by Something Else Reviews In many ways, television is a technological wonder these days, what with remote controls, digital signals and DVRs. But, for those who fell in love with the old-school opening theme, it’s not all gravy. Today, you’re more likely to simply see the word LOST charging towardRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Scherr is an American jazz bassist who resides in Hong Kong and spends his time trying to foster creative music within China. A few years ago, he got the urge to fulfill a longtime goal of making music with saxophonist Michael Blake, and he wanted toRead More

by Nick DeRiso Twinray has produced a cloud-parting blast of pop-rock buoyancy with The Train You’re On, recorded with producer/engineer Sean O’Keefe (Plain White T’s, Fallout Boy, Hawthorn Heights). Their endless enthusiasm informs both the subject matter, and the merry experimentation that propels the Chicago-based band’s genre-bending sound. “Do YouRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Robert Hurst is a guy I remember being Wynton Marsalis’ bassist in the late 1980s, before performing in the same capacity for Branford’s Tonight Show band. From there, I don’t recall much. But that’s on me because in reality, Hurst has kept very busy: he’s servedRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Listening to Shawn Costantino’s Waltz For Anne, you’re reminded of Stanley Turrentine or Gene Ammons. Also, he takes on a few standards, but only one of them (“The Touch of your Lips”) is a jazz one. The other two are taken from The Beatles (“Can’t BuyRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Growing up in the Detroit area, Sam Trapchak’s dad played electric bass, and like most musically interested young boys in America, Sam wanted to play guitar. But his father persuaded him to take up bass instead with a piece of irrefutable logic: Everyone always needs aRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Women continue to move into areas of jazz long dominated by men, and in a big way. Even since I made a big to-do about this trend a couple of summers ago, the parade of girls muscling their way into the boys’ club continues on strongerRead More

by Mark Saleski I’ve been reading bits and pieces of Henry Miller’s The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, Miller’s collection of essays about his travels around the United States. The expatriate writer had wanted to see what his homeland had become, to get to the core of it all. As with all ofRead More

by S. Victor Aaron NOLA-based Plunge is back again to follow up on their stripped down trombone-based brand of funky jazz found on Dancing On Thin Ice, Tin Fish Tango. Once again, ‘bone player Mark McGrain leads a small ensemble with bassist James Singleton of Astral Project, a sax playerRead More

From lowanthem.com by Mark Saleski I have attempted to describe this before (and I even referred to it in a recent preview of The Low Anthem’s Smart Flesh), but the sensation is a difficult one to get at. Without any sort of documentation, the best I’ve ever been able toRead More