This week’s hot new local single “Do You Feel Good,” from trumpeter Adam Meckler’s recent hip-hop meets big band project, Sampled.  The album’s ten selections are reworkings of music originally recorded by the Adam Meckler Orchestra. Meckler collaborated with a variety of rappers, producers, vocalists, and instrumentalists to rework his compositions. “Do You Feel Good” is...Read More

Pianist Aaron Parks speaks to Jazz88’s Peter Solomon about his most recent project on the Blue Note label, a quartet session called “By All Means,” featuring bassist Ben Street, saxophonist Ben Solomon, and legendary drummer Billy Hart. Parks also discusses his musical influences, how he dealt with being labelled a jazz prodigy, and talks about...Read More

This week, I had the privilege of interview one of the icons in the contemporary jazz world: Saxophonist/arranger Bob Mintzer. He, along with The YellowJackets are coming to town on Jan 21 at Dakota for one night of highly creative jazz. Every time they circle back to the Twin Cities to perform, they have the...Read More

Vocalist Maud Hixson has released a new album of holiday songs called When Winter Comes. She speaks with Jazz88’s Morning Show host Peter Solomon about the project, and the segment includes samples of several of the tunes from the new album. Hixson goes beyond the standard holiday fare and comes up with some really interesting...Read More

This week’s hot new local single is “Twelve Thirty-Four,” from Johannes Wallmann’s newest release, Not Tired, released on December 5th. While the musicians are from our neighboring state Wisconsin, the record was released on the Twin Cities’ Shifting Paradigm Records, whose roster of artists are no strangers to Jazz88’s airwaves. Here, Nick Moran sets the pace...Read More

Jazz88’s Peter Solomon speaks with trumpeter Dan Odegaard, a North High alumnus and a member of the Execs Big Band since 1965. The Execs are celebrating sixty years with a celebratory dance Friday night, November 21st from 7 – 10 PM at Bloomington Event Center. Odegaard also leads his own large ensemble called the Classic...Read More

Jazz88’s Peter Solomon speaks with singer, composer, and songwriter Yazmin from the band Yazmin and Beat Zero As a teenager in rural Wisconsin, Yazmin fell in love with the sounds of Cuba, and and as an adult she spent a few years studying dance and music there. Her band is a fusion of her original...Read More

This week’s Hot New Local Single is an original song by Leslie Vincent called “Tallying Strangers.” It’s from her forthcoming album, Little Black Book. Vincent grew up listening to Frank Sinatra as well as more contemporary vocalists like Brittany Spears, The style, phrasing, and instrumentation of her new recording harkens back to the days before rock...Read More

This week’s Hot New Local Single comes to us courtesy of Abinnet Berhanu’s Ahndenet, featuring singer Genet Abate. Berhanu and Abate are both Ethiopian and the music reflects that rich heritage. The song is titled Yinegera, which in English is “Let It Be Heard.” It’s about unrequited love,or as Berhanu explains, “The story of the...Read More

Pamela York is a pianist based in Lake County, Illinois who is an active member of the jazz scenes of both Chicago and Milwaukee. A couple of years ago, she formed a combo with bassist Clay Schaub and trumpeter Eric Jacobson called the Affinity Trio. On October 17th, the group released their second album, called...Read More