Articles by: Nick DeRiso

Vinyl

Tom Fuller Band – Ask (2011)

The Tom Fuller Band doesn’t hide its influences. In fact, they strut around in them, like bell-bottomed 1970s throwbacks. You May Also Like: MicroCorgi – ‘MicroCosmos’ (2020) ‘Guitar Man’ Shows Why You Shouldn’t Keep Dismissing Bread

Vinyl

Steve Cropper – ‘Dedicated’ (2011)

Tribute records are a tricky things; star-studded tribute projects even more so. It takes a strong unifying voice, some central character beyond the featured composer, to save them from sounding like choppy compilations. Steve Cropper, on today’s 429 Records release Dedicated, is that voice. Co-founder of Booker T and theRead More

Vinyl

Cathy Jean – In the Remains (2011)

Cathy Jean’s In the Remains darts out with an attitude that’s both confessional and confrontational. She can be equal parts check-me-out and get-the-heck-out. You May Also Like: When Jean Luc Ponty Made a Triumphant Return With ‘Life Enigma’

Vinyl

Keb Mo – The Reflection (2011)

Keb Mo isn’t that kid playing the old blues on the old steel guitar anymore. Instead he often comes off on his new album The Reflection like a pillowy-smooth 1970s-era singer-songwriter You May Also Like: Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ – Tajmo (2017)

Vinyl

Half Notes: John Brown Trio – Dancing with Duke (2011)

Dancing with Duke, the second album as a leader from North Carolina bassist John Brown (Nnenna Freelon), follows the thematic pattern established by his well-received initial recording — a tribute to Art Blakey. But this homage to Ellington explores more interesting territory, in that Blakey’s music has always been associatedRead More

Vinyl

Vincent Poag – Circling Back (2011)

He sings something like Bob Dylan, plays guitar something like Mark Knopfler, but doesn’t fall into easy mimicry of either. Credit a long journey to get here You May Also Like: No related posts.

Vinyl

Something Else! sneak peek: Lindsey Buckingham, “Seeds We Sow” (2011)

“Seeds We Sow,” the title track to Lindsey Buckingham’s sixth solo album, due on Sept. 6, is a darkly introspective triumph You May Also Like: How Lindsey Buckingham Balanced It All on the Underrated ‘Gift of Screws’

Vinyl

Half Notes: Chris West, “Surprise 3” (2011)

Nashville-based saxophonist Chris West continues an intriguing exploration of his own composition “Surprise,” this time alongside Jeff Coffin of the Dave Matthews Band. Appearing as the closing track on the new Disc 2 of his on-going Surprise Trilogy, “Surprise 3” finds West and Coffin intertwining through a series of conversationalRead More

Vinyl

Quintus McCormick – Put It On Me! (2011)

Quintus McCormick doesn’t quibble with genre on this new project from Delmark Records. Instead, he sings with a remarkable facility, at once bright and sweet then hard and accusatory, sounding at times like some after-midnight deep bluesman and then like a spit-shined mainstream soulster You May Also Like: No relatedRead More

Vinyl

Half Notes: 101 Runners, Mardi Gras Indian Funk (2011)

Percussionist Chris Jones leads a relentlessly groovy ensemble through a series of songs as rhythmic as they are spiritual on Mardi Gras Indian Funk, issued recently by Mardi Gras Records. For the uninitiated, “Old Black Johnny” details the history and passion of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition, in the personRead More