On his web site you can listen to a full length version of saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman’s signature tune, Hard Times (click here).

In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, David Newman comments:

Some people are intimidated by jazz. I don’t like to be derogatory, but people are under the impression that it is black music. The music may have come from the African-American culture, but it is really America’s music.

Jazztimes has a great “before and after” interview with David Newman (click here) where they played a jazz clip, asked David to guess who the musicians were, and he made comments on the music, before the interviewer revealed the musicians’ names. The web site has all of the jazz clips in MP3 format and transcriptions of the interview segments.

Residing in upstate New York (at the time of the interview), David Newman discussed Texas, his home state, with the Vermont Review (click here for article):

VR: The music tradition is deep in Texas. It seems that music is inherent Texan trait just as much as football. Were you introduced to music at an early age?

DFN: Yes. There are a lot of influential musicians from Dallas – where I am from. Red Garland, Cedar Walton, Roy Hargrove – to name a few of the present day musicians. Some of my influences from Texas were Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet and Buddy Tate.

VR: Are you Dallas Cowboys fan?

DFN: I used to be but not any more. I have a become a Jets and Giants fan. I am not into football these days because my teams have been a little disappointing. I a big basketball fan. In a basketball, I am a big Knicks fan.

On saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenon, Branford Marsalis said, “I listen for musical intelligence. Lots of jazz musicians spend their lives studying and then trying to make music out of academics. Miguel just grabbed the music. He was able to take something intellectual and make it sound organic and natural.” Zenon, who is only 26, has had a rather illustrious career so far in the world of jazz. This Boston Globe article talks a bit about Zenon’s background. On his snazzy web site, Zenon generously provides lots of samples of his music, including three full length tracks recorded live at the Jazz Gallery in NYC. These are enjoyable performances all around: I especially enjoyed the judicious use of space in the solos (particularly the first half of the piano solo by Luis Perdomo).

Alan Barnes, a saxophone player and composer from the UK, has written a “Sherlock Holmes Suite”, which includes tunes such as Watson’s Women- (Portrait Of Mary Morstan) – “A jazz waltz look at Watson’s wives, M.M in particular and his ‘experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents’”. Check out Alan’s biography and web site.