Drummer Cindy Blackman Santana sings along to music from Herbie Hancock, Davis, John Coltrane, Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter to get her creative juices going. "I do that all the time!" she exclaimed. "It's like breathing to me. It's second nature."
Joe Jackson, the veteran British pianist/vocalist, insists on a certain level of sound quality, which can be traced all the way back to his 1979 A&M debut album, Look Sharp! His five-decade-long career has covered a vast repertoire, and along the way, he's stuck in a few allusions to previous work.
Mike Mettler talks with Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman about The Guess Who's new reunion tour, why they were early proponents of releasing stereo singles, which one of them loves vinyl and which one prefers CD and digital, and how the eternal hit that is "American Woman" was born out of an improvised riff during a live show.