Maria Schneideris a multi Grammy Award winning composer and band leader. Originally from Minnesota, she moved to New York City in the mid 1980s to study composition with the great jazz trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Around the same time, she also began working for legendary jazz composer and arranger Gil Evans. In 1993, she formed the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra. which has performed music composed by her at concert halls and jazz festivals across the world. She herself has performed in 30 different countries with over 80 different groups.
Maria Schneider has just released a double CD, Data Lords. Eastside Radio’s Philip James had the opportunity to talk with her on the phone from the USA about her musical career and the new CD. In this podcast of the interview, we also hear selections from the music from the CD , It was originally broadcast in two parts on the Eastside radio show Time and Space on August 27th and September 3rd.