Gene Paul traces his craft from his father Les Paul’s four-knob garage studio to the state-of-the-art board at Atlantic Records — where Tom Dowd, Arif Mardin, and a young engineer’s ear for silence helped capture some of soul and jazz’s most electrifying live takes.

“Liner Notes” is a Sounds Visual Media spinoff series where musicians, composers, DJs, beatmakers, and collectors dig into their crates to share favorite records. In this installment, saxophonist Johannes Enders talks about his new album, Phantom Happiness, where he leads an international quartet through a versatile program of evocative originals.

In this exclusive interview, legendary Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Mayuto Correa kicks back and shares his wild ride from a child prodigy in Rio to ruling the LA session scene on hundreds of iconic jazz and pop records.

In this reflective conversation, James Gadson takes us through his storied career by revisiting his iconic drum contributions, offering personal anecdotes and technical insights.

From a withdrawn, injury-marked childhood to becoming one of soul and blues’ most influential bassists, Jerry Jemmott turned instinct, feel, and Buddhist-rooted discipline into a career built on service.

Prolific Motown-era guitarist, writer, and producer Billy Nichols discusses how he shaped early R&B, disco, and hip-hop history.

Rooted in the tree-lined streets of Long Island and built from three-a.m. radio tapes brought home from Bronx park jams, Parrish Smith turned an outsider’s obsession into hip-hop’s ultimate blueprint, forging EPMD’s golden-era legacy through relentless hustle, instinctual ear-training, and an unshakeable commitment to treating the craft like business.

From touching a friend’s bass strings during a break, to teaching himself in empty Air Force practice rooms, to decades leading the jazz program at William Paterson, Rufus Reid has treated sound as something earned through listening and discipline rather than chased for its own sake.

Across nine decades of music-making, Warren Smith has continually reshaped the drum set—from the melodic discoveries he first pursued on kettle drums after hours at the University of Illinois to the collective intensity of Max Roach’s M’Boom—turning percussion into an instrument capable of both thunderous force and intimate song.

In this wide-ranging interview, Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore discusses his lifelong creative journey, the necessity of side projects like Dr. Madd Vibe, and how mastering multiple instruments and modern technology has allowed him to maintain absolute artistic independence.