We’ve all heard the lout in the back of the crowd, yelling “Freebird!” or some such annoying thing. On this tour, Elvis Costello brings those guys right on stage.

It’s been four years since Queen + Paul Rodgers issued this song in honor of World AIDS Day on Nov. 30, 2007. Time to put aside the problems many have had with Queen carrying on, and focus on the track itself.

One of the busiest players in Chicago’s jazz/improvised music scenes, the name of vibist and composer Jason Adasiewicz always seems to come up

It’s amazing to look back at the Golden Age of Spain (9th to 15th century) with modern eyes. In this era, the idea of multiculturalism has become loaded with political import (both good and bad)

Ray Charles, sightless and orphaned by age 15, led a life that sounded like a blues song. But the range and scope of his talent could never be contained within one genre, no matter its lasting joys.

Pat Martino, along with George Benson, was the greatest jazz guitarist to spring from those righteous sounding organ trios of the 60s, and like Benson, Martino is still playing at a very, very high level.

On the way to work, I indulged in a little college-era nostalgia: Give The People What They Want by The Kinks.

High Water begins in a suspicious manner — not for a jazz album, necessarily, but for a jazz album issued via the Blue Series imprint of Thirsty Ear

Here’s a run down — with a few of our thoughts — on some notable music projects, both new and reissue, slated for release for the week of Nov. 28, 2011.

The best time to listen to Benji Kaplan’s Meditações no Violão is on a quiet, Sunday morning as I’m doing now. An album of self-penned songs inspired by the Brazilian form he loved from childhood and studied intensely both at Brazil and his native NYC, the title is Portuguese for meditations on the guitar, a title that befits this solo [...]