{"id":2445623,"date":"2019-06-22T20:20:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T02:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=308334"},"modified":"2019-06-22T20:20:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T02:20:00","slug":"taj-mahal-booker-t-jones-highlight-special-lunch-interview-as-part-of-jas-june-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/taj-mahal-booker-t-jones-highlight-special-lunch-interview-as-part-of-jas-june-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Taj Mahal, Booker T. Jones highlight special lunch interview as part of JAS June Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.8482068390325\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-308334-960\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Jazz icon Booker T. Jones, right, says a few words to up-and-coming star Jose James as Canadian artist Bria Skonberg looks on following a panel discussion Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. The panel, which also included Blues legend Taj Mahal, was a first time joint venture between Jazz Aspen Snowmass and the Aspen Ideas Festival. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"3\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"17\">\n<p><strong>Jazz icon Booker T. Jones, right, says a few words to up-and-coming star Jose James as Canadian artist Bria Skonberg looks on following a panel discussion Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. The panel, which also included Blues legend Taj Mahal, was a first time joint venture between Jazz Aspen Snowmass and the Aspen Ideas Festival. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1.jpg\" alt=\"Jazz icon Booker T. Jones, right, says a few words to up-and-coming star Jose James as Canadian artist Bria Skonberg looks on following a panel discussion Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. The panel, which also included Blues legend Taj Mahal, was a first time joint venture between Jazz Aspen Snowmass and the Aspen Ideas Festival. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | New York-based Canadian artist Bria Skonberg talks during a Jazz Aspen panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>New York-based Canadian artist Bria Skonberg talks during a Jazz Aspen panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"New York-based Canadian artist Bria Skonberg talks during a Jazz Aspen panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Peggy Clark, co-director of Aspen Ideas: Health, sits next to artists Booker T. Jones and Jose James during the Jazz Aspen Snowmass panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. Clark co-moderated the special event alongside JAS president and CEO Jim Horowitz. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"15\">\n<p><strong>Peggy Clark, co-director of Aspen Ideas: Health, sits next to artists Booker T. Jones and Jose James during the Jazz Aspen Snowmass panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. Clark co-moderated the special event alongside JAS president and CEO Jim Horowitz. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"Peggy Clark, co-director of Aspen Ideas: Health, sits next to artists Booker T. Jones and Jose James during the Jazz Aspen Snowmass panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. Clark co-moderated the special event alongside JAS president and CEO Jim Horowitz. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Blues legend Taj Mahal talks during a Jazz Aspen panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Blues legend Taj Mahal talks during a Jazz Aspen panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/06\/JASlunch-atd-062319-1-3.jpg\" alt=\"Blues legend Taj Mahal talks during a Jazz Aspen panel on Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/taj-mahal-booker-t-jones-highlight-special-lunch-interview-as-part-of-jas-june-experience\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/taj-mahal-booker-t-jones-highlight-special-lunch-interview-as-part-of-jas-june-experience\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Taj Mahal is a legend when it comes to the blues. But what the younger generation may not know is he\u2019s also a Jazz Aspen Snowmass savior, having been a last-second replacement during its Labor Day show in 1999.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">JAS president and CEO Jim Horowitz recalled this story during a special lunch and artists interview session Saturday as part of the JAS June Experience going on this weekend in Aspen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cYou could see he was all running on fumes,\u201d Horowitz said of Mahal that day, leading to another question. \u201cWhat is it about you and the music and the connection? He said, \u2018It\u2019s not about me. The music just comes through me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That was Mahal\u2019s answer that day 20 years ago. He had an equally solid answer Saturday inside the VIP tent located on Durant Avenue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cYou don\u2019t pay me to play music,\u201d Mahal said. \u201cYou pay me for all the aggravation it takes to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The panel was a first-time joint effort between JAS and the Aspen Ideas Festival, which opened this week with its health segment. Horowitz and Aspen Ideas: Health co-director Peggy Clark moderated the event. Other panelists included fellow jazz icon Booker T. Jones, Jose James and Canadian trumpet sensation Bria Skonberg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The much younger Skonberg, who is based out of New York City and was among the first artists to perform when the three-day \u201cexperience\u201d got underway Friday in Aspen, was as much mesmerized by the presence of legends like Jones and Mahal as was the crowd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sitting next to Mahal, she could barely contain herself when handed the mic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s an absolute honor to be a part of this panel,\u201d Skonberg said, \u201cand get to listen and hear these words come out of your mouth from a side angle is just amazing. There is so much history here. It\u2019s a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While Mahal and Jones, who played two sets Friday night at Belly Up Aspen, are two of the most influential names in jazz\u2019s history, Skonberg and James look to lead the next generation into the future. Mahal and Jones both talked about how they found jazz through classical music, while James came through it via a different route growing up in Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cMy story is different because I discovered jazz through hip-hop,\u201d he said. \u201cMy generation, people really didn\u2019t play instruments. People played the turn table or they made beats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Taj Mahal Quartet took to Belly Up for two sets Saturday. The JAS June Experience concludes Sunday with another evening of its pub crawl-style event, with performances by James, Etienne Charles, Wycliffe Gordon and Friends, and the Hispanica guitar duet, who have opened each of the three nights with a set at Skye Gallery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While each artist brings something a bit different, Mahal pointed out Saturday that jazz, and especially the blues, is very much unique to the United States and goes with just about every other type of music, as proven by James\u2019 unique mashing of hip-hop and jazz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe blues is a special ingredient,\u201d Mahal said. \u201cThe blues is like you can go in there with a big dipper and put some on a composition, or you can make a whole composition be the blues. Or it can be a little appetizer to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/taj-mahal-booker-t-jones-highlight-special-lunch-interview-as-part-of-jas-june-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jazz icon Booker T. Jones, right, says a few words to up-and-coming star Jose James as Canadian artist Bria Skonberg looks on following a panel discussion Saturday, June 22, 2019, inside the VIP tent in Aspen. The panel, which also included Blues legend Taj Mahal, was a first time joint venture between Jazz Aspen Snowmass [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2445623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 04:09:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2445623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2445623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2445623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2445623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}