Category: educator

After Hours featuring Riley Mulherkar, air date Nov. 20, 2024

On By Charles BinghamIn Arranger, Band leader, composer, educator, Featured guest, TrumpetLeave a comment

Join me at 9 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2024, for the next edition of After Hours on KRBD Rainbird Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz trumpet player Riley Mulherkar.

Riley has been recognized as a “smart young trumpet player” by The New York Times, praised by The Wall Street Journal as a “youngster to keep an eye on,” and is a 2020 recipient of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award for his work as “an original bandleader, composer, arranger, educator, community activist and advocate for jazz and the arts.”

Riley is best known as a founding member of The Westerlies, a New York-based brass quartet of (as the name implies) West Coast expats who play a mix of jazz, modern classical and folk compositions, high on tunefulness. This deep admiration for the American songbook can also be heard all over Riley, the solo debut by the 32 year-old Mulherkar.

But love of song is only half of the album’s primary pull. The other is the sonically modern setting for Mulherkar’s vulnerable, melodious interpretation of this rich tradition, a sound design shaped by producers Rafiq Bhatia and Chris Pattishall. Enveloping Mulherkar within a series of textured, intricately-crafted spaces, Bhatia and Pattishall train a cinematographer’s lens on the continuum of great old songs, as well as new Mulherkar pieces which fit right in. It’s a radically bold audio framework for the emotional pronouncements of Riley’s horn.

Click this link to go to Riley’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Emmet Cohen, air date Feb. 22, 2023

On By Charles BinghamIn composer, educator, Featured guest, Keyboards, PianoLeave a comment

Join me for the Feb. 22, 2023, edition of After Hours on KRBD Rainbird Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz pianist Emmet Cohen.

A multifaceted American jazz pianist and composer, Cohen is one of his generation’s pivotal figures in music and the related arts.

Leader of the Emmet Cohen Trio and creator of the Masters Legacy Series, he is an internationally acclaimed jazz artist, a dedicated educator, the winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards, and a finalist in the 2011 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition.

Cohen headlines regularly at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Village Vanguard, and  Birdland, and has appeared at the Newport, Monterey, and North Sea jazz festivals. His artistry has taken him to venues and festivals in more than 30 countries. Cohen’s entrepreneurial energies led to his developing “Live From Emmet’s Place,” a live-streamed “Harlem rent party” that unites a worldwide audience via tens of millions of internet views.

Cohen has released more than 10 albums as leader and has performed or recorded with Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Houston Person, Christian McBride, and Kurt Elling.

Click this link to go to Emmet’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Roy McPherson, air date April 6, 2022

On By Charles BinghamIn Band leader, educator, Featured guest, TromboneLeave a comment
Photo by Hall Anderson

Join me for After Hours Alaska at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, on KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, as I’m joined in conversation with Ketchikan’s own music teacher Roy McPherson.

Roy has been a force of music education in Ketchikan since 1972. He taught high school band and choir and was the school district’s music coordinator for 10 years (1972-82). After retiring from teaching in 1982, Roy left Ketchikan for a time but couldn’t stay away for long. With his wife, trombone player Tina McPherson, he opened a treasured music store in 1987, McPherson Music, which has been a musical haven for much of the community.

McPherson Music, which closed in 2017, was a place for private lessons, classes (such as Discovering Music Fundamentals), and was the home of the Soundwaves youth jazz band and later the Windjammers youth-adult jazz band (now all adults). When the store closed, they moved some of the store to their home, including its large mural by David Rubin.

Roy was inducted into the Alaska High School Hall of Fame in 2010. He also was inducted into the Alaska Music Educators Hall of Fame in 1986. Be sure to tune in and be inspired.

Click this link to go to an article about McPherson Music. Click this link to read an article about his induction into the Alaska High School Hall of Fame. Click this link to go to a Facebook page about Roy McPherson. Click this link to listen to a recording of the April 6 interview.

After Hours featuring Christian Jacob, air date Feb. 23, 2022

On By Charles BinghamIn Arranger, educator, Featured guest, Keyboards, PianoLeave a comment

Join me for After Hours Alaska at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 23, on KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, as I’m joined in conversation with jazz pianist Christian Jacob.

Christian is a multi-Grammy-nominated pianist and arranger and first gained widespread exposure as music director for Maynard Ferguson and later as leader of the Christian Jacob Trio and co-leader of the Tierney Sutton Band.

“A post-bop modernist touched by the souls of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett. … Pianist Christian Jacob is a wonderful player whose crystalline melodies and expansive harmonies mark him as someone to keep an ear on.” ~ JAZZ TIMES

Born in Lorraine, France, Christian fell in love with classical music at age 4 and discovered jazz at age 9. After graduating with “First Prize” from the Paris Conservatory, Jacob came to America to focus on improvisation at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.  While attending Berklee, Christian won a number of awards, including the Oscar Peterson Jazz Masters Award, the Great American Jazz Piano Competition and “Downbeat” magazine’s distinction as Top Collegiate Jazz Soloist. He went on to teach at Berklee, tour with Maynard Ferguson, perform and record with a number of jazz legends and was listed by The Japan Times as one of the best-selling foreign jazz pianists in Japan. His extensive discography includes five critically acclaimed trio recordings and seven Grammy nominations from his alliance with vocalist Tierney Sutton, drummer Ray Brinker and bassists Trey Henry and Kevin Axt. Christian also received a Grammy Nomination as an arranger with The Phil Norman Tentet.

While Christian performs year round, his arranging skills are also highly sought after. He has been arranging for the Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra since 1990 and The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra since 2005, featuring such talented artists as John Scofield, Billy Cobham, Charlie Haden, Phil Woods, Joe Lovano, Ron Carter and Gary Burton. Christian’s latest collaboration has been with renowned Japanese composer Kunihiko Murai and Maestro Jorge Calandrelli.

In 2014, Christian released his first solo piano recording, Beautiful Jazz: a private concert, aptly titled as this intimate solo recording is a dedication to the music that drew him away from the classical world and introduced him to the beautiful world of jazz. Recorded in pure analog and available as a limited edition vinyl LP.

In 2016, the original score to director Clint Eastwood’s box-office smash “Sully”, was created by Christian, The Tierney Sutton Band and Clint Eastwood. It was a fulfilling moment, to orchestrate his and the band’s music for a 70-piece orchestra and hear it live with the brilliant Conrad Pope conducting. The following year Eastwood asked Christian to compose the music for his next film, “The 15:17 to Paris.”

Click this link to go to Christian’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Ron Wilkins, air date Nov. 24, 2021

On By Charles BinghamIn Band leader, educator, Euphonium, Featured guest, Low brass, Songwriter, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for After Hours Alaska at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 24, on KRBD public radio in Ketchikan, Alaska, as I’m joined in conversation with New York-based musician Ron Wilkins.

Ron has been performing on tenor and bass trombones, euphonium, tuba, bass trumpet, and vocals for over forty years. He has performed at the highest levels touring around the world with his own groups, as well as with other premiere artists. Ron also has an extensive background in music education.

Ron is a member of the Birdland Big Band, Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, and runs his own New York City big band, alongside trombonist Rebecca Patterson, which features their writing and includes some of New York City’s premiere musicians.

Click this link to go to Ron’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Ingrid Jensen, air date Jan. 20, 2021

On By Charles BinghamIn educator, Featured guest, TrumpetLeave a comment

Join me for the Jan. 20 edition of After Hours on KRBD Rainbird Radio (and later on KSTK and KCAW Raven Radio) as I’m joined in conversation with Canadian trumpet player, Ingrid Jensen.

Born in Vancouver and raised in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Ingrid has been hailed as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1989, she went on to record three highly acclaimed CDs for the ENJA record label, soon becoming one of the most in-demand trumpet players on the global jazz scene.

After a teaching stint in Europe in her early twenties – as the youngest professor in the history of the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria – Ingrid settled in New York City in the mid-1990s where she joined the innovative jazz orchestras of Maria Schneider (1994-2012) and Darcy James Argue (2002-present). More recently, Ingrid has performed with the Grammy-winning Terri-Lyne Carrington and her Mosaic Project, Helen Sung’s Sung with Words project and the highly acclaimed all-star ensemble, Artemis.

Ingrid is a featured soloist on the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra’s Juno-award-winning album, Treelines (2011), and its successor, Habitat (2013). She has performed with a multi-generational cast of jazz legends ranging from Clark Terry to Esperanza Spalding; Ingrid has also performed alongside British R&B artist Corrine Bailey Rae on Saturday Night Live, and recorded with Canadian pop icon Sarah McLachlan. In addition to her busy sideman and featured soloist schedule, Jensen leads her own quintet, quartet and organ trio. Her own bands have garnered glowing reviews and earned her a loyal fan base around the globe.

Jensen is also a dedicated jazz educator, having taught trumpet at the University of Michigan and Peabody Conservatory, performing and lecturing as a guest artist with the Thelonious Monk Institute High School group featuring Herbie Hancock, and performing and teaching at the Centrum Jazz Workshop, The Dave Brubeck Institute, the Banff Centre Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music and the Stanford Jazz Camp and the Geri Allen Jazz Camp for young women. She is currently on faculty at both Purchase College, and is serving as Interim Associate Dean and Director of Jazz Arts at Manhattan School of Music.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Ingrid Jensen, originally broadcast on Jan. 20, 2021. Click here to visit Ingrid’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Don Stiernberg, air date Nov. 16, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn educator, Featured guest, MandolinLeave a comment

Join me on the Nov. 16, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW-Raven Radio as I’m joined in musical conversation with leading jazz mandolin player and educator Don Stiernberg.

Don Stiernberg recently began his fifth decade as a working musician. Along the way he has been involved in many musical activities: performing, writing, recording, producing, and teaching, but is best known for his mandolin playing. Born and still based in Chicago, the mandolin found Don as he grew up “out in the woods” in the nearly-rural suburb of Wauconda, Ill. A desire to make music with his banjo- and guitar-playing brother led Don to appropriate a mandolin that had been given to him. Things came into focus both mandolin- and life-wise when his parents sent Don to study with Jethro Burns, famous comedian (Homer and Jethro) and the greatest mandolinist of his time. From the very first lesson, Burns was more than a teacher. He was role model, hero, mentor, and friend, and Stiernberg was hooked and hooked bad on the mandolin. His earliest professional experience was in a bluegrass band with his brother (The Morgan Bros.) and a bit later in The Jethro Burns Quartet.

Currently Don is regarded as a leading exponent of jazz mandolin style, and a respected teacher. The most recent of his nine recording projects is “Good Numbers”, a collection of standards and jazz tunes played by his working band, The Don Stiernberg Trio. Also released in 2016 were three online video instructional courses for Soundslice.com. The trio has performed coast to coast as well as in Germany and Brazil. Don also conveys his love of the mandolin and music at events such as The Mandolin Symposium (CA), The Swannanoa Gathering (NC), Django in June (MA), Mandolin and Guitar Camp North (MA), Steve Kaufman Acoustic Camp (TN), River of the West Mandolin Camp (OR), Cape Cod Mandolin Camp (MA), Ashokan Swing Week (NY), Accademia Internacionale di Mandolino (Italy), European Mandoline Akademy (Germany) and Momento Rio Bandolim (Brazil).

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Don Stiernberg, originally broadcast on Nov. 16, 2020. Click here to visit Don’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Dena DeRose, air date July 6, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn educator, Featured guest, Piano, Vocals1 Comment

Join me for the July 6, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz pianist, vocalist and educator Dena DeRose.

Although she began her career just as a pianist, medical problems with her hand forced her to become a vocalist as well. Dena has been chosen by Downbeat’s Critic’s Poll as an “artist deserving wider recognition,” and All About Jazz anointed her as “Jazz Artist of the Year” and “Best Jazz Album.” She has been featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz” several times.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Dena DeRose, originally broadcast on July 6, 2020. Click here to visit Dena’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Kate McGarry, air date June 22, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn educator, Featured guest, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the June 22, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz vocalist Kate McGarry.

Kate has many critically acclaimed CDs and two Grammy nominations (2019 and 2009) for Best Jazz Vocal CD. She has become recognized as a jazz artist who brings authenticity and vitality to every song regardless of genre. The Wall St. Journal calls her music, “Austere and elegant,” and The New York Times pronounced it, “astute and sensitive”.

Kate currently performs in jazz clubs, performing arts centers and festivals throughout the US and abroad. As an educator she has taught at New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music. Downbeat’s 2016 Critics Poll named McGarry the No. 1 Rising Star Female Vocalist. She has been interviewed on All Things Considered, and has performed on Jazz Set  With DeeDee Bridgewater, Piano Jazz With Marion McPartland, and a host of nationally syndicated radio shows.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Kate McGarry, originally broadcast on June 22, 2020. Click here to visit Kate’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Lewis Nash, air date June 15, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Drums, Drums/Percussion, educator, Featured guestLeave a comment

Join me for the June 15, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with one of the most gifted and accomplished jazz drummers on the scene today, Lewis Nash.

When just 23 years old, Lewis joined Betty Carter’s band which gave him the opportunity to hone his already talented chops. He appears on many of her recordings, including the Grammy Award-winning 1988 CD, “Look What I Got.” It was Lewis’s decade with the Tommy Flanagan Trio for which he may be best known.

He has performed with jazz luminaries like Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, Wynton Marsalis, and Oscar Peterson to name just a few. Providing inspiration and expertise to students is an important part of Lewis’s career. In 2001, he became a faculty member of the Juilliard School of Music.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Lewis Nash, originally broadcast on June 15, 2020. Click here to visit Lewis’ artist page on the Blue Note Records website.