The Jazz Session: Wayne Escoffery

On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews saxophonist Wayne Escoffery about his life and his new album, Veneration (Savant, 2007). Escoffery was born in London and moved to New Haven, Connecticut as a child. He sang in a boys choir and then got introduced to the saxophone. Choosing the latter, Escoffery moved into the orbit of legendary saxophonist Jackie McLean, eventually attending McLean's Artist Collective and his jazz program at the Hartt School of Music. In addition to his own band, Escoffery currently performs with the Mingus Big Band, Tom Harrell, Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Septet and in a band with his wife, singer Carolyn Leonhart.

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About the show:The Jazz Session

The Jazz Session is a jazz interview podcast featuring conversations with musicians, writers, broadcasters, podcasters and more. The show is hosted by All About Jazz contributor and longtime radio broadcaster Jason Crane. The show is available at thejazzsession.com or in iTunes.

About the host: Jason Crane

Jason Crane was born in 1973 in Lenox, Massachusetts, home of Tanglewood and former home of the famed Music Inn and the Lenox School of Jazz. His professional career has covered a lot of bases -- and a lot of the world. He began as a full-time soprano sax player in jazz, latin jazz and funk bands in Arizona, South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Crane also worked as an on-air host for KUAT (classical) and KUAZ (jazz) in Tucson; as a news announcer for Bloomberg Radio in Tokyo; and as Tokyo business correspondent for NPR's Morning Edition.

From 2001-2004, Crane was station manager and jazz host at Jazz90.1 in Rochester, NY, where he interviewed more than 200 jazz artists, including: Claudia Acuna, Ben Allison, Karrin Allyson, Billy Bang, David Berkman, Gene Bertoncini, Bill Bruford, Jack DeJohnette, Kahil El'Zabar, Marty Erlich, Wycliffe Gordon, Benny Green, Fred Hersch, Bill Holman, Charlie Hunter, Norah Jones, Don Lanphere, Joe Locke, Les McCann, Bobby McFerrin, Ben Monder, Jane Monheit, David “Fathead" Newman, Houston Person, Bobby Previte, David Sanborn, John Scofield, Curtis Steigers, Tierney Sutton, Cuong Vu, Bobby Watson, Fred Wesley, Matt Wilson, and Nancy Wilson.

After leaving Jazz90.1, Crane hosted the radio and podcast versions of The Jason Crane Show, an interview show about the arts and activism.