Inside The Interview
Inside The Interview is All About Jazz’s narrative-driven profile series that goes beyond standard Q&As and our Catching Up With format to reveal the deeper story behind each conversation. Each article blends reporting, context, and carefully selected quotes into a cohesive read, paired with a companion podcast section featuring highlights from the interview.
Idris Ackamoor’s Afrofuturist Theater of Sound

by Steven Roby
The plan is not a recital. It is a happening--part theater, part ritual, part dance-floor communion--led by a saxophonist who has spent five decades making music that refuses to sit still. I call myself an artistic being," Idris Ackamoor says, describing the continuum that stretches from his horn and piano to the page and back again. My apartment has become my home studio. I use the piano, my saxophone, and voice as instruments to create music... Sometimes I might be ...
Continue ReadingFreedom, Not Formula: Yilian Ca?izares’ Living Ritual

by Steven Roby
Yilian Cañizares's chapter unfolds in steps: singles leading into an EP and the full-length Vitamina Y (Planeta Y), written for the trio she has toured with for years. It's my first album with a trio," she says. They are not only my colleagues but also my friends... the backbone of the music I'm creating right now." The title is personal and purposeful: It's inspired by all the people that I call my 'vitamin persons... ' I hope that this music ...
Continue ReadingBach, Bebop & Bay Area: Paquito D'Rivera’s Jazz Odyssey

by Steven Roby
Paquito D'Rivera arrived in San Francisco for an upcoming concert at SFJAZZ with a mission and a grin--one that views borders as mere suggestions. Two nights on the Miner Auditorium stage with his seasoned quintet will celebrate years of practice and spontaneous creativity, tracing a career that started with prodigy recitals in Havana and has spanned orchestras, big bands, and clubs worldwide. This interview, conducted before the concerts, revolved around Jazz Meets the Classics (Paquito Records/Sunnyside Records), a ...
Continue ReadingArturo O’Farrill: The Arts Belong to the People

by Steven Roby
The first thing you notice about Arturo O'Farrill is how completely he turns purpose into sound. Whether he's speaking about water, memory, or the way a room breathes during a concert, the GRAMMY-winning pianist and composer treats music as a living system--one that welcomes humor, fury, and community in equal measure. That sensibility powers his new project, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho), and it animates his return to SFJAZZ Center, where he'll lead a charged, pan-American ensemble built for openness ...
Continue ReadingLineage, Lift-Off: Sarah Hanahan’s Alto Speaks in the Present Tense

by Steven Roby
Alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan plays with the urgency of a musician who learned the music in real time--absorbing the tradition on the bandstand and transforming it into forward momentum. I've always been sure of my connection to the instrument," she says. Anyone who knows me knows my dad is a drummer and a great musician. He really got me hip to the music when I was a young kid... we'd watch his DVDs of Buddy Rich's big band, ...
Continue ReadingOKAN: Joy as Resistance, Rhythm as Home

by Steven Roby
Afro-Cuban duo OKAN creates music that bridges gaps--between Havana and Toronto, ritual and dance floor, refined conservatory training and raw street style. Their name, taken from Santería, means heart." That rhythm energizes everything they perform: violin complemented by luminous vocals, batá drums, and cajón intertwined with jazz harmony and songs that emphasize joy as both an inherent right and a strategic choice. Co-leaders Elizabeth Rodriguez (violin, vocals) and Magdelys Savigne (aka Mags") (percussion, vocals) originate from Cuba's classical ...
Continue ReadingDominique Fils-Aimé: Jazz as Freedom, Healing, and Connection

by Steven Roby
Montreal vocalist--composer Dominique Fils-Aimé discusses music as essential as breath--something vital, grounding, and shared. In conversation, a few recurring themes emerge: freedom as the driving force of jazz, healing as the restorative power of music on the body, and connection--among people, across generations, and through history--as the quiet foundation that allows songs to travel. These ideas are not mere abstract concepts for her; they influence how she writes and constructs a live set--especially in intimate spaces like SFJAZZ's Joe Henderson ...
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