Jazz Cruises Conversations

In this conversation from Blue Note at Sea '23, host Don Was interviews Christian McBride about his practice regimen for the bass, his early years growing up in Philadelphia, his love of James Brown and how he handles his many roles as a musician, composer, bandleader, radio host and educator.  

This episode recorded on The Smooth Jazz Cruise features an interview with saxophonist Candy Dulfer by one of our hosts Talaya. Candy talked about her very musical upbringing in the Netherlands with her father Hans, a noted jazz saxophonist, as well as her own unique journey, crossing paths and collaborating with Dave Stewart, Prince and Van Morrison, and establishing herself as a solo artist.

This episode features a true 1:1 conversation between two old friends, comedian Alonzo Bodden and bassist/bandleader/composer Marcus Miller.  Recorded on Blue Note at Sea '23, the two talked about music and comedy and everything in between.

In this conversation recorded during The Jazz Cruise '23, Shelly Berg interviewed vocal jazz sensation Samara Joy for his "Generation Next" show on SiriusXM's Real Jazz channel.

This week’s episode of the Jazz Cruises Conversations podcast features a very special interview by Marcus Miller with Michael McDonald, recorded on The Smooth Jazz Cruise earlier this year. Marcus talked with Michael about his long and storied career, which started out in St. Louis, playing and singing in local cover bands. The rest is history, which you’ll hear about in this engaging and entertaining talk. How about this little fact? Michael’s local young band backed Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry back in the day. And he explains the origin of the band name The Doobie Brothers. And Michael tells how he came to duet famously with Patti LaBelle on their smash hit “On My Own.”  And now they’re doing a cruise together, the McDonald Labelle Cruise with us April 10-13 to Nassau in the Bahamas.

In this one-on-one conversation from Blue Note at Sea earlier this year, Christian McBride interviewed Chris Botti for an episode of his Sirius XM radio show “The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian.” Chris talked about the rewards and challenges of his long-running residency at the Blue Note in New York City.  The two also talked about Chris’ beginnings in Portland, Oregon, as well as the impact of the music program at the University of Indiana.  Chris explained why the trumpet is such a difficult instrument to master. He talked about the impact of working with Paul Simon and Sting.  And he even told a Frank Sinatra story. Finally, Christian gave Chris a little Blindfold Test with three trumpeters.

In this episode of the newly renamed Jazz Cruises Conversations podcast, pianists Renee Rosnes and Billy Childs talked with host LeRoy Downs about their common history and inspirations. 

This conversation from Blue Note at Sea '23 featured the acclaimed singer and songwriter Cecile McLorin Salvant, who was interviewed by David SanbornThe two talked about Cecile’s passion and gift for the visual arts, and they dug very deep on her recent album Ghost Song, which he clearly listened to a lot. And they got into Cecile’s multi-genre project Ogress and her latest album Melusine. Throughout it all, Cecile candidly deconstructs her unique creative process.

Sullivan Fortner sits down with fellow pianist Emmet Cohen to talk about coming from New Orleans to New York City and his emergence on the jazz scene. Sullivan and Emmet talk about the various piano competitions they entered together.  Sullivan also discusses his musical relationship with vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant.  And he shows Emmet some of his practice regimen on the piano.

In this episode from our live conversation series on Facebook and YouTube, the noted pianist Monty Alexander talks with bassist and former bandmate John Clayton about his storied life in music.  It’s a reunion of sorts because back in the mid-70s, Monty led a trio with John and drummer Jeff Hamilton. The three road warriors performed about 300 days a year and recording two albums including the seminal "Montreux Alexander ’76." Monty reminisces about growing up in Jamaica and learning from people like Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson. We also surprised Monty with a special guest who dropped into the conversation for the last 15 minutes. This episode was sponsored by Vail Jazz.