#94: Jose James on Bill Withers (with Lee Mergner)

This interview with guitarist Dan Wilson by his friend and mentor Christian McBride was taped during The Jazz Cruise for broadcast on the radio show “The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian” on SiriusXM’s Real Jazz channel. This LEARN session covers their joint history, as well as Dan’s early musical development, playing in church.  In keeping with the format of Christian’s show, the two also play some improvised music together.

This conversation was recorded during The Jazz Cruise earlier this year, and it featured a conversation between two of our longtime favorite performers – vocalist Catherine Russell and guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli, with Catherine taking on the interviewer role.  For the last few years, John and Catherine have been performing together in a project they call 'Billie and Blue Eyes,' spotlighting the music of Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. John talked about coming up in the jazz and music world and hanging (and playing) with legends like Benny Goodman, Les Paul, Joe Venuti, Zoot Sims, Slam Stewart, Clark Terry, George Shearing, and of course, his father Bucky. Plus, John shared some stories about working with pop icons James Taylor and Paul McCartney.

This conversation was recorded during The Jazz Cruise '24 and it features an interview with multi-instrumentalist James Morrison, who talked with the cruise's music director Eric Marienthal about the challenges of playing multiple instruments at a high level.  James also discusses his experiences as an airplane pilot, who does in fact fly himself and his bandmembers to many of his gigs.

This conversation with saxophonist Mindi Abair, hosted by Talaya of "Watercolors" on SiriusXM, was recorded on the second week of The Smooth Jazz Cruise earlier this year.  The two talked about Mindi's storied career and her interests off the bandstand.

In this conversation recorded during Botti at Sea '24, as part of the Jazz on Film series hosted by Lee Mergner, we showed a bit of Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Stanley Nelson’s 2019 documentary about the great trumpeter.  To talk about Miles’ life and legacy, we asked another great trumpeter, Randy Brecker, who has always been a marvelous story teller.  Perhaps no other artist lends themself more to stories than Miles Davis.  Randy not only put Miles' singular influence in perspective, but shared some of his personal encounters with Miles, including their exchange about who discovered the wah wah peddle first. 

This conversation was recorded on The Jazz Cruise earlier this year and it featured a talk with Jazzmeia Horn and Cyrille Aimee, moderated by fellow vocalist Catherine Russell, who is also one of the hosts of The Jazz Cruise.  The two talked about their unique musical roots – Jazzmeia’s in gospel and Cyrille’s in French gypsy music and how they first got into jazz.  They also share their creative process for recording and composing.  And there’s lots more, including questions from our discerning guests.

This conversation with three of our artists was recorded on the first sailing of The Smooth Jazz Cruise earlier this year. It features a talk with Rick Braun, Richard Elliot and Peter White, moderated by one of our hosts, Talaya from Sirius XM. The three old friends talked about the first time they met, mostly going back to the 80s, when fusion was at its peak and Smooth Jazz was just emerging as a genre.  Then, Rick talked about working with Sade, Peter explained why almost every British band sings with an American accent, and Richard recalled his formative time with Tower of Power. But there’s lot’s more in this very engaging and often funny conversation.

As part of the Jazz on Film series on Botti at Sea '24, host Lee Mergner showed a bit of the documentary "Still Bill" about Bill Withers.  Jose James, who paid tribute to Bill with his album "Lean on Me," then talked with Lee about the great singer-songwriter's music, life and legacy.

This conversation recorded on the Jazz Cruise earlier this year is from one of our LEARN sessions held during the day. James Morrison interviewed fellow trumpeters Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack the third.  They talk plenty of brass of course, but also about how they balance playing and singing.  And the two talk about how their own style and sound evolved.  Finally, they take a bunch of interesting questions from the audience.

In this episode, two of our longtime cruise hosts and headliners—Alonzo Bodden and Marcus Miller—talk music, comedy and life in a free-wheeling and entertaining conversation recorded on The Smooth Jazz Cruise. Although Alonzo kicks it off as the interviewer, in reality any session with these two longtime friends is bound to go back and forth, with one turning the tables on the other, and with a healthy dose of good-spirited razzing along the way.