Glad to present the interview I gave for The Musician's Show on WKCR FM at Columbia University in Manhattan on May 29, 2019 from 6 to 9 PM hosted by Joey Clateman. The format is for the guest to include talking about those jazz musicians who have been most personally influential together with playing selections from their recordings, myself deciding to focus upon Lee Konitz and Jackie McLean while also discussing Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Steve Reich, Stan Getz and Ornette Coleman.

Previously, I have been a guest of the New Music Department many times, and this was the first invitation from the Jazz Department as part of Jazz Alternatives, reflecting how my music touches different genres at once, including Indian classical and computer music, too. Perhaps another way of saying I don't sound like nobody, I suppose.

Rather than talking the LIRR and subway from Wantagh near Jones Beach, I opted to drive in, and amazingly found a spot right next to the station.

Having just acquired a new mobile phone, I used it to record the interview, but regretfully had not yet used the phone to take photos. If so, I would have taken a photo of Clateman and myself, and also one of the stunningly dramatic photo of John Coltrane filling an entire wall of the studio there.

The interview begins at :40 seconds if you prefer not to hear us discussing the microphone setup! Joey's speaking voice is lower in volume than mine through no fault of his own, simply being further away from my phone. No editing was done to these interview recordings opting to keep them as natural and spontaneous as possible.

Hummingbird Canyon (2014), Tunis Phantom (2018) and Stars Blossom (2019) were played in their entirely during the course of the interview except for the concluding moments of Stars Blossom faded due to time limitations.

Special thanks to Joey Clateman for arranging and conducting the interview in stellar fashion, and also to Dylan DelGiudice for originally extending the invitation.

And I apologize for saying umm a few too many times, something I recall being surprised that even President Obama was doing, and will do my best to avoid that tendency moving forward. Perhaps the key is to realize that like in music, pauses or silence may be a virtue.

- Michael Robinson, September 2019, Los Angeles

The Musicians Show featuring Michael Robinson is a related page.

© 2019 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer, programmer, pianist and musicologist. His 199 albums include 152 albums for meruvina and 47 albums of piano improvisations. Robinson has been a lecturer at UCLA, Bard College and California State University Long Beach and Dominguez Hills.