NICK DERISO: The Rockets were an undeniably crisp, hard-working blues band in the early 1980s, respectable if a little nondescript. Darrell Nulish handled vocals and harmonica, fronting a group led by the unusually named, and just as unusually talented, guitarist Anson Funderburgh. The basis for “Blast Off,” a 1992 retrospectiveRead More

Funky and tough, the Jazz Messengers were, until the very end, a group best heard blasting away on stage as vital, hard bop pioneers. That made this the definitive late-period release from Art Blakey. “Art Collection” features two celebrated tracks with Wynton and Branford Marsalis, as well as one withRead More

NICK DERISO: This anthology — perfectly subtitled, “How the Time Does Fly” — was a great place to sit for spell and ruminate on the distant twangy past. Flying Fish included 18 tracks culled from nine of Hartford’s brilliant, throwback banjo records. His brand of riverboat bluegrass stayed interesting —Read More

NICK DERISO: Charmaine Neville – yes, she’s one of those Nevilles – didn’t want to be a singer. She wanted to tell jokes. Convinced to go another way, Neville initially split the difference. She sang funny songs. “When I was a kid, when ‘The Flintstones’ would come on TV, IRead More

NICK DERISO: This is a woman who could fall to whispery sweet nothings, even from the highest precipice, effortlessly. Start with “Something Cool,” issued on Capitol in 1955 and recorded with Pete Rugolo — Stan Kenton’s one-time musical director — and an orchestra. June tumbles, she sidesteps and old Pete,Read More

NICK DERISO: Before going out on his own, pianist Marcus Roberts learned an important thing from former bandleader Wynton Marsalis: This ability to use standards to create a context for original compositions. Marsalis had, at this point, moved away from all-original content into a tight embrace of the repertoire —Read More

NICK DERISO: News that jangle-pop favorites the dBs (featuring on-again, off-again New Orleans resident Peter Holsapple) have gotten together to put down some new tracks brought me back to 1991’s “Mavericks,” a thoughtful record that would have sounded perfectly at home on an early 1980s college-rock station. Holsapple and ChrisRead More

NICK DERISO: Harp player Rice Miller — better known as Sonny Boy Williamson II — used to sludge across Weston’s yard on the way to parties and dances, a leather belt festooned with harmonicas strapped across his chest. Robert Johnson’s stepson, Robert Jr. Lockwood, was the first guitar player thatRead More

The concert had been over for hours, forever. But B.B. King was just getting started.

NICK DERISO: The story goes: Someone asked Fats Waller what jazz is. His reply? “If you don’t know, don’t mess with it.” Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown messed with it on “Just Got Lucky,” and with fine results. In fact, it seemed his string-bending solos found themselves most at home in theRead More