by Nick DeRiso While the performances on “Johnny Shines and Robert Lockwood,” from Shreveport, Louisiana’s Paula Records, are first-rate, unfortunately the sound quality early on is spotty. Some of the source material was slightly damaged on the Shines sides, resulting in a couple of gurgly spots where the sound fallsRead More

by S. Victor Aaron My look at jazz guitar records that didn’t get their due. You May Also Like: How John McLaughlin’s First 4th Dimension Album Brought Things Back in Focus

Cannonball Adderley’s ‘Somethin’ Else’ is the lesser-known, but very worthy, companion piece to ‘Kind of Blue’ that every jazz fan should have.

We already did piano men, but they were all by underrecognized artists. Now, it’s time to look at albums by the big names that didn’t get the kudos of their better known companions, but should have: You May Also Like: Bill Evans – Time Remembered, The Life & Music ofRead More

by Nick DeRiso The year was 1959. The occasion was a “Battle of the Blues” at the Blue Flame Club in Chicago. Young harmonica player Junior Wells — who got his start as Little Walter Jacobs’ replacement in Muddy Waters’ band back in ’52 — probably didn’t imagine he wouldRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Son of little-known folk singer Leon Bibb, Eric Bibb grew up listening and meeting musicians like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan — and his uncle, pianist and composer John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Eric has become more of a name in folk and bluesRead More

Bob Margolin makes fine use of delay-time rhythm, a mean slide scream, and the duo and trio ideas that were so successful for his old boss, Muddy Waters.

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, calledRead More

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. YouRead More

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,Read More