Pablo Held Investigates

To celebrate the 7th anniversary of the podcast, Pablo sits down with singer/songwriter Chris Weisman for an epic and nerdy conversation. This episode marks Chris’s 3rd appearance on the podcast. They dive deep into his current process and the recording and compositional processes for his recent albums. They also discuss their shared love for the … Continue reading Chris Weisman 2

Pablo Held shares memories from the recording session of his latest album “Unity”, which features longstanding Pablo Held Trio mates Robert Landfermann & Jonas Burgwinkel,  guitarist Nelson Veras and Pablo on piano, mellotron, celesta & synths. ‘Unity’ is Held’s 19th album as a leader and the 7th on his own label ‘Hopalit Records’. Check out the album … Continue reading Unity (audio commentary)

Pianist and composer Albert Sanz sits down with Pablo Held for an in-depth piano hang. They talk about Albert’s compositional process, the art of comping for singers, memories from working with Billy Hart, Lee Konitz and Perico Sambeat, the importance of leaving space, Albert’s new Jobim album with Sara Dowling, their shared heroes Gil Evans … Continue reading Albert Sanz

Master drummer Eric McPherson sits down with Pablo Held to discuss his idea of flow on the drums, lessons learned from jazz legends Jackie McLean, Andrew Hill & Pharoah Sanders, his relationship to bassists Ben Street & John Hebert and memorable moments in the studio / on the road. ___ • Support ‘Pablo Held Investigates’ … Continue reading Eric McPherson

Sharing memories from the recording session of my album “Elders”, which is dedicated to my parents. “Elders” came out on Pirouet Records in 2013 and features my trio mates Robert Landfermann – bass, Jonas Burgwinkel – drums and three guests: Jason Seizer – tenor saxophone, Domenic Landolf – alto flute & Ronny Graupe – acoustic … Continue reading Elders (audio commentary)

Talking to writer/jazz historian Ashley Kahn was an honor. We first met in 2024 when Ashley interviewed me as part of the Bologna Jazz Festival. We had such a good time on and off stage together, that we decided to continue our conversation on my podcast. In the weeks leading up to this I revisited … Continue reading Ashley Kahn

It was a great pleasure to talk to the amazing guitarist, orchestrator & educator Ella Feingold on the podcast. She contacted me a couple of years ago after I released the Blake Mills/Chris Weisman episodes and said she’d love to talk. I started checking out her amazing work and became an instant fan. I’ve learned … Continue reading Ella Feingold

I’m very thankful to be on the the road with Tineke Postma quite often. She is an amazing saxophonist & composer, I’m learning a lot from her and she’s so much fun to be around. We talk all the time when we’re on tour with the band Re:Calamari and this conversation actually happened between gigs. … Continue reading Tineke Postma

Talking to the legendary Eddie Henderson was a dream come true for me. As I tell Eddie in the beginning of this episode, I’ve been listening to him for all my life: My father played Herbie Hancock’s “Mwandishi” albums for me as a kid and when I was 13 I saw Eddie with Herbie’s “Gershwin’s … Continue reading Eddie Henderson

The day before our interview I had the big pleasure of playing with Kanoa Mendenhall for the first time. After a long time of admiring her from afar, I finally got to know her through making music and hanging out together, which was really special for me. We zoomed in on Kanoa’s creative process, we … Continue reading Kanoa Mendenhall

A few years ago I took inspiring composition lessons with pianist/composer/arranger Guillermo Klein, which still resonate with me to this day. Guillermo helped me to break free from habits and find new pathways to starting the compositional process. Now I finally got to interview on the podcast, which, in a way, turned out to be … Continue reading Guillermo Klein

Anders Jormin is one of my favorite bassists and composers. I got the chance to play with him in 2016, where we celebrated the music of my late teacher, the great John Taylor. Now, we continue where we left off and talk in-depth about his life in music. It was so great to pick Anders’ … Continue reading Anders Jormin

Talking to singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and interdisciplinary artist Jen Shyu was immensely inspiring and invigorating! After admiring Jen’s work for a long time from afar, getting to pick her brain for almost 3 hours was a big deal for me. As you know, I always love it when the artists bring there instruments and perform … Continue reading Jen Shyu

Talking to Joe Lovano was a dream come true. After so many years of listening to him I finally got to ask him about his process and get deeper insights into his musical journey. When our conversation ended I felt totally inspired and eager to dive into music– that’s exactly like we feel after we’ve taken … Continue reading Joe Lovano

The great John Scofield returns to the podcast – and this time he brought his guitar! I absolutely love talking with Sco. To get ask him about his time with Paul Bley, Miles Davis, Elvin Jones and Jaco still is like a dream come true for me. And when he then takes out his guitar … Continue reading John Scofield 2

Savannah Harris is an incredible drummer & great person. I not only admire her musicality & playing, but also her honesty and her rare no-BS-mentality, which is so apparent both in her playing and when you talk to her. We bonded right away when we first played and hung out in 2023. (Both of us … Continue reading Savannah Harris

What an absolute joy to nerd-out with saxophonist & composer Mark Turner about music after all these years of listening to him! As I tell Mark during this episode, his tune “Jacky’s Place” was my ring-tone for a while in the early 2000s

This my conversation with recording engineer & multi-instrumentalist Joseph Branciforte. I had been a fan of his work on albums by Ben Monder, Caroline Davis, Matt Mitchell, Jen Shyu & Kate Gentile and loved his duo work with Theo Bleckmann. So naturally I was excited when Joseph reached out to me and said that he … Continue reading Joseph Branciforte

Talking to master bassist Robert Hurst was a big highlight for me. My earliest memory of listening to him goes back to my childhood where I often picked out the ‘Mo Better Blues‘ soundtrack from of my parent’s record collection. While listening to the record I stared at the pictures of the musicians in the … Continue reading Robert Hurst

About a year ago I saw Isabel Hagen‘s appearance on the Jimmy Fallon Show became an instant fan, quickly diving into as much of her work as I could find. I love her standup and her incredible web series „Is A Violist“. The way Isabel combines comedy & music is really something else. I’ve been … Continue reading Isabel Hagen