Pablo Held Investigates

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!

Sam Amidon is one of the most open minded artists I know. Right away I was struck not only by his beautiful music, I was also amazed by the vast range of things he welcomes into his world. Every Sam Amidon album is a winner. They build on top of each other and yet each one stands on its own. There’s a very specific Amidon-vibe. A vibe that nobody else but Sam can create, and he doesn’t even have to do much to create it. It is just there, from the moment he starts a song — effortless. When I wrote to Sam to tell him how much I liked his music, I was surprised to hear that he’d been checking out my podcast for a while. He even became my supporter on Patreon! We kept in touch and made plans to do an interview in the future. When in the summer of 2021 Sam spent a couple of days in Cologne, I was so happy that we could do the interview in person and hang out at my place… and play! Thanks for doing this with me Sam!

My dear friend and trio colleague Jonas Burgwinkel and I went into the studio to talk about the recording process of my first-ever album Forest Of Oblivion.  It was pure time-travel and I stayed in nostalgia-mode for the following days, reminiscing about the past and our journey as a trio. As I often tell, it’s like looking at old photographs of yourself… it’s sometimes hard, often funny but in the end — it’s you! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this one! Supported by NICA artist development, a program funded by

I had been following Johanna’s playing for quite a while, ever since my buddy Robert Landfermann told me to check her out. – If you don’t know Johanna’s music yet, a great place to start is her album “Schumann Kaleidoskop” , where she interprets Robert Schumann’s music in her very own adventurous ways. To me Johanna is an excitingly unique voice on the piano and a fearless improviser. This interview was in fact the first time we really hung out and also (spoiler alert) played a bit, as you will see at the end of the episode. Playing duo with Johanna felt so great that I immediately invited her to play with me again as part of my concert series “Pablo Held Meets”. You can still check out the whole concert here.

This interview with bassist Doug Weiss took place after our first concert together in June 2020 at the Green Room in Köln. Such cool way to get to know each other: After a rehearsal and dinner, we played a concert and had this conversation in front of a live audience. Right from the start I found it very easy to connect with Doug. That’s one of his many talents: to quickly connect with anyone around him and to make them feel at ease. Always in service of the music. Always on point. Much to learn here! It was a big pleasure to get to talk to him about his process and his musical relationships with my heroes like Al Foster, Brian Blade, Kevin Hays, or Bill Stewart. Thank you Doug! Supported by NICA artist development, a program funded by

Marcus Gilmore is one of the most influential drummers of our time. The first time I heard him was on Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s “Avatar” record and I was drawn to his rhythmical world right away. I got to play with Marcus in Chris Potter’s quartet back in 2015 and the feeling of playing with him is something I’ll never forget. He keeps you on your toes, that’s for sure. In the kindest way he makes you listen and reach for new stuff. Highly challenging and inspiring. Since I started this series I always wanted to interview Marcus and it finally happened a couple of months ago. We talked about his time with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, learning from Zakir Hussain, his approach to the drums, his grandfather Roy Haynes and much more. Hope you enjoy.

I first heard Chris Potter’s music sometime in my teenage years. I immediately became a fan, trying to get all his records as a leader and as a sideman. There’s always something to learn from Chris’ playing… in a way I always feel encouraged to work on something after I’ve listened to him. Especially his records “Gratitude”, “Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard”, “Traveling Mercies”, “Unspoken” and “Presenting Chris Potter” were deep sources of inspiration for me. Moreover I loved his playing on records of Dave Holland, Paul Motian, Steve Swallow, Kenny Wheeler, Alex Sipiagin, Adam Rogers, Antonio Farao, Scott Colley, Billy Drummond, John Patitucci (oh yes – “Now” was a big one for me!) and on lots of bootlegs as well. I heard Chris live very often, but a particularly amazing concert I saw was John Scofield‘s quartet with Chris, Dennis Irwin and Bill Stewart at the Stadtgarten in Cologne. I’ll always remember this! In 2013 I’ve had the great fortune of playing with Chris Potter on a short tour as a featured guest of my trio and later on in 2016 I went on tour through Europe with his own quartet. I had been following his music closely, so getting to play with him was not only a dream come true but also a deep learning experience for me, to say the least! Now, I’m really happy I got to include Chris in this series of interviews. We talk about his impeccable ear-brain-instrument connection, composing, leading a band, working with Paul Motian, Dave Holland and Herbie Hancock, how to overcome periods of self-doubt and much more.

I found out about Robert Stillman‘s unique musical world through my friend Kit Downes. (Whenever Kit recommends something I listen very closely) So when my first sitting with Robert’s debut “Horses” was over, I had to listen to it again right away. Everybody on the record played their butts off, but it was the songs and a distinctive vibe that caught my attention. I thought to myself: here’s somebody who likes to invent his own musical world, regardless of what is considered on vogue at the moment. Personal music. No bullshit, just honesty. And that feeling didn’t stop with the next record I checked out (Rainbow) – it only intensified! It has been beautiful to see how Robert’s musical journey is progressing and growing with each new release. I like to reach out to the people whose music I’m listening to. To say thank you. We as artists want to move people with the things we put out. So it’s nice to report back and tell them it really worked. I did this with Robert as well and got to know him through that, eventually we played together in Köln at my concert series which was a great pleasure. In this first meeting I noticed how wide his musical horizon actually is. Really inspiring. The perfect interview guest, as you’ll see in a moment. Enjoy!

As I tell Jeff Ballard in the beginning of our conversation, every time I hear him I’m amazed by the lively sound and feel he gets out of the drums. I think that’s something we as musicians all strive for: to have our sounds (and the music in general) be reflective of life itself, to transcend the notes, the rhythms, the general parameters of the music and make others (and ourselves) feel something and connect with each other. It was a big pleasure for me to connect with Jeff during our talk. Right from the start it felt like I had known him forever! He was really ready to share his experiences in a candid and honest way. We touched on many subjects, including his time feel, drastically changing his physical approach to playing the drums, his experience of playing with Chick Corea, books, his relationship with Larry Grenadier, what he’s looking for in a bassist, his admiration for Donald Bailey and much more.