Art Sato: In Your Ear
“In Your Ear”represents nearly 40 years of in-depth exclusive interviews by Art Sato with innovative practitioners of jazz and Latin music. Art is a leading authority on contemporary jazz and new music and has hosted “In Your Ear,” a unique weekly radio series on KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California from 1981 to the present. His extended interviews of great artists demonstrate a profound and rare trust these masters have bestowed upon him.
The interviews in this collection, with many of the leading innovators and creative artists who have shaped the direction of jazz in the last half of the 20th century, are one-of-a-kind primary sources documenting this cultural development. The interviews contain insights and analyses of jazz music and culture not found in other references on the subject. They trace the development of each of the artists, probing deeply into influences, inspirations, challenges, the development of groups with whom they’ve worked, and the historical, social, and political climate that shaped many of them as conscious agents of cultural and social change.
Musicians interviewed include: Sun Ra, Billy Harper, Randy Weston, Jackie McLean, Bobby Hutcherson, Andy and Jerry Gonzalez, Julius Hemphill and many more. Click here for a full list.
Documents
Date: 5/23/1982Call Number: CD 1224Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
Year: 1984Call Number: CD 1129Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
Dewey Redman started out in Texas. He considers himself a late bloomer when it came to music. Starting off with the clarinet at 13 years old & really didn't take music serious until he went to San Francisco. He then went to New York & met Ornette Coleman in 69. They ended up playing together for 7 years. He started as a professional musician at the age of 30. John Coltrane came to one of his shows & complimented his playing. From there Dewey asked Coltrane multiple questions on how to get better. Trane would simply reply with "keep practicing." Dewey didn't get it at first & was frustrated with the response. Not til years later did he recognize what Trane was telling him. To find his own voice. He also had a band for 3 years with Keith Jarret. Dewey believes in having multiple styles of music on his albums. He says he is concerned with getting a good sound out of the instrument & not as much about the technique.
Date: 8/25/1986Call Number: CD 1130Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
Born in Alabama in 1947. His mother left to Harlem when he was a child. Billy Bang started out playing violin in the 7th grade for about 2 years. He was insecure as a kid & thought the violin was feminine or too soft of an instrument. Although he never played in a charanga band he loved Latin music & the culture he saw in East Harlem. As a youngster he would dance for money on the subways with his friends. That was something he really enjoyed during his youth. He got drafted into the Vietnam war & began, what he called, on the wrong side of the 60's. He says he was arrogant & ignorant at that time but reading helped him become more relaxed. He brought up Fidel & Che, learning from reading some of their work. He talked about how his instrument can be seen as a weapon. He also spoke on how revolution is part of the evolution. Billy Bang believes in an armed struggle but says that is only one part of the revolution. He plays to show he has something to say & that there is an alternative to the rules. He didn't play for the money & tries to divorce himself from the typical power struggle. Billy sees the potential in human beings & sees music as a unified force. He considers himself an improvisational violinist that never wants to forget where he came from.
Date: 11/23/1991Call Number: CD 1022Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
Topics of conversation include his southern roots (South Carolina); his initial immersion in gospel, blues and doo wop and then his first exposure to jazz in early 1960s; his introduction and involvement in jazz through the organ ensembles (Hank Marr); his travels to Pittsburgh, Detroit, NYC (1970s) -where he met Ornette Coleman; his introduction to Ornette's theory of harmolodic and his influences from Wes Montgomery to Django Reinhardt.
Date: 8/1987Call Number: CD 1138Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
It began in Memphis for George Coleman. He played R&B music & stayed at a hotel until B.B. King picked him up to join his band in 1952 & again in 1955. He left to Chicago & got a call from Max Roach to join his quartet. Bird was his first inspiration to play in the early 50's. He said playing the Blues helped him prepare for Jazz. George Coleman went to New York in 1958 & his first Jazz recording was on Lee Morgan's album "City lights". He never stayed over a year with any band leader but acquired a world of knowledge from each of them. He started to lead his own bands in the early 70's. George believes in educating people on what the diversity of Jazz can be. It's for entertainment too, not just artistic value. He wants to give them a little bit of everything. "That's what Jazz is about, communication."
Date: 5/21/1985Call Number: CD 1139Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
Born in San Francisco, Eddie Moore started off with a simple drum set in a woodshed. He said SF was the place to be for Jazz music in the late 50's up to the beginning of the 70's. Oakland players would come to the Workshop Jam Sessions in SF to play because there wasn't too much happening in Oakland at that time. Around this time Dewey Redman came to SF & Pharaoh Sanders was living in Oakland. He went to Europe on a one way ticket & played a little with Dexter Gordon. George then moved to New York in 1969 for 12 years. It was like a musical university. George Coleman did his first shows at clubs with Stanley Turrentine then ended up playing with Sonny Rollins for 3 & a half years. He has no regrets & is grateful that the music took him to see many places all over the world.
Date: 9/8/1986Call Number: CD 1040Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
Aired 9-27-87/ WBAI - Roots of Carribbean 1st Radio; has notes attached. Same as AS 022.
Date: 10/1/1983Call Number: CD 1052Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
In this 1983 interview with Jerry Gonzalez, the New York-born trumpeter/conguero/composer/ensemble leader talks about his development as a musician - from being introduced to music by his father, to Music & Arts High School, to his association with Kenny Dorham, Manny Oquendo & Libre (which includes his brother Andy) Eddie Palmieri, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, and many others. He speaks about his involvement with the Grupo Folklorico Nuevayorquino y Expermental, the impact of his first trip to Cuba in 1978, and his vision for his own group, the Fort Apache Band. A historian of both jazz & Latin music, Jerry speaks eloquently throughout the interview about the many parallels and interconnections between the two idioms and his philosophy on how to fuse them in his own music without losing the power each genre.
Date: 10/1/1983Call Number: CD 1054Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
In this 1983 interview with Jerry Gonzalez, the New York-born trumpeter/conguero/composer/ensemble leader talks about his development as a musician - from being introduced to music by his father, to Music & Arts High School, to his association with Kenny Dorham, Manny Oquendo & Libre (which includes his brother Andy) Eddie Palmieri, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, and many others. He speaks about his involvement with the Grupo Folklorico Nuevayorquino y Expermental, the impact of his first trip to Cuba in 1978, and his vision for his own group, the Fort Apache Band. A historian of both jazz & Latin music, Jerry speaks eloquently throughout the interview about the many parallels and interconnections between the two idioms and his philosophy on how to fuse them in his own music without losing the power each genre.
Date: 5/29/1987Call Number: CD 1110Format: CDProducers: Art SatoProgram: In Your EarCollection: Art Sato: In Your Ear
Aired 10-18-1987?; has notes attached. Same as AS 030.