by Mark Saleski There’s a single reason for me owning this disc: Kurt Elling’s cover of Pat Metheny’s “Minuano (Six Eight),” from Still Life (Talking). You May Also Like: Phil Collins, “In the Air Tonight” (1981): On Second Thought The La De Da’s, Blue Stars and others – How IsRead More

October 14, 1983. It was a long time ago. It was the one and only night I was lucky enough to see R.E.M. in concert. You May Also Like: Why R.E.M.’s ‘Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage’ Remains Definitive Why R.E.M.’s ‘Live at the Olympia’ Showed They WereRead More

I like a good guitar solo as much as the next guy, but given a choice between a display of fretboard pyrotechnics vs. something with a little more soul, I’ll always gravitate to the latter. You May Also Like: Pat Metheny, “You Are” from ‘From This Place’ (2019): One TrackRead More

Much of Springsteen’s early work was populated with large casts of characters and places, skillfully woven into the narrative. Heck, sometimes the people and places were the narrative. You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle’

by Mark Saleski Reviewers sometimes get too caught up playing the label game: jazz, pop, world (ah, the ambiguous catch-all label), rock, ambient. Whenever a writer struggles with material that lacks a definite musical anchor, I am reminded of the transformation seen through Miles Davis’ electric years. You May AlsoRead More

by Mark Saleski Digital. It’s just got to be digital — ones ‘n zeros. Forget that old-fashioned analog stuff. That’s for old fogies. If you want to be with it, current, where it’s at, up to date, in the know, down with it … your activity must be presented inRead More

I like this idea: that on any given evening there’s a decent chance that there’s a man on the eastern coast of England, sitting in the wheelhouse of his refurbished 1930’s era lifeboat You May Also Like: Bill Frisell’s Timeless ‘Live’ Opened Up a New Musical World for Me

by Mark Saleski I’m still kinda mad at Joe Strummer. I mean, did the guy have to kick off so early? He was still making great music! You May Also Like: Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Joe Strummer: The Singers and the Songs Joe Sofra, “One of Those Things” (2020):Read More

by Mark Saleski Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, Sarah Vaughan, Bobby Darin, Nancy Wilson, Ray Charles. That’s the short list of artists that Gerald Wilson has been involved with You May Also Like: Cassandra Wilson’s slow-starting Loverly didn’t take her usual risks MattRead More

by Mark Saleski I’m not generally known for buying best-of packages (the last exception was Tom Waits’ Used Songs, because I arrived on vacation to discover that I’d not packed any Waits. Two weeks with no Tom Waits? No way!), but Ani’s career has been so prolific that this isRead More