Tom Reney spoke with Bennie Wallace for Jazz Beat a few days before concerts that the veteran tenor saxophonist was scheduled to play in Connecticut in October 2019.
The conversation touches upon Wallace's background in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was born in 1946; his admiration for Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins; scoring for the films Bull Durham and Blaze; playing Thelonious Monk's music; and his collaborations with Dr. John, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Ray Anderson. See the post that Tom wrote about Wallace's 2016 appearance in Hartford.