Jazz Cruises Conversations

Host Lee Mergner interviews brothers Chris and Dan Brubeck during the sailing of The Jazz Cruise '25, where they provide a deep, intimate look at the life and immense legacy of their father, jazz legend Dave Brubeck. The conversation spans Dave Brubeck’s surprising upbringing as a ranch cowboy, his transformative experience leading an integrated army band during World War II, the controversial and vital history of the musical ...

This episode of Jazz Cruises Conversations features an interview by Michael Lazaroff with Journey of Jazz  '25 co-hosts Marcus Miller and Gregory Porter. The session evolved into a candid conversation where the three shared memorable cruise stories, discussed their musical influences (including Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, and Nat King Cole), recounted their extensive work in scoring films, and debated the double-edged sword ...

110: Remembering Ella Fitzgerald & Oscar Peterson w/Cecile McLorin Salvant, Sullivan Fortner & Kelly Peterson

This episode of Jazz Cruises Conversations, hosted by Lee Mergner, is drawn from a "Jazz on Film" session on the Journey of Jazz Cruise. The session focuses on the lives, careers, and close relationship of jazz titans Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson. The episode includes the reading of a poem Oscar Peter...

Ravi Coltrane with Marcus Miller

Marcus Miller interviews Ravi Coltrane about his musical evolution and the dual legacy of his parents, Alice and John Coltrane. This insightful and candid talk, recorded live on the Journey of Jazz cruise, covers the challenges of growing up under the shadow of a jazz icon and finding one's own voice through the music.

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Pianist Emmet Cohen sits down with his longtime friend, trumpeter and singer Benny Benack III, for a conversation recorded during the recent Journey of Jazz cruise. This interview tracks Cohen's journey from a college student to becoming a celebrated artist and future host of The Jazz Cruise. Cohen discusses the inspiration behind his acclaimed "Masters Legacy Series" and the creation of his globally popular "Em...

Show Notes: 107: Wycliffe Gordon with Sean Jones

This episode of Jazz Cruises Conversations, recorded live on the recent Journey of Jazz cruise, features trumpeter and educator Sean Jones interviewing fellow brassman Wycliffe Gordon about his remarkable life and storied career in music. Jones and Gordon share a similar background, both having Georgia roots and musical beginnings in the church and gospel tradition. The candid convers...

This episode features a moving and candid listening party session with vocalist Niki Haris, recorded live during the Journey of Jazz cruise. Host Lee Mergner sets the scene as Niki plays and discusses several tracks from her deeply personal and spiritual album, Lift Thine Eyes. Niki reveals the challenging circumstances, including personal loss, her daughter’s diagnosis, and housing struggles, that led her to create this "insp...

Show Notes: 105: John Clayton & Jeff Hamilton with Marcus Miller

This episode of Jazz Cruises Conversations, recorded live on the Journey of Jazz '25 cruise, features an interview conducted by co-host Marcus Miller with John Clayton (bassist/arranger) and Jeff Hamilton (drummer), the longtime co-leaders of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (CHJO). The conversation focused on the formation and 40-year history of their Gram...

This episode captures a coffee talk session from the recent Journey of Jazz Cruise, where host Lee Mergner interviews the great pianist Sullivan Fortner ("Sully"). Since Fortner does not enjoy talking about himself, the interview uses prompts featuring names of influential people in his life. Fortner, an adept mimic and great storyteller, shared profound lessons from his mentors and even played the piano for the audience ...

This week's episode, recorded during the Journey of Jazz Cruise on the West Coast, features Dee Dee Bridgewater in conversation with co-host Marcus Miller, sharing stories from her remarkable five-decade career. The interview explores her journey from setting big goals at age seven to her life in Paris, discussing how she overcame adversity and developed the tools to succeed both artistically and professionally.

Key Takeaways

This freewheeling conversation between two longtime friends, bassist Marcus Miller and comedian Alonzo Bodden, took place on the Journey of Jazz cruise that sailed from Vancouver to Los Angeles with stops in Victoria, BC and San Francisco.  The two decided to interview each other, with Alonzo asking Marcus about music and Marcus asking Alonzo about comedy. 

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This interview with guitarist Dan Wilson by his friend and mentor Christian McBride was taped during The Jazz Cruise for broadcast on the radio show “The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian” on SiriusXM’s Real Jazz channel. This LEARN session covers their joint history, as well as Dan’s early musical development, playing in church. In keeping with the format of Christian’s show, the two also play some improvised music together.

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This conversation was recorded during The Jazz Cruise earlier this year, and it featured a conversation between two of our longtime favorite performers – vocalist Catherine Russell and guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli, with Catherine taking on the interviewer role. For the last few years, John and Catherine have been performing together in a project they call 'Billie and Blue Eyes,' spotlighting the music of Billie ...

This conversation was recorded during The Jazz Cruise '24 and it features an interview with multi-instrumentalist James Morrison, who talked with the cruise's music director Eric Marienthal about the challenges of playing multiple instruments at a high level.  James also discusses his experiences as an airplane pilot, who does in fact fly himself and his bandmembers to many of his gigs.

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This conversation with saxophonist Mindi Abair, hosted by Talaya of "Watercolors" on SiriusXM, was recorded on the second week of The Smooth Jazz Cruise earlier this year.  The two talked about Mindi's storied career and her interests off the bandstand.

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In this conversation recorded during Botti at Sea '24, as part of the Jazz on Film series hosted by Lee Mergner, we showed a bit of Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Stanley Nelson's 2019 documentary about the great trumpeter.  To talk about Miles' life and legacy, we asked another great trumpete...

This conversation was recorded on The Jazz Cruise earlier this year and it featured a talk with Jazzmeia Horn and Cyrille Aimee, moderated by fellow vocalist Catherine Russell, who is also one of the hosts of The Jazz Cruise.  The two talked about their unique musical roots – Jazzmeia's in gospel and Cyr...

This conversation with three of our artists was recorded on the first sailing of The Smooth Jazz Cruise earlier this year. It features a talk with Rick Braun, Richard Elliot and Peter White, moderated by one of our hosts, Talaya from Sirius XM. The three old friends talked about the first time they met, mostly going back to the 80s, when fusion was...

As part of the Jazz on Film series on Botti at Sea '24, host Lee Mergner showed a bit of the documentary "Still Bill" about Bill Withers.  Jose James, who paid tribute to Bill with his album "Lean on Me," then talked with Lee about the great singer-songwriter's music, life and legacy.

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