Yesterday, over at The Huffington Post, Joseph Vella posted his recent interview with Jazz composer Vince Mendoza. After reading the article, I immediatedly surfed on over to eMusic and downloaded Vince's most recent album — Nights on Earth. Easy listening.

JV: Nights on Earth is a brilliantly eclectic recording. Can you tells us about the importance of keeping your music varied in terms of instrumentation, style and genre?

VM: A contemporary musician should never get bogged down in these details, as you run the risk of losing your individual stamp. I'm not interested in the "3 faces of Vince". However, none of us live in a bubble and in 2012 musicians are constantly being exposed to (and hopefully inspired by) so many different styles of music. The key for me is deciding how these influences will fit into my own personal voice. I think that comes from spending enough time with different genres, becoming familiar with the language enough to feel comfortable playing inside it.

(November 24, 2011)