Listening to Allison Miller’s superb CD from last year Boom Tic Boom, I appreciated how it covered a lot of ground within advanced modern jazz, helped along by such sympathetic supporting players in this piano jazz trio. But that album still left me wondering where this ace drummer, composer andRead More

by Mark Saleski “What? You’ve never head any Roomful of Blues?” I tell you, I’ve asked that question far too many times. They’ve gone through many lineup changes through the years, and their list of alumni includes Duke Robillard, Ron Levy, Sugar Ray Norcia, and Ronnie Earl. Why they’re notRead More

by Tom Johnson Ben Folds opened this EP (Speed Graphic refers to the camera seen on the sleeve) with the Cure’s “In Between Days.” While staying true to the Cure’s sound, he managed to inject an extra little dose of his hopeful optimism into the song: It’s just a qualityRead More

by Tom Johnson Just because King Crimson is one of my all-time favorites doesn’t mean that I have to trot out the old standard In the Court of the Crimson King. I don’t particularly care for it, regardless of its standing as a prog-classic. The one that I return to,Read More

by Tom Johnson Poor Trey. Not only did he get wrapped up in dealing with a major label in 2005 with Shine, he also had to deal with the double-whammy of two decidedly non-fan friendly formats that Columbia insisted on releasing the album through, the shoddy DualDisc format and theRead More

I have again entered the musical aesthetics zone. The usual question is “Why do I like that?” This time around, I want to get a little more general: Why does anybody like (or dislike) anything? How do people decide You May Also Like: Dave Seidel (Mystery Bear) – ‘Involution’ (2021)Read More