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PODCAST

Jazz Cruises Conversations

Jazz Cruises Conversations invites you to escape to the high seas for the most intimate and candid conversations in music. Go beyond the stage for full-length interviews with the biggest names in jazz and smooth jazz, recorded live on the world"s premier floating music festivals.Guided by veteran host Lee Mergner (and other musicians, comedians, and on-board talent), hear legends open up about their careers, creative process, and lives on the road, all recorded exclusively on sailings of The Jazz

music music interviews

All Episodes

53:16

#108: Emmet Cohen with Benny Benack III

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/11/11

This episode from the recent Journey of Jazz cruise features an interview of pianist Emmet Cohen by his longtime friend Benny Benack III. Emmet shared the story of his journey from being a student at the University of Miami to being a regular, then host, on The Jazz Cruise. He also talked about his Masters Legacy series of recordings with his elders. And, of course, he explained the creation and evolution of his popular Emmet's Place online concert series. Send us a text

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54:42

#107: Wycliffe Gordon with Sean Jones

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/11/04

In this interview from the recent Journey of Jazz cruise, trumpeter Sean Jones talked with fellow brassman Wycliffe Gordon about his storied life in music. The trombonist talked about his early years playing music in churches, his introduction to jazz, his experience with playing in the McDonald's High School All-Star Band, and his work with Wynton Marsalis in both Wynton's Septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

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01:05:58

#106: Niki Haris "Lift Thine Eyes" Listening Party

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/10/27

This listening party session during the Journey of Jazz cruise featured Niki Haris spinning and talking about several tracks from her album "Lift Thine Eyes." The stellar vocalist talked about the inspiration behind the music and even sang along with the tracks.

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44:38

#105: John Clayton & Jeff Hamilton with Marcus Miller

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/10/21

This interview from the Journey of Jazz cruise was hosted by Marcus Miller, co-host of that sailing, who talked with John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, longtime co-leaders of the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Their Grammy Award-winning big band performed during the cruise and the two also played with their old friend Diana Krall. Marcus talked with John and Jeff about the group’s formation and long 40-year history. And he opened the floor to numerous questions from the audience.

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49:58

#104: Sullivan Fortner with Lee Mergner

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/10/14

This interview with pianist Sullivan Fortner was recorded on the Journey of Jazz cruise last month, Lee Mergner, the host, simply gave him prompts with the names of various people in his life. He took right to it, starting with his parents, and moving on to Ellis Marsalis, Fred Hersch, Roy Hargrove, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Cecile and many others. As you’ll hear, Sullivan is not only a great storyteller but an adept mimic, able to do the voices of so many people. And a musical mimic as well. In

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43:08

#103: Dee Dee Bridgewater with Marcus Miller

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/10/06

This conversation came from the recent Journey of Jazz cruise on the West Coast. The co-host of that cruise, Marcus Miller, interviewed the charismatic and expressive Dee Dee Bridgewater, who shared stories from her remarkable career of more than five decades. Dee Dee talked about how she approaches singing a song, about her love for Nancy Wilson, about living in Paris for many years, about her unique connection to Josephine Baker, about the career of her daughter China Moses, about working with

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53:54

#102: Alonzo Bodden & Marcus Miller

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/09/29

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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01:05:27

#101: Dan Wilson with Christian McBride

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/04/02

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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50:00

#100: John Pizzarelli with Catherine Russell

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2025/03/22

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 Holiday and Frank Sinatra. John talked about coming up in the jazz and music

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48:57

#99: James Morrison with Eric Marienthal

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/11/26

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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54:15

#98: Mindi Abair with Talaya

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/11/12

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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39:23

#97: Randy Brecker on Miles Davis (with Lee Mergner)

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/10/12

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 trumpeter, Randy Brecker, who has always been a marvelous story teller. Perhaps no other artist lends themself more to stories than Miles Davis. Randy not only put Miles' singular influence in perspective, but

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50:25

#96: Jazzmeia Horn & Cyrille Aimee with Catherine...

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/09/29

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 Cyrille’s in French gypsy music and how they first got into jazz. They also share their creative process for recording and composing. And there’s lots more, including questions from our discerning

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51:24

#95: Rick Braun, Richard Elliot & Peter White with...

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/09/10

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 at its peak and Smooth Jazz was just emerging as a genre. Then, Rick talked about working with Sade, Peter explained why almost every British band

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33:37

#94: Jose James on Bill Withers (with Lee Mergner)

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/08/27

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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49:40

#93: Bria Skonberg & Benny Benack III with James...

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/07/23

This conversation recorded on the Jazz Cruise earlier this year is from one of our LEARN sessions held during the day. James Morrison interviewed fellow trumpeters Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack the third. They talk plenty of brass of course, but also about how they balance playing and singing. And the two talk about how their own style and sound evolved. Finally, they take a bunch of interesting questions from the audience.

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01:02:57

#92: Marcus Miller & Alonzo Bodden

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/07/16

In this episode, two of our longtime cruise hosts and headliners—Alonzo Bodden and Marcus Miller—talk music, comedy and life in a free-wheeling and entertaining conversation recorded on The Smooth Jazz Cruise. Although Alonzo kicks it off as the interviewer, in reality any session with these two longtime friends is bound to go back and forth, with one turning the tables on the other, and with a healthy dose of good-spirited razzing along the way.

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31:53

#91: Samara Joy on Sarah Vaughan (with Lee Mergner)

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/06/23

This conversation was recorded on the inaugural sailing of Botti at Sea in 2024 and it featured an interview with the great vocalist Samara Joy, as part of the Jazz on Film series Lee Mergner hosted that week. Samara talked in depth about Sarah’s incredible legacy and about her own evolution as a jazz singer in this candid conversation.

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47:31

#90: Kenny Barron with Shelly Berg

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/06/17

This conversation was recorded during the most recent sailing of The Jazz Cruise and it featured an interview of NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron by our artistic director Shelly Berg. Kenny talked with Shelly about his early formative years growing up in Philadelphia, as well as about lessons learned from playing with jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Yusef Lateef, Charle Haden and Stan Getz. Kenny and Shelly also geek out about both the piano and teaching piano.

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51:44

#89: Jeffrey Osborne with Marcus Miller

Jazz Cruises Conversations ·

2024/06/05

This conversation with vocalist Jeffrey Osborne was recorded during a recent sailing of The Smooth Jazz Cruise. Jeffrey talked with Marcus Miller about his rigorous health regimen and about his early years as a vocalist and his time with LTD, which started as a back up band for Sam and Dave. Did you know that Jeffrey actually started out as a drummer? With the O’Jays, no less. You’ll learn even more interesting aspects about Jeffrey’s music and career during this fascinating talk. Oh, and a fellow

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116 results

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