Neon Jazz Interviews

Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with Washington, DC–based baritone saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Leigh Pilzer.
On this episode, we dive into Leigh's compelling new 2026 album, Keep Holding On, released on Strange Woman Records. The project finds Pilzer exploring intimate trio and quartet settings, creating an environment where composition, improvisation, interaction, phrasing, and musical structure can breathe.
Leigh brings a distinctive compositional philosophy to the record. Rather than simply placing her baritone saxophone within an ensemble, she approaches instrument, composition, arrangement, and collaboration as one unified expressive system.
The result is music where every detail matters—from the shape of a melody and the architecture of an arrangement to the spontaneous interaction between musicians.
In this conversation, Leigh and Joe also explore what it means to create meaningful music in 2026 America, the evolving role of the jazz composer and bandleader, her approach to ensemble design, and the possibility of bringing her music to Kansas City in the near future.
Keep Holding On is a fascinating look at what can happen when composition, musicianship, improvisation, and ensemble chemistry become inseparable.
This is a conversation about the architecture of jazz—and the freedom that can emerge when great musicians know exactly when to follow the structure and when to break away from it.
Leigh Pilzer — Keep Holding On
https://leighpilzer.bandcamp.com/album/keep-holding-on
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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with Jazz Trumpeter & FONT Music Organizer Allison Philips. On this episode, we get deep into the roots, history, mission, and activities surrounding the Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT Music)—one of the most adventurous and important organizations dedicated to expanding the possibilities of the trumpet in contemporary music.
Now entering its 24th season, FONT Music will take place September 14–20, 2026, with performances and educational events happening across New York City, Brooklyn, Jersey City, and online.
Founded in 2003 by legendary trumpeters Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell Jr., FONT Music has become the world's leading presenter dedicated exclusively to new trumpet music.
The festival brings together artists working across jazz, improvised music, contemporary composition, electronics, experimental music, and cross-disciplinary collaboration, creating a space where musicians can push the trumpet far beyond traditional boundaries.
In this conversation, Allison Philips takes us inside the story of FONT Music, its evolution, its community, and the incredible range of artists helping shape the future of the instrument.
The 2026 festival brings together an international community of established innovators and emerging voices, showcasing the extraordinary diversity of approaches being applied to the trumpet today.
A major centerpiece of this year's festival will be the presentation of the FONT Music Award of Recognition to legendary trumpeter, composer, educator, and cultural visionary Ahmed Abdullah on September 15 at The New School.
FONT Music is about more than a festival. It is about creating a community around experimentation, innovation, education, and the limitless possibilities of one of music's most powerful instruments.
From New York City to the international jazz community, this is a fascinating look at the people and ideas helping push trumpet music into the future.
Everything FONT Music Festival 2026
FONT Music Official Website
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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with rising UK jazz vocalist, composer, and arranger Freddie Benedict.
On this episode, we dive into Freddie's 2026 debut single, Colours, and the remarkable musical journey that has taken him from the lockdown-era writing of an original song about first love to performances on some of the UK's most prestigious stages.
Freddie began his professional career as the lead male singer with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, launching a path that has seen him perform throughout the UK at celebrated venues including Ronnie Scott's, The Ritz, The Savoy, and The Maine.
At the heart of this conversation is Colours, an original composition that uses the spectrum of colors and emotions to explore the highs and lows of first love through jazz and scat. Written during lockdown, the song captures both youthful emotion and Freddie's developing voice as a composer and performer.
His growing musical résumé includes coaching from jazz luminary Emma Smith and sharing the stage with legendary vocalist Jacqui Dankworth. Those experiences have helped shape an artist equally comfortable honoring the jazz tradition while developing his own contemporary sound.
This is a conversation about young jazz talent, songwriting, improvisation, first love, musical education, and finding your own voice within a great musical tradition.
Freddie Benedict is an artist with plenty of road ahead—and Colours offers an intriguing first glimpse at where that road may lead.
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/_freddiebenedict/?hl=en
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Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Janette Burke, Women's Leadership Speaker, Media Personality, and TV Podcast Host who has reached an incredible 15.2 million women across 15 seasons of her own television podcast.
But behind the success is a deeply personal story about caregiving, capacity, identity, resilience, leadership, and reinvention.
When Janette's mother's health changed, everything changed.
She found herself rebuilding her entire business around a 20-hour maximum work week while quietly carrying the responsibilities and emotional weight of caregiving. She didn't walk away from her career or give up on her ambitions—but she had to become brutally honest about what she could actually carry.
That experience transformed the way she thinks about success.
Janette now speaks directly to women—particularly women over 40—who are holding families, careers, relationships, and other people together while simultaneously trying to figure out who they are becoming themselves.
Her message is about recognizing limits without surrendering ambition, embracing change without losing identity, and finding the courage to tell the truth about what life actually requires.
From her base in Toronto, Janette shares a story filled with truth, grit, vulnerability, resilience, and hope.
More Janette Burke:
Janette Burke Official Website
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Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Danura Miriyagalla, Author and International Development & Management Specialist whose remarkable career has taken him across Asia, Africa, Australia, the Pacific, and the United States.
His work sits at the intersection of research, creative practice, cross-cultural leadership, global experience, and personal transformation.
Those years of moving between countries, cultures, careers, and communities profoundly shaped the way Danura thinks about belonging, direction, identity, and change.
His book, The Navigator's Pivot, is a reflective guide for anyone navigating a major work-life transition.
Drawing on ancient seafaring wisdom, philosophy, lived global experience, and modern leadership practice, Danura explores how we can move through periods of uncertainty with greater clarity, calm, awareness, and purpose.
At the heart of the book is a powerful idea: every transition involves two movements—the Pivot and the Inflection.
The Pivot is about changing direction.
The Inflection is about understanding how that change reshapes the journey.
Together, they offer a different way of thinking about career transitions, personal reinvention, leadership, uncertainty, and the moments when the path ahead suddenly looks very different.
Danura's philosophy isn't about escaping life's storms.
It's about learning how to steer through them with grace—and discovering that somewhere within us, the compass may already be pointing home.
More Danura Miriyagalla & The Navigator's Pivot
Get *The Navigator's Pivot*
Danura Miriyagalla on LinkedIn
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