Pablo Held Investigates

What a pleasure it was to talk to composer/arranger/pianist/accordionist Gil Goldstein! I’ve been in awe of his work with Michael Brecker, Milton Nascimento, Jim Hall, Wallace Roney and of course his own music (check out his album “Under Rouseau’s Moon”). Furthermore, his book “Jazz Composer’s Companion” was a great help to me, especially because of the interviews that Gil himself conducted with some of my biggest heroes – he’s basically an investigator himself Gil and me share a deep affinity for Gil Evans, so naturally I had to ask him about the process of his late mentor. These accounts are a nice counterpart to my conversation with Maria Schneider with whom I also talked about Gil Evans’ music. Enjoy the two of us hanging/nerding out.

Sometimes you can’t predict in which direction an interview will go. When I spoke with Laura Mvula we didn’t nerd out about theoretical stuff. In the beginning you can notice me wanting to go in this direction. But instead we get something much deeper and more meaningful: Laura opened up about her life as an artist, the constant challenge to stay present and to reach what she calls “the freest place”. We touch on how she deals with expectations and how that helps her to be even more honest in her work. I felt like I really got to know Laura and I’m thankful for her honesty and generosity.

Ralph Towner is my hero. He’s a musical pioneer, a poetic and lyrical storyteller, always searching for something new, a giant of jazz & improvised music. I have childhood memories of listening to his records in my parents collection — His duo recording with Gary Peacock “Oracle” always comes to mind. So do his solo recordings, his work with Oregon, Weather Report, Azimuth and much more. After many years of loving and studying his music I got to meet him for the first time in 2017 after an incredible solo gig of his in Wuppertal. The promoter managed to sneak me into the dinner and somehow I ended up sitting next to Ralph. Naturally I asked him many questions all night! An interview, only without the camera. Later on Ralph was not only kind enough to write liner notes to a trio album of mine, he also accepted to play a couple of gigs with us in 2018. A dream come true, and an unforgettable experience. This conversation took place in late 2021, before the soundcheck for our gig at Cologne Philharmonic Hall. I’m so happy that Ralph agreed to do this with me, because I’ve been wanting to interview him properly for a long time. Ralph shows and demonstrates a lot of things on the guitar, giving us a rare insight into his process. I always dreamed to be in that seat: right next to my hero, asking him about his compositions and seeing him up close coming up with all those beautiful sounds. We also talk about Bill Evans’ influence on his music, playing with Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, how his piano playing influenced his approach to the guitar and much more. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Scott Colley is an amazing musician. He always serves the music in a very engaging and creative way, never letting his incredible facility on the instrument getting the best of him. This is one of the many things I admire about him, so naturally I am glad I could talk to him about that. We also cover his longtime relationships with Herbie Hancock, Andrew Hill, Jim Hall and Chris Potter, as well as the special occasion when Scott subbed in the Wayne Shorter quartet. We listen to a track from “Empire” together, my favorite Scott Colley album. Scott reacts spontaneously to what we hears, which is something I always like. And he shares his memories of studying with Charlie Haden and Fred Tinsley, working with drummers Bill Stewart & Brian Blade and gives great insights into his compositional process and musical mindset. I’m glad to share this with all of you now. Enjoy! If you like this series, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

I heard about Mike Gibbs through my good friend Sebastian Gille, who invited Mike to arrange his music for a special project with the NDR Bigband. I was amazed by Mike’s writing right away. Everything he does sounds so rich and full yet very open at the same time. He’s a true master who has worked with so many of my personal heroes: Joni Mitchell, Jaco Pastorius, John Scofield, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Bill Frisell, John McLaughlin, Steve Swallow and so many more. After a while we got in touch and we embarked on a deep exchange via email, talking a lot about our shared love of Gil Evans’ writing, sending each other music to listen to and exchanging lots of sheet music. I asked him so many questions about all of his encounters with the great masters and he always took his time to answer very thoroughly. On the other hand he seemed very interested in my trio and our way of playing together, asking for lead sheets of my tunes and commenting in depth about our newest recordings. He even turned up out of the blue on a trio gig at the Vortex in London and after that followed the trio to Almeria, Spain where we hung out for three days. It’s very inspiring to see him staying that interested in the current scene, eager on learning more and deeply immersing himself in the music all the time. I want to be like that when I’m at his age!

When Larry Goldings told me that “we should do another podcast where we talk about our classical influences”, I was beyond excited. In this 3-hour conversation about our musical upbringings and influences we also play a lot of piano for each other. As you can imagine, this is exactly what I was dreaming of all my life: talk to my heroes about their process and have them show me what they’re doing. This is why I started this podcast in the first place. Join me and Larry, talking about music, playing piano and hanging out.

Pablo Held talking about the creation of his solo album “Embracing You”. Supported by NICA artist development, a program funded by

Percussionist & composer Marilyn Mazur is like a magician. Through her imaginative playing and her rich palette of sounds she casts spells on the music, her bandmates and us as listeners. When I listen to her I feel transported into places that I didn’t know existed and that’s something I’m fascinated by. How does one do that? I’m so happy I got to talk to her about her process, leading a band, composing, finding her way in the bands of Miles Davis & Wayne Shorter, my late teacher John Taylor, Norma Winstone and much more.

Kevin Hays is one of my absolute favorite piano players, period! The first time I saw him live was in 1996 on a concert of John Scofield‘s Quiet Band and this made a deep impression on me. I’ve been following Kevin’s playing very closely since then. Out of his own records “Andalucia”, “Seventh Sense”,“El Matador” and “For Heaven’s Sake” are my personal favorites, but I do love all the other ones, too! If those records would have been LPs I think I would have worn them all out a couple of times by now. I’ve studied Kevin’s work with Chris Potter, Al Foster, Bill Stewart, Bob Belden, Seamus Blake and many more. He’s outstanding as a soloist as well as an accompanist, a complete musician! In our conversation we talk about his work with John Scofield, Sonny Rollins and Roy Haynes, his touch, rhythmic variety in his playing, going for a personal approach on standards and a lot more. However, the main theme throughout seemed to be finding one’s own voice. Hope you enjoy!

Master drummer Peter Erskine is on so many of my all-time favorite recordings that it’s almost ridiculous! I love everything that he’s done with Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, Joni Mitchell, John Abercrombie, Joe Henderson, Marc Johnson, Vince Mendoza, Kenny Wheeler, Michael Brecker and SO many more! Of course, let’s not forget his own records!! Especially “You never know” with Palle Danielsson and my late teacher John Taylor is one of my absolute favorite piano trio recordings! I also highly recommend his fantastic book “No Beethoven: An Autobiography & Chronicle of Weather Report” check it out if you don’t know it yet! I’m very happy he accepted to do this interview with me, it was a real pleasure to talk to him. Enjoy!