Pablo Held Investigates

My friend Till Kammertöns hipped me to the music of Gabriel Kahane sometime in September 2018 and I immediately got hooked. I couldn’t stop listening to his wonderful album “Book of Travelers” for a month. While checking out all of his other wonderful works I noticed an urge to interview him for this series. I … Continue reading Gabriel Kahane

(German only – english subtitles available on YouTube) I got to know harpist Kathrin Pechlof sometime in 2008 when she moved to Cologne, we quickly became friends and started playing together in various groups. I was very fortunate to have her on my album GLOW which we recorded in 2010 for Pirouet Records. Furthermore we played … Continue reading Kathrin Pechlof

Kris Davis was on my radar ever since I heard her on Tony Malaby’s “Novela” in 2011. I was blown away by Kris’ arrangements and playing on that album and started to check out more of her work. She’s one of my absolute favorite pianists out there and every time I listen to her I … Continue reading Kris Davis

Joey Baron has been one of my biggest heroes since my teenage years. I saw him live for the first time in 2004 with John Abercrombie’s quartet at the Domicil in Dortmund and I’ll never forget this concert! During that time I was listening a lot to Abercrombie’s quartet album “Class Trip” and John Taylor’s … Continue reading Joey Baron

This conversation took place one day after Skúli Sverrisson’s group SERIA appeared at KLAENG Festival in Köln in November of 2019. I hope I’ll never forget what I felt when I heard Skúli’s music that night. As I tell him in the beginning of our talk, this concert reminded me what I love about music. … Continue reading Skúli Sverrisson

My third album GLOW was my first time leading a bigger ensemble with my longstanding trio at its core. Recorded in 2010, it featured multiple harmonic instruments (Kathrin Pechlof on harp & Hubert Nuss on harmonium & celesta and me on piano), multiple basses (Robert Landfermann, Henning Sieverts & Dietmar Fuhr) and multiple horns (Niels Klein & Sebastian Gille on … Continue reading Glow (audio commentary)

I grew up listening to John Scofield through my parents who are big fans of his music. So each time we’d go on holidays or just went for a little trip in the car there’d be a cassette with Sco’s music playing at some point during the journey. “Still Warm”, “Hand Jive”, “What We Do”, … Continue reading John Scofield

This is my conversation with the great sound engineer Rob Griffin. He worked with so many incredible artists: Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Paco De Lucia, Chick Corea… and he also mastered my last album „Ascent“. Rob is one of a kind and I think that really comes across in this conversation. He is … Continue reading Rob Griffin

I enjoyed recording the audio commentary to my latest record “Ascent” so much that I made the plan to do this for each one of my albums. This time I’m talking about my record “The Trio Meets John Scofield” which was released on Pirouet Records back in 2014. It features my trio buddies Robert Landfermann … Continue reading The Trio meets John Scofield (audio commentary)

Talking to master bassist Ben Street was a great experience for me. Right from the start I felt a connection with him, which allowed for a very candid and in-depth exploration of Ben’s musical process and experiences. He also asked me a couple of questions, including some about previous episodes and the process behind this interview … Continue reading Ben Street

I’m happy to share my interview with the great Aaron Parks. I first heard him sometime 2004 on Terence Blanchard’s “Bounce” album. Being very impressed by his playing I began to investigate more and came across lots of recordings that featured his playing. Too many to list here, but I’ll say that especially during that … Continue reading Aaron Parks

I first heard about Lau Noah in a podcast with Larry Goldings where he talked about how much admiration he had for her work. (I always listen very closely when my heroes talk about music that they’re checking out. This was no exception.) I’ve been following Lau Noah’s music since back then. She has such … Continue reading Lau Noah

I first became aware of Lionel Loueke’s playing on records by Gretchen Parlato, Terence Blanchard and of course through closely following everything that Herbie Hancock was up to. I was completely blown away and wanted to know more about him. That led me to check out his own record “Virgin Forest” and then when it … Continue reading Lionel Loueke

This episode is in German, for English subtitles please watch the video version. I’m excited to include Christian Lillinger, one of the most individual voices on the drumset in music today, in this series of interviews. Christian is a role model for me on a lot of levels. His no-bullshit/no-compromise attitude is admirable and I … Continue reading Christian Lillinger

Bill Frisell was on the top my list right from the start of this interview series. Through the help of Mike Gibbs, I finally got in touch with Bill and we had a lovely conversation. What is there to say about Bill Frisell’s music that hasn’t been said yet? I mean, I don’t know anyone … Continue reading Bill Frisell

I was 7 years old when I first heard Wallace Roney’s playing on Herbie Hancock’s “Dis Is Da Drum”, a record that has over the years remained very important to me. I was always drawing to people that respect (and draw their inspiration from) the masters that came before them. Wallace was somebody who went … Continue reading WALLACE RONEY

This episode is in German. The video version has English subtitles. My story with Achim Kaufmann started when I discovered Paul Heller’s great albums “Kaleidoscope” & “Little Songs” as a teenager. I listened to them a lot, and Achim played piano on both. I really liked his playing, so I started to check out his own … Continue reading Achim Kaufmann

Marc Johnson — one of my favorite bassists of all time. I was always drawn to his warm sound and fluid way of playing, always taking risks, always propelling the music forward. The first time I saw him live was in 2004 during a concert of the John Abercrombie Quartet at the Domicil in Dortmund … Continue reading Marc Johnson

Norma Winstone is one of the most influential singers of our time. She certainly influenced me and my music in a big way. Her record “Somewhere Called Home” is one of my most favorite albums of all time. Furthermore Azimuth, all of her work with my late teacher John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler and so much more … Continue reading Norma Winstone

Pedro Martins’ album “Vox” was one of my absolute favorite releases from 2019. I listened to it countless times and I’m still mesmerized by its unique beauty, deep compositions and great playing by everyone involved. Pedro has a real gift for writing timeless melodies!! The first time I noticed him was a couple of years … Continue reading Pedro Martins