Category: Featured guest

After Hours featuring John Beasley, air date March 1, 2021

On By Charles BinghamIn Arranger, Band leader, composer, Featured guest, Keyboards, Music director, Piano, ProducerLeave a comment

Join me for the March 1, 2021, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio (and later broadcast on KRBD Rainbird Radio and KSTK) as I’m joined with multi-Grammy-nominated and Emmy-nominated pianist, composer, arranger, music director and producer John Beasley.

John was born in Shreveport, La., and grew up in Texas. His parents and grandfather taught music, and in his teens he played guitar, saxophone, drums, oboe, and piano.

John played keyboard for Freddy Hubbard and Miles Davis and has performed with a wide variety of artists like Dianne Reeves, Sergio Mendes, Ivan Lins, Christian McBride and so many more. He was the lead arranger for 10 years on American Idol. When not involved in his projects or others, John conducts master classes and clinics around the globe.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring John Beasley, originally broadcast on March 1, 2021. Click here to visit John’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 Jeff Hamilton, air date Dec. 7, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Drums, Drums/Percussion, Featured guest1 Comment

Join me for the Dec. 7, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz drummer Jeff Hamilton.

In addition to his many recordings with Ray Brown, Jeff has been on nearly 200 recordings with artists such as Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, Milt Jackson, Rosemary Clooney, Barbara Streisand, Mel Torme, John Pizzarelli, Benny Carter, Lalo Schifrin, George Shearing, Dr. John, Clark Terry, Gene Harris, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Scott Hamilton, Harry “Sweets” Edison, Keely Smith, Bill Holman, Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel and Mark Murphy.

Jeff is a frequent guest of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany. He also appeared in Natalie Cole’s Great Performances PBS special, Unforgettable, and an Oscar Peterson documentary, Life In The Key Of Oscar.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Jeff Hamilton, originally broadcast on Dec. 7, 2020. Click here to visit Jeff’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Julian Oliver Mazzariello, air date Nov. 23, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, PianoLeave a comment

Join me for the Nov. 23, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz pianist Julian Oliver Mazzariello.

Julian is one of the most vibrant jazz pianists to arrive on the scene in recent years. Combining virtuosity and sophisistication with inspiring phrasing and refined agility, he is an audacious talent with the power to move both the feet and the heart.

Born in the United Kingdom, Julian studied piano from an early age, moving to Italy as a teenager to pursue his love of music and culture. Immersing himself in the local music scene, Julian’s classical training and modern sensibility resulted in him being in high demand on the Italian music scene.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Julian Oliver Mazzariello, originally broadcast on Nov. 23, 2020. Click here to visit Julian’s fan page on Facebook.

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 Larry Klein, air date Nov. 9, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Bassist, Featured guest, Label executive, Producer, SongwriterLeave a comment

Join me for the Nov. 9, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with multiple Grammy winning record producer, musician/songwriter/label executive Larry Klein.

Larry has produced artists like Joni Mitchell, Melody Gardot, Madeleine Peyroux, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Norah Jones and so many more. He started out playing jazz bass with Freddie Hubbard and Carmen McRae in the 70’s. You don’t want to miss this exclusive interview.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Larry Klein, originally broadcast on Nov. 9, 2020. Click here to visit Larry’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Madeleine Peyroux, air date Oct. 19, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, Guitar, Songwriter, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Oct. 19, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with American jazz singer and songwriter Madeleine Peyroux.

Madeleine began her career as a teenager busking with her guitar on the streets of Paris, much like her idol Edith Piaf. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs before finding mainstream success in 2004, when her album Careless Love sold half a million copies.

Madeleine’s dusky voice was likened to that of Jazz greats Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Featuring top musicians Marc Ribot, Vernon Reid, Cyrus Chestnut, Charlie Giordano, Greg Cohen, Kenny Wollesen, Regina Carter, Leon Parker and James Carter, her 1996 debut album, Dreamland, included Madeleine’s renditions of Holiday’s Gettin’ Some Fun Out of Life, Bessie Smith’s Lovesick Blues and Fats Waller’s I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.

Dreamland cemented Madeleine Peyroux as a ‘classic’ musical talent that was here to stay, and the soulful singer found herself touring the world, singing with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and opening for Cesaria Evora.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Madeleine Peyroux, originally broadcast on Oct. 19, 2020. Click here to visit Madeleine’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Roberta Gambarini, air date Oct. 12, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Oct. 12, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with Italian-born jazz singer, now living in New York City, Roberta Gambarini.

Roberta moved to the U.S. in 1998 and won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. A few weeks after her arrival in America, she entered the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition and came in third behind Teri Thornton and Jane Monheit.

She was invited to sing in New York City, where she met Benny Carter and James Moody. Moody became her teacher, mentor and friend.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Roberta Gambarini, originally broadcast on Oct. 12, 2020. Click here to visit Roberta’s personal page on Facebook

After Hours featuring Jackie Ryan, air date Sept. 14, 2020

On By Charles BinghamIn Featured guest, VocalsLeave a comment

Join me for the Sept. 14, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with jazz vocalist Jackie Ryan.

Christopher Loudon from Jazz Times has called Jackie “one of the outstanding jazz vocalists of her generation and, quite possibly, of all time…rivaling the dexterous sass of Sarah Vaughan, the instinctive smarts of Carmen McRae and the scintillating verve of Diana Krall.”

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Jackie Ryan, originally broadcast on Sept. 14, 2020. Click here to visit Jackie’s personal website.

After Hours featuring Mindi Abair, air date Sept. 7, 2020

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

Join me for the Sept. 7, 2020, edition of After Hours on KCAW Raven Radio as I’m joined in conversation with one of the most recognized and sought after saxophonists and vocalists Mindi Abair.

The two-time Grammy nominee has been electrifying audiences with her dynamic live performances and sax prowess since her debut album in 1999.

You may know Mindi as the featured saxophonist on American Idol, sitting in with Paul Shaffer on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, or as the first solo saxophonist touring with Aerosmith since 1973. She has garnered twelve  No. 1 radio hits in the jazz and blues world, two No 1 spots on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album Chart and two  No. 3 spots on the Billboard Blues Album Chart.

Click this link to listen to the After Hours show featuring Mindi Abair, originally broadcast on Sept. 7, 2020. Click here to visit Mindi’s personal website.