Pablo Held Investigates

Norma Winstone is one of the most influential singers of our time. She certainly influenced me and my music in a big way. Her record “Somewhere Called Home” is one of my most favorite albums of all time. Furthermore Azimuth, all of her work with my late teacher John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler and so much more has been a deep source of inspiration for me throughout the years and I go back to those records regularly. Even before I started this interview series I had a strong desire to talk to her about her music. My friend Kit Downes kindly put us together and we went from there. Just days after this conversation Norma came to my trio gig at King’s Place in London and checked out our music. I was really touched by that gesture and I think it speaks volumes about what kind of person Norma is. I’m thrilled I got to talk to her. Hope you enjoy!

Pedro Martins’ album “Vox” was one of my absolute favorite releases from 2019. I listened to it countless times and I’m still mesmerized by its unique beauty, deep compositions and great playing by everyone involved. Pedro has a real gift for writing timeless melodies!! The first time I noticed him was a couple of years ago when I watched this video of him playing Milton Nascimento’s song “Travessia” which really touched me. I kept his name in mind and eagerly awaited his first release. After this conversation I was so inspired that I immediately wrote a song for him. His pure love for music is contageous. I hope you enjoy our talk as much as I did.

I’m happy to present a special episode of this podcast: This is an audio commentary to my new album “Ascent” which was just released on Edition Records. I often enjoy checking out the audio commentaries that directors include in the bonus features of their movies. Listening to them talk about their methods and inspirations while you’re watching the movie has always fascinated me and I kept thinking about how great it would be to have something similar in the music field. I know a few examples of that, but I’d love to have one of those for all my favorite albums — imagine having and Audio Commentary to “Bitches Brew”, “A Love Supreme” or “Word of Mouth” … how great would that be? Anyways… here’s my attempt at that. Before I went into the studio to record this I checked out the audio commentaries to “The Machinist”and “Goodfellas” which was a nice way to prepare. I had a great time doing this and I’m already thinking about doing these for each one of my albums. Hope you enjoy this and get some useful background info on how this music came to life. Listen to the audio commentary on your favorite podcast platform, on YouTube or right here: This episode was supported by NICA artist development, a program funded by

What is left to say about the incomparable Larry Goldings that hasn’t been said yet? Frankly, after having shared a couple of these interviews + having written personal introductions to each one of these, I hope it doesn’t sound too repetitive… Why? Because all the stories of what happens when I’m inspired by someone share the same plot: I listen to someone for the first time, get inspired, I try to check out as much concerts/records/interviews/videos/etc as I can… I’ll transcribe songs, look for bootlegs, read the biography, I’ll try to check out the stuff that this person was influenced by… I’ll do everything that helps me understand this person’s process and I’ll do this with everyone that interests me. This is why all the stories may sound a bit alike. I hope that’s OK. So back to Larry. When I was a kid I was listening to Larry’s playing on John Scofield‘s masterpiece record “Hand Jive”. Later when I was getting into playing the piano myself I used to play a long with it a lot. The line up, the repertoire and the amazing playing by Larry on organ and piano just put a spell on me. While my parents became fans of Larry’s music I followed them along, listening a lot to Larry’s own “Intimacy Of the Blues”, Scofield’s “Groove Elation”, Michael Brecker’s “Time Is Of The Essence” and other records. After a while I had most of Larry’s records, either through my parents or through my own purchases. My favorite Larry Goldings Trio record was always “Sweet Sience” and though I love everything that Larry has done, I have a special soft spot for this particular record. There was a time where I would only listen to my three favorite songs from that record : “Asimov”, “This Guy’s In Love With You” and “Spring Is Here” on repeat … to this day I still go back to that record a lot and I keep noticing news things in the music – it keeps on giving! When I was 17 years old I had a lesson with great pianist and composer Florian Ross and he played me “Sticky Mack” from Larry’s piano trio record “Awareness”, a record that I didn’t know until that point. I was blown away! I’d say that “Awareness” is one of my top five favorite piano trio records of all time! I got to talk to Larry a couple of times after concerts of him that I attended and he was always very kind and generous in sharing his memories when I asked him about stuff. This is our first lengthy conversation and I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks for talking to me, Larry!

The first time I heard Peter Bernstein was on “The Intimacy Of The Blues”, the first Larry Goldings Trio album that my parents used to listen to and I really liked that album. When I got more into to buying my own records I bought “Heart’s Content”  – I really lived with that album for a while, listening to but often times, also playing along with it quite a lot. I became in awe of Peter’s sound and his extraordinary talent for melody.  Another important record during this time was “Sweet Sience” by the Larry Goldings Trio. Among my favorite albums of Peter are “Monk”, “Solo Guitar, Live at Smalls”, “Heart’s Content” and “Earth Tones” and of course all the other albums with the Goldings Bernstein Stewart trio. Since I started this interview series I got to talk to his Peter’s longtime musical partners Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart and I’m happy to finally include Peter himself in this series of interviews now. We talk about melodic lines, his teacher Ted Dunbar, playing with Sonny Rollins, guitar keys & open strings, Monk’s music, the lesson with Keith Jarrett, the Goldings Bernstein Stewart trio and much more. Hope you enjoy!

When I first heard the Dirty Projectors some time in 2012 I was blown away. (I think it was either “Two Doves” from the “Bitte Orca” record or “Maybe That Was It” from “Swing Lo Magellan”… don’t remember it exactly). I fell in love with this music right away.  The creativity and the searching quality of Dave Longstreth’s songwriting and production style simply amazed me. Also the way he leads the band was a big inspiration for me. Actually, it feels strange to single out specific things that I admire about him and this music, it’s the whole package… ! I then made an effort to check out as many Dirty Projectors records (and bootlegs) as I could.  Among my favorite albums are “Mount Wittenberg Orca” “Bitte Orca” & “Swing Lo Magellan”. I remember a tour through South America with my trio where I exclusively listened to Dirty Projectors (and Maria Callas singing Puccini’s “Tosca”!) for the whole tour. I love this band and I keep finding new things in those recordings all the time. My composition “Longstreth Blues” (as heard on my album “GLOW II“) is my tribute to his music. In it I tried to channel a couple of things I learned through listening to Dirty Projectors. I went to Berlin to see them live in August of 2018 and I got the opportunity to interview Dave Longstreth in the afternoon before the concert. I was super excited to talk to him and ask him a few questions. Hope you enjoy our conversation!

The first time I heard Drew Gress was on Fred Hersch’s beautiful trio album “Live at the Village Vanguard”. I was immediately drawn to his big sound. but also I was in awe of how lyrical he could be in one moment and how burning and risk-taking he would be in another moment. Drew was also on a lot of other records that were very inspiring to me, for example all the other records with Fred Hersch, the Claudia Quintet albums, his own records, Ben Monder’s “Flux”, Antonio Farao’s “Thorn”, Tony Malaby’s “Adobe”, the Marc Copland albums, The Bill Carrothers albums, John Surman’s “Brewster’s Rooster”, “Within A Song” by John Abercrombie and many more… I’ve learned a lot from listening to him on these records, from seeing him live on stage and also from this amazing workshop video that I encourage everybody to check out! To me, Drew is one of the most eclectic musicians who always has something meaningful and deep to contribute to any musical situation, he’s a real hero of mine and it was a pleasure to talk to him. Hope you enjoy!

You’ll hear me geeking out here a little in my conversation with master drummer & composer Bill Stewart. I’ve always loved his playing as well as his writing, so it was like a dream come true to get to ask him a few questions and talk about music with him. We cover a lot of ground here, talking about his records, composing, practicing routines,  memorable concerts, his influences and a lot more. I hope you enjoy!

(This episode is in German) Ich kann’s immer noch kaum fassen, dass das hier passiert ist. Helge Schneider, mein Held seit Kindertagen, hat einem Interview mit mir zugesagt und mich und meinen Produzenten Till Kammertöns zu sich nach Hause eingeladen um zu quatschen. Wir sprechen hier über Helges Bühnenpräsenz, seine Gabe, besondere Typen wie Charlie Weiss, Sergej Gleitmann oder Peter Thoms zu finden, die Kunst im Moment zu sein, Thelonious Monk, Teddy Wilson, Jimmy Woode, Proben, seinen Intelligenztest, die DCTP Interviews und vieles mehr. Danach waren wir Eis essen in Helges Lieblingseisdiele – war lecker!

Getting to talk to master bassist & composer Steve Swallow was a big deal for me. I’m so thankful to the great Mike Gibbs for kindly putting us in touch. When Steve got back to me, he told me he had checked out some of my interviews and that he’d be happy to participate. Naturally, I got super excited, went back and listened to all my favorite recordings of him again: his own records, but also his works with John Scofield, Jimmy Guiffre, Paul Bley,  Thelonious Monk, Carla Bley, Paul Motian, Chick Corea, Pete LaRoca, Art Farmer, Stan Getz, or Joao Gilberto. I also found some amazing records along the way that I hadn’t heard before, for example this one. Also, when I told John Scofield that I would interview Steve Stallow, he told me to check out Steve’s incredible bass feature on “I want you” from Gary Burton’s “In Concert” record. Steve was really generous with his time as our conversations took more than two hours. We talked about so many things and I’m still processing the inspiration I got from our talk, but I think it struck me the most to see how much Steve is still working on improving his connection to the instrument, how willing he is to keep learning and make progress. Considering how much he has already done for this music this sets a high bar for all of us, to never become too comfortable with the status quo.