Shows
Jazz BeatMax Roach Interview, 1979Tom Reney's very first interview was with famed jazz drummer, Max Roach.2023-06-151h 00Jazz BeatHouston PersonJazz Beat from New England Public Media features host Tom Reney's research and love for the music, one artist at a time. In this outing, he spends some time with the work of Houston Person.2022-11-2117 min
Jazz BeatJazz Beat #59 - Jazz critic Gary Giddins on Sonny RollinsJazz critic Gary Giddins talks to Tom Reney about Sonny Rollins.2022-05-0951 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 58 - Billy Boy Arnold Part TwoFor Jazz Beat 57 and 58, Tom Reney spoke with Billy Boy Arnold about his autobiography, THE BLUES DREAM OF BILLY BOY ARNOLD.2022-02-0149 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 57 - Billy Boy Arnold Part OneFor Jazz Beat 57 and 58, Tom Reney spoke with Billy Boy Arnold about his autobiography, THE BLUES DREAM OF BILLY BOY ARNOLD.2022-02-0151 min
The Happiness QuotientDo NOT Call This The Blues! Interview and Epic Performance with the Legendary Clarence Gatemouth BrownThe Happiness Quotient #71The Legend of CLARENCE GATEMOUTH BROWNThis episode of the The Happiness Quotient can be found in audio only format at:https://www.buzzsprout.com/268133/8029682And on YouTube at this address: https://youtu.be/BDXmcezMIwQClarence Gatemouth Brown did not want to be known as a bluesman. He called his brand of music "American and World Music, Texas Drive and Swing"In a previous lifetime I was a television reporter for an NBC affiliate in western Massachusetts, WWLP, Channel 22. I was hired as a f...2021-02-2555 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 56 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney, Part ThreeIn Part 3 of Tom Reney's interview with Ricky Riccardi, author of Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong, they discuss Armstrong's tour of England in 1932, and his European sojourn in 1934-35; his top billing in the movie, Pennies From Heaven; his groundbreaking achievement as the first African American host of a network radio series; and the controversy over his 1938 recording, "When the Saints Go Marching In."2021-02-2359 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 55 - Peter Guralnick Interview, Part TwoIn part two of Tom Reney's interview with Peter Guralnick, they discuss three of the subjects of Guralnick's book, Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing: Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and country music legend, Dick Curless, whose career began in the late 1940s in Ware, Massachusetts.2021-01-2736 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 54 - Peter GuralnickIn 2015, Tom Reney spoke with Peter Guralnick about his biography, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll. And now in a two-part Jazz Beat, he’s interviewed Peter about six of the American music legends who are profiled in Guralnick’s new book, Looking to Get Lost: Adventures In Music & Writing: Robert Johnson, Skip James, Johnny Cash, Howlin’ Wolf, Dick Curless and Ray Charles.2021-01-2750 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 53 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney, Part TwoIn Part Two of Tom Reney's conversation with Ricky Riccardi about his new book, Heart Full of Rhythm: The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong, Riccardi discusses Armstrong's skirmishes with Prohibition-era gangsters and managers; the trumpeter's triumphant return to his birthplace of New Orleans in 1931; and the massive archive of self-documentation in letters, scrapbooks, and tape recordings that Armstrong left for posterity.2020-11-2356 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 52 - Ricky Riccardi and Tom Reney Discuss Louis Armstrong, Part OneTom Reney spoke with Louis Armstrong biographer Ricky Riccardi about his new book, Heart Full of Rhythm, The Big Band Years of Louis Armstrong. In the first of a multi-part interview, they discuss Armstrong’s breakthrough in the early 1930s as a popular artist; his first recordings of Broadway show tunes; and the mixed response that Armstrong received during this period from critics in the U.S. and Europe.2020-11-0256 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 51 - Interview with Joe FarnsworthTom Reney spoke with drummer Joe Farnsworth about his new album, TIME TO SWING. In his liner note essay for the album, veteran drummer Billy Hart describes Farnsworth as "one of the rhythm philosophers.” Listen here for the South Hadley, Massachusetts native discussing his experiences working with Junior Cook, Harold Mabern, Lou Donaldson, Cecil Payne, Eric Alexander and Wynton Marsalis.2020-10-0256 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 50 – An Interview with Sonny RollinsTom Reney interviewed Sonny Rollins in August 2020 for a project honoring Yusef Lateef’s centennial. Sonny enjoyed a long friendship with Yusef, and he considers the late saxophonist a mentor and spiritual inspiration. The 90-year-old Saxophone Colossus also discusses his groundbreaking work of 1958, THE FREEDOM SUITE, and elaborates on interviews he’s recently given The New York Times and The New Yorker about living by the Golden Rule.2020-09-0340 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 49 - An Interview with Paul ArslanianTom Reney spoke with Paul Arslanian on May 6 about his career in jazz. Paul is a veteran pianist who's been a highly visible figure in jazz in Western Massachusetts since 1984. In 2010, he was a co-founder of the Northampton Jazz Workshop, and since then, he's produced a series of weekly performances that feature a guest artist who plays with the Northampton-based Green Street Trio. Arslanian is the Trio's pianist, which also includes bassist George Kaye and drummer Jon Fisher.2020-05-2656 minJazz BeatJazzBeat 48 - Lee KonitzJazz a la Mode host Tom Reney interviewed Lee Konitz in 2004 before concerts he was playing in Northampton and Cambridge. Konitz died from Covid-19 related pneumonia on April 15 at age 92. He was still touring and recording until social distancing began in March. A major figure in his own right, the Chicago-born saxophonist was associated over the course of his 75-year-long career with the jazz greats Miles Davis, Lennie Tristano, Stan Kenton, Bill Evans, and Brad Mehldau.2020-04-1738 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 47 - Champian FultonChampian Fulton was hailed by Francis Davis in the Village Voice in 2007, the year of her debut recording, as "the best new singer I've heard this year-- make that several years." Mark Stryker in the Detroit Free Press called her "the most gifted pure jazz singer of her generation." And Nate Chinen in the New York Times said, "she's a charming young steward of the mainstream jazz tradition." Jazz a la Mode co-host Bex Taylor said of the Norman, Oklahoma, native's recent concert in South Hadley, MA, "I loved her set. She was so charming and told some great stories."2020-01-1547 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 46 - Bennie WallaceTom Reney spoke with Bennie Wallace for Jazz Beat a few days before concerts that the veteran tenor saxophonist was scheduled to play in Connecticut in October 2019.2019-10-2149 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 45 - Tom Reney on Open SourceJazz Beat host Tom Reney appeared on Open Source with Christopher Lydon on WBUR. They discuss jazz and r&b and classical music and Tom Reney reveals eight essential recordings and one book that he would take to a desert island.2019-08-2650 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 44 - T-Bone WalkerJazz Beat 44 is devoted to Tom Reney's appreciation of the blues singer and guitarist T-Bone Walker.2018-12-1824 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 43 - Aretha Franklin, 1942-2018, R.I.PAs with many of you, my Aretha Franklin vigil began with the news of August 13 that she'd entered hospice, and for the next two days I posted some reflections on Lady Soul on Facebook. Then on what proved to be the eve of her death, I listened to her throughout a three-hour drive to Cape Cod and could hardly contain myself. Hers is simply the most powerful-- and versatile-- voice of my lifetime. The line that's resonated most for me over the past ten days is from her 1968 song, "Since You've Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)," where Aretha pleads, "If...2018-08-2132 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 42 - Charles NevilleTom Reney pays memorial tribute to Charles Neville on this edition of Jazz Beat.2018-05-2529 minJazz BeatJazz Beat 41 - Anat CohenThis edition of Jazz Beat features an interview that Tom Reney conducted with Anat Cohen in 2008 when she was the Billy Taylor Artist in Residence at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.2018-03-1659 minJazz BeatJazz Beat - Ruby BraffIn his latest edition of JazzBeat, NEPR’s Tom Reney turns the spotlight on Boston-born trumpeter Ruby Braff. Braff’s biography and his influences illuminate the period of jazz history that he inhabited. But the tone and style that you’ll hear in the episode’s music samples point to the timelessness of the music coming from his trumpet.2018-02-0221 min
TRRpodcastPeter and Dave From No Chordtet Interviewed
No Chordtet’s self-titled debut recording was featured on Jazz After Hours, the nationally syndicated NPR radio show, as well as Tom Reney’s Jazz Alamode on WFCR, among others. The ensemble performs original compositions as well as works of other composers, and does not use a chordal instrument to outline the harmonic material, but rather the bass and horns serve this function.The group’s members are Dave Santoro bass, Tom Melito drums, Peter McEachern trombone and George Sovak saxophones.
"Subconscious Love is open to any number of interpretations but I think i...2016-04-2213 min
New England Public Radio PodcastGary Giddins interview with Tom Reney about Sonny Rollins - Jazz à la ModeAugust 17, 2010 - For 50 years, a famed artists' retreat in Peterborough, New Hampshire -- the MacDowell Colony -- has made a prestigious annual award to artistic greats -- painters, playwrights, classical musicians. Now, for the first time, the MacDowell medal will recognize a jazz musician - saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Here is WFCR Jazz a la Mode host Tom Reney's extended interview with biographer and former MacDowell colonist, Gary Giddins.2015-06-3044 minNew England Public Radio PodcastBob Wilber interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la ModeBob Wilber interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la Mode by NEPR2015-06-3058 minNew England Public Radio PodcastCharles Lloyd interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la ModeCharles Lloyd interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la Mode by NEPR2015-06-1947 minNew England Public Radio PodcastEli Newberger interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la ModeEli Newberger interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la Mode by NEPR2015-06-1822 minNew England Public Radio PodcastSteve Davis interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la Mode [Full]Steve Davis interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la Mode [Full] by NEPR2015-06-1752 minNew England Public Radio PodcastSteve Davis interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la Mode [Excerpt]Steve Davis interview by Tom Reney - Jazz à la Mode [Excerpt] by NEPR2015-06-1708 minNew England Public Radio PodcastBill Frisell interviewed by Tom Reney, host of Jazz à la ModeBill Frisell interviewed by Tom Reney, host of Jazz à la Mode by NEPR2015-06-031h 05New England Public Radio PodcastPreston Lauterbach on Memphis and B.B. King - Tom Reney for Jazz à la ModeTom Reney spoke this week with Preston Lauterbach, who's the author of The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock'n'Roll. The critically-acclaimed book was published by Norton in 2011. The Chitlin' Circuit combines original reporting and historical research in providing a richly detailed overview of the period when African American musicians played a circuit of black-owned or operated venues than fanned out from the south to all corners of the nation. Memphis, Tennessee was a center of the circuit, and it's there where B.B. King came to prominence in the early fifties.2015-05-2041 min