Tom Morello is a big rock star, a member of Rage Against the Machine and leader of his own side project the Nightwatchman. But he still gets more than a little excited when talking about appearing alongside Bruce Springsteen.

Super-producer Daniel Lanois, who helmed some 50 projects for the likes of U2, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, will be working on a new album with former Guess Who lead singer and keyboardist Burton Cummings.

Rod Stewart is set to join the Faces for the first time in almost 20 years, as the group celebrates its induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Faces reunited in 2010, but without Stewart, who was having vocal problems at the time.

This isn’t a eulogy, no sad occasion, mostly because Tommy Bolin is so very present on the pleasantly unsanctimonious Great Gypsy Soul.

You might think that the saxophone trio lineup (sax, bass, drums) would have nothing left to say. Sure, Sonny Rollins throws a long shadow, but that doesn’t mean the entire case has been closed. So Fly comes along, bringing a sort of Ornette Coleman vibe. I say “sort of” because the music doesn’t really contain the twisty logic of harmolodics [...]

Great albums most often prick at you and provoke you. Great albums challenge you by not being exactly what you’d expected. Unfortunately, sometimes bad albums do exactly the same thing.

Macy Gray has apparently been listening to rock radio over the decade or so since her breakout R&B-soaked hit “I Try.” Her new album of reinterpretations, simply called Covered, is dotted with songs from the likes of Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Sublime and My Chemical Romance.

Recently, we’ve said goodbye to some jazz greats — including drummer Paul Motian, musician and street poet Gil-Scott Heron, violinist Billy Bang, drummer Joe Morello, and saxophonist James Moody, among others. So, how about switching gears

When it comes to music, and art in general, I’m driven by the “butterfly effect” as applied to aesthetics. My main purpose is to introduce people to what I like in the hope that their new found joy will in turn influence others