Dig deeper into Grover Washington Jr. – who died 20 years ago today – and you’ll see why he retains the title of Mister Magic for us.

Walter Becker, the same guy who often came up with some cold putdown lines, wrote a dozen stanzas here full of aching poetry.

Udo Pannekeet’s wondrous ‘Electric Regions’ is rock; it’s jazz – and then it’s everything in between.

Sticking fast to Richard Turgeon’s most recent recordings, “Joelene” rocks with continual strength and stamina.

“Bad Advice” may not be the most memorable Chicago deep cut, but it serves as a valid link between past and future.

Preston Frazier’s Best Songs of 2019 list includes rock, jazz and R&B, with a shout out to the continuing resonance of an old favorite from Walter Becker.

My Chemical Romance internalized an impressive array of influences, then made them their own 15 years ago.

Vinyl loving fans of the Beatles, rejoice: 2019 was your year. But we found plenty of books, movies, box sets and other fun stuff, too.

“Bodhisattva” works for Toto for the same reason that it worked (and still works in concert) for Steely Dan: The song is damn fun.

Fernando Perdomo lights votive acoustic-guitar devotion to the music of early King Crimson.