Dave Liebman in Conversation with CJ Shearn
Dave Liebman is one of the most individual, inventive saxophonists and flautists in all of jazz. Over the course of his fifty year career, Liebman has played with Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Richie Beirach, McCoy Tyner and many others. He is also a superb jazz educator having founded the International Association for the Schools of Jazz in 1989, and is currently the Artist in Residence at Manhattan School of Music as well as guest lecturer at the University of Toronto, and Berklee School of Music. Liebman’s recent group Expansions featuring veteran bassist Tony Marino, and young guns, pianist Bobby Avey and altoist Matt Vashlishan released the critically acclaimed The
Puzzle (Whaling City Sound, 2015).
I spoke with Liebman via telephone while he was on his way to a three night run at Smoke with Expansions where we discussed his saxophone intensive course at New York Jazz Workshop coming up July 25-27, and jazz education. My thanks to the legendary and gracious Dave Liebman for taking time out to speak with me.
I have been the staff writer for the New York Jazz Workshop School of Music blog in midtown Manhattan since 2014, and that has broadened my freelance writing skills considerably. In addition to writing artist bios, and articles of interest that pertain to the mission of the school, I have interviewed (in print on the site) legendary guitarist and NEA Jazz Master Pat Metheny, trumpeter Cuong Vu, and in 2015 embarked on producing a podcast for the school where I have achieved my dream and interviewed jazz giants such as Dave Liebman, Lenny White, rising talents like Thana Alexa, Logan Richardson, guitarist and bassist Brian Kastan, among others. I also work on SEO optimization for the blog. In 2015 I started my blog Jazz Views with CJ Shearn, and have written liner notes for 5 time Grammy winner and Oscar and Golden Globe nominee, Antonio Sanchez (for his latest recording “Channels of Energy”) and guitarist Gene Ess for his latest recording, scheduled to be released in November 2018.
My passion for jazz music is what drives me, which is an interest I’ve had since I can remember. I initially began writing about jazz at the age of 13 for my high school newspaper, and in my late teens contributed occasionally to jazzreview.com. In college I was member of the Harpur Jazz Project which brought jazz acts to campus. I’ve also contributed in the past to AllAboutJazz where I was mentored by John Kelman. I decided to focus on my passion for jazz music journalism after a job in the social services field as a caseworker went south, and as a person with a physical disability I work on going against the odds, living independently and having accomplished things people had said I’d never do.