine the power and the compositional leanings of rock music with the improvisational elements and harmonic elegance of jazz. That is exactly what the musicians interviewed for this ongoing series do.
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Interview Mary Halvorson: “Separating Improvisation and Composition Is Hard for Me”
Mary Halvorson may just be one of the most versatile guitarists of our time. She is known and beloved for her free improvisations, but she has a keen sense of melody as well. Her Amaryllis Sextet, which she has been recording and touring with extensively over the last few years, mainly sees her playing in
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Interview Eelco van Zanten: A Creative Piece of Construction
Dutch guitarist Eelco van Zanten isn’t one for doing things the conventional way, resulting in a number of albums that, partly thanks to his keen sense of melody, are surprisingly listenable and enjoyable given how strange they are. Van Zanten has been experimenting with both electronics and playing with actual musicians. According to himself, his
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Interview Antoine Pierre: Master of His Own Dynamics
Antoine Pierre is one of the busiest jazz drummers in Belgium. But he also looks far beyond the boundaries of the genre for inspiration. So far, in fact, that he managed to surprise me with a question he asked me. “You like metal, right? I have been a big fan of Slipknot since I was
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Interview Julek Warszawski: “Classical Music Was a Key to Open New Doors”
Some jazz guitarists are specialized in certain aspects of the genre. Young Polish guitarist Julek Warszawski appears to be one of those rare masters of all trades. He plays jazzy R&B with the band Roseye, and explores the possibilities of combining classical guitar music with electronic music in fonoduo. And then there is a side
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Interview DeWayne ‘Blackbyrd’ McKnight: The Possibilities of Music Not Experienced Before
Primarily known for his forty-plus-year stint with funk pioneers Parliament-Funkadelic, guitarist DeWayne ‘Blackbyrd’ McKnight is actually a fearless cross-genre pioneer, extensively experimenting with psychedelic rock, hard rock and jazz, playing with artists as diverse as Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Warren Zevon, Macy Gray, Marc Anthony Thompson, Miles Davis and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. No
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Interview Maya Delilah: As Authentic as Possible
British singer and guitarist Maya Delilah is someone who isn’t scared to jump into the deep end musically. She could easily enchant sizeable audiences with her jazzy singer/songwriter tracks, but she is too talented a guitarist to abandon playing guitar solos, which often have an unpredictable, bluesy sting to them. I spoke to her after
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Interview Richard Hallebeek: All-Encompassing Fusion
Ever since making his debut in the mid-nineties, Richard Hallebeek has become a respected name in international fusion circles. With fans like Kiko Loureiro, Fredrik Thordendal, and Dweezil Zappa speaking highly of him, the Dutch guitarist has garnered a lot of praise for his characteristic guitar sounds, his keen sense of melody and his strong
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Interview Theo van Niel Jr.: Looking for Something Unique
The introduction to his new release ‘Self-Education’ says it all: Dutch guitarist Theo van Niel Jr. mixes rock, country, folk, jazz, classical music, and heavy metal to create a completely fresh take on instrumental guitar music. “I did try to push this record into rock territory a little more”, Van Niel admits. “So that it
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Interview Guillaume Vierset: Immersed in Hybrid Music
Folky sounds with Harvest Group, traditional jazz leanings with the LG Jazz Collective, full-on singer-songwriter with IAMWILL: Belgian guitarist Guillaume Vierset never wanted to limit himself to one particular style of music. His project Edges finds him exploring more distorted sounds, with its debut album ‘The End of the F***ing World’ finding middle ground between
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