by Nick DeRiso In 1948, young Muddy Waters recorded a 78 for Chicago’s Aristocrat Records. It was the shot heard ’round the blues world. Black urban listeners — most of whom, like Waters, were from the rural South — had found a new voice. It sold out in fewer than 48 hours. Rooted in the traditions of contrapunctal Delta blues, [...]

The first individual recordings by the Beatles bear a striking resemblance to the last of the music they made together – only they weren’t actually together. In fact, some of the songs begun during the Fab Four’s final sessions show up on those early solo efforts – including the title track from George Harrison’s first album and Paul McCartney’s quite [...]

Several years ago, Capitol Records released a terrific 3-CD box set called “Crazy Diamond,” by Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett. Included are “The Madcap Laughs” and “Barrett” — Syd’s only solo albums after getting the boot from Floyd. Also featured is a third disc of unreleased material and rarities, called “Opel.” For fans of the group’s early, more whimsical side, [...]

On June 30, 2001, tenor saxophonist great Joe Henderson passed away. Among one of the giants in a crowded field of post-bop saxmen who sprang up in the fifities and sixties, Henderson nonetheless never got his due until nearly a quarter century after his superb 1963 debut Page One.

by Nick DeRiso Ray Brown is one of those underrated guys who kept on producing important work well past his so-called prime, because he remained such an in-the-pocket guy. You can’t go wrong with the old Jazz at the Philharmonic stuff, of course. But I also typically recommend his late-period work on Telarc, as well. Ray Brown first appeared on [...]

by Nick DeRiso The problem with John Lennon’s last works was wading through the over-done 1970s production on “Walls and Bridges” and a pair of uneven every-other-song collaborations with Yoko Ono on “Double Fantasy” and “Milk and Honey.” We’re here to help, culling the best of those records — and adding the 1990s-era “Beatles” tunes featuring the living Fabs and [...]

by S. Victor Aaron Some favorite jazz albums of mine that don’t come up at the top of anyone else’s top records list, but I thought were outstanding despite the lack of publicity about them. …

by Nick DeRiso To me, Redman is one of the more impressive young tenor players in recent memory. His first record, a 1993 self-titled release, was a wonder.

by S. Victor Aaron An event has occurred that hasn’t happened in eight years…the Rolling Stones released a new record. It was also an event that hadn’t happened in over 25 years: the Stones actually released a good record.

by Nick DeRiso They haven’t taken more than a week off since Nixon’s first term. They’ve withstood disco, fathering a rafter-shaking, swing-blues style that saw its own too-fey-by-half revival. (Did you ever notice that all those bands a few years back had names with the word Daddy in them?) So it is that after 30 years, nine guys still make [...]