Bassist John Geggie Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Most cities have them: musicians who act like a lightning rod, focusing and driving their jazz scenes. In Ottawa, Canada, bassist John Geggie has been one of those significant focal points for two decades, but in particular over the past ten years. He's one of the founding organizers and faculty members of Jazzworks which, amongst other things, runs an annual Jazz Camp--a weekend boot camp for aspiring musicians from near and far, at various degrees of skill, to hone their jazz chops. He's hosted the late-night jam sessions at the TD Canada Trust International Jazz Festival for most of the past eight years, creating a vibrant, happening place where local musicians get the opportunity to sit In with his crack trio and some of the international artists who are invited to the festival. He's played with local artists in, out and on the periphery of the jazz sphere, including Chelsea Bridge, The Angstones, Ian Tamblyn and the National Arts Center Orchestra. He's toured and recorded with another great Ottawa musician (now living in New York), D.D. Jackson, as well as other Canadian artists including saxophonists Frank Lozano and David Mott.

AAJ Managing Editor John Kelman spoke with Geggie about his long-overdue debuts as a leader--Geggie Project (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2009), with drummer Nick Fraser and pianist Marilyn Crispell, and Across the Sky, with Fraser, pianist Nancy Walker and saxophonist Donny McCaslin--as well as his egalitarian approach to music-making, in his in-depth interview, John Geggie: Unexpected Conversations, published today at AAJ today.

But there's more. To celebrate the back-to-back releases of Geggie Project and Across the Sky, AAJ is providing two days of exhaustive coverage:

1. Read John Kelman's insightful review of Across the Sky, also published today at AAJ;
   
2. Download “Scatterbrain Drain," a full track from Across the Sky, today's AAJ Daily Download;
   
3. Watch The Ottawa Citizen's Peter Hum interview Geggie in 2008, in rehearsal with pianist George Colligan and drummer Ted Warren, today's Video of the Day;
   
4. Read what John Kelman has to say about Geggie Project in his informative CD review, to be published tomorrow, January 27, 2010;
   
5. Download “Across the Sky," a full track from Geggie Project tomorrow, the AAJ Daily Download for January 27, 2010.

AAJ is committed to providing you with the most extensive coverage anywhere surrounding new releases. Be sure to check out all the buzz about John Geggie, Across the Sky and Geggie Project today and tomorrow at AAJ!