Vocalist Hannah Gill, unlike most twenty-something jazz musicians on the scene, doesn’t have a music degree or any of the usual notions of how one pursues a jazz career. I found Hannah delightfully open to doing just about anything in show business and realistic about her goals, with none of the “I’m going to get famous and conquer the world” aspirations one expects from someone starting out, but rather, as she told me, she’d like to continue making music for the rest of her life, be able to pay her rent and go out to dinner a couple times a month. She’s already done much more than that, having toured world-wide with Post Modern Jukebox and performed widely with her own band, Hannah Gill and the Hours.
Her debut album, Everybody Loves a Lover, features swing-era songs from the 1920s through the ‘50s and reflects Hannah’s deep love for Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day and Blossom Dearie, her biggest inspirations.
Comedian Alonzo Bodden’s wit and social commentary is well-known to his stand-up fans and to listeners of NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, where he is a regular panel member. Alonzo is also an enthusiastic jazz fan and has been host to many jazz concerts and interviews as part of various jazz-themed cruises, which has given him a chance to not only hear his beloved music but to become friends with many jazz musicians, a happy circumstance he mentioned throughout our conversation. Alonzo feels there is a deep connection between jazz and comedy and talked to me about his passion for both.
Singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Jones has been hard to pin down-- stylistically, geographically and in most other ways--as her fascinating memoir, Last Chance Texaco, makes clear. While Time Magazine dubbed Rickie the “Duchess of Coolsville” this is a woman who has stormed through a life of challenges that would have felled most people, making her cool mien even more impressive.
While Rickie has always thought of herself as a jazz singer—and was voted best jazz singer in Playboy and Rolling Stone polls two years in a row—she has not always been embraced by the jazz community. And while some of her past CDs have included jazz, her latest, Pieces of Treasure, is her first focusing completely on jazz as she celebrates some of her favorite standards from the Great American Songbook.
David Bloom is a man of many talents: Guitarist, flautist, painter, writer, and educator. Bloom feels his interest in each feeds his enthusiasm for it all and allows his focus—putting beauty into the world—to flourish. His CD collaboration with arranger Cliff Colnot, Shadow of a Soul, celebrates those individuals Bloom has met over the years who, in his words, have an unusual level of spirituality, imagination, hipness, heart and individuality, what he calls a “Shadow of a Soul.” The recording honors Bloom’s reverence for these people and this way of living, taking one’s inherent gifts and developing them with passion.
Actor Jeff Goldblum is a distinctive presence in every role he plays, from his early portrayals in The Fly, Jurassic Park and The Big Chill, to recent turns in Law and Order: Criminal Intent and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Now Jeff brings his unique character, curiosity and enthusiasm to his newest adventure, as a jazz pianist and singer, releasing his second CD, I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This. This is one of my favorite shows!
Listen each morning on WBGO, from 6 to 8 am ET.
This week’s schedule:
Monday, May 13: Hannah Gill
Tuesday, May 14: Alonzo Bodden
Wednesday, May 15: Rickie Lee Jones
Thursday, May 16: David Bloom
Friday, May 17: Jeff Goldblum
For an archive of episodes on WBGO, visit the show’s page here.
