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Take Five with Harpist / Vocalist Deborah Henson-Conant
by AAJ Staff
Meet Deborah Henson-Conant Grammy-nominated electric harpist, singer, composer, and educator Deborah Henson-Conant (DHC), synonymous with her website HipHarp.com, has spent nearly four decades redefining what the harp can be. Blending blues, flamenco, Latin, and classical influences, she creates music that integrates voice, stories, and instrumental performance--driven by rhythm and character. Using a looper pedal and guitar-style effects, she builds layered, improvisational performances as a solo artist and with orchestras and ensembles. She has opened for Ray Charles, toured ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with Guitarist Johannes Ravn Hagmund-Hansen
by AAJ Staff
Meet Johannes Ravn Hagmund-Hansen Johannes Ravn Hagmund-Hansen is an award-winning guitarist and composer from Faaborg, Denmark, now based in Brooklyn, New York, after having completed his masters degree at the Manhattan School of Music on a scholarship. He is an in-demand player as both a bandleader and sideman, and has performed his own music at renowned venues such as Nublu, Threes Brewing, Fiction (Brooklyn), Le Baiser Sallé (Paris), Blue Note Dresden, as well as major jazz festivals such as Copenhagen ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with Pianist Noah Stoneman
by AAJ Staff
Meet Noah Stoneman Noah Stoneman is a pianist and composer from jny: London who has been based in jny: New York City for the past three years. His career has already seen him collaborate with master musicians from all walks of musical life, and he is intent on keeping this diversity of creativity as a fixture of his artistic practice for as long as he can. His distinct and emotionally direct style of pianism has lead him to work with ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with singer-songwriter-pianist EBBA
by AAJ Staff
Meet EBBA NYC-based Swedish singer-songwriter-pianist EBBA is reshaping what it means to be a jazz artist in 2025. A Berklee Presidential Scholar and recent graduate, she moves fluidly between jazz sophistication and raw, modern songwriting, carving out a sound that's fearless and arrestingly original. Fresh off the road with Jon Batiste, adding keys and vocals to his global tour and his latest album Big Money, EBBA has proven she can hold her own alongside one of music's most adventurous voices. She co-writes and performs ...
Continue ReadingMeet Guitarist Miles Mindlin
by AAJ Staff
Meet Miles Mindlin Miles Mindlin is an award-winning virtuoso jazz guitarist, composer and bandleader from jny:London. He is based in jny: New York City after completing his masters at the Manhattan School of Music on a scholarship. He is highly in demand across the UK, the USA and Europe and has performed his own music at venues such as: Royal Albert Hall, Ornithology Jazz club, NYC Closeup, The Vortex Jazz Club (London), Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club (London), Dizzy's ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with Saxophonist Steve Treseler
by AAJ Staff
Meet Steve Treseler Steve Treseler is an award-winning Seattle-based saxophonist, composer, and innovative leader in teaching improvised music. Hailed by Earshot as a “firebrand of the tenor saxophone," DownBeat calls his music “beautifully crafted... whether free, through-composed, or somewhere in between." Steve performs and leads improvisation workshops throughout North America and Europe, performing at Birdland, Blue Note Hawaii, and live on NPR's Jazz Night in America. Steve has performed or recorded with Bill Frisell, Bob Brookmeyer, Leroy Jones, Jeff Hamilton, ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with Pianist Andrii Pokaz
by AAJ Staff
Meet Andrii Pokaz Andrii Pokaz holds Bachelor's and PhD degrees from the Odesa National A.V. Nezhdanova Academy of Music, where he later returned as a professor, teaching and mentoring young Ukrainian musicians for over 16 years. A laureate of numerous international competitions, he is also frequently invited to serve on juries at prestigious music contests. In 2016, Andrii founded Pokaz Trio, which quickly became a distinct presence on the jazz scene. Their debut album Kintsugi (Losen Records, 2019) ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with flutist Hanna Kim
by AAJ Staff
Meet Hanna Kim Hanna Kim is a talented South Korean flutist, arranger, composer, improviser, songwriter, and a bandleader. After she earned her B.A. in Music and the M.M. degree with a concentration in flute performance and conducting in California. After that, Hanna also graduated from Berklee College of Music with a B.M. in 2016 as a dual major in flute performance and songwriting. During her Berklee years, she concentrated on jazz performance as a scholarship student. In 2019 ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with Saxophonist Inbar Solomon
by AAJ Staff
Meet Inbar Solomon Inbar Solomon is a saxophonist, flutist, and composer originally from jny: Tel Aviv, Israel who is now based in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of The New School's Jazz and Contemporary Music program, he received significant merit scholarships from both The New School and Berklee College of Music. Solomon has appeared at major international festivals such as the Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the Jerusalem Jazz Festival in Israel. He has also performed at leading venues ...
Continue ReadingTake Five with Pianist & Guitarist Justin Fitzgerald
by AAJ Staff
Meet Justin Fitzgerald I think of myself primarily as a composer, and jazz is my favorite form of music to write. I've always been surrounded by music--my mother was an opera singer before I was born, my wife is a singer, and her father was a skilled guitarist.I used to perform in restaurants and bars around southern Sydney, but when my wife and I moved away to run a tourist park in our early 30s, that became all-consuming. ...
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