This summer’s reunion of those pop perfectionists Crowded House had me back listening to this terrific mid-90s release, which — like the new tour — does not include longtime frontman Neil Finn’s brother Tim. From its completely realized debut with producer Mitchell Froom to the transformations when Neil and TimRead More

Editor’s note: This column ran as part of an obituary package on the national Gannett News Service wire upon Dizzy Gillespie’s passing in 1993. People told him those bullfrog cheeks would ruin his playing. The embouchure, very important. Flinty, yet funny, John Birks Gillespie was insightful enough to understand thatRead More

NICK DERISO: Guitarist Buddy Guy, a Baton Rouge-area native, has a presence hardly in need of defining. From bar-walking solos (thanks to that old 150-foot amp chord), to his clean, percussive style on a polka-dot guitar, Guy has since the 1960s cut a wide swath, image-wise. Yet “Southern Blues” illuminatesRead More

Cowboy Mouth — announced this week as one of the many featured bands at the 2007 Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans — emerged in the early 1990s as a rugged, but distinctly popular rock alternative to the typical fiddle-and-rubboard fare associated with Louisiana music. Not that its NewRead More

NICK DERISO: Young Freddy Cole had dreams of performing in the NFL. You might understand why the younger brother of Nat “King” Cole would shy away from playing piano and singing. But a severe injury to one hand led him to listen more closely to the emotions that jazz musicRead More

NICK DERISO: On this, their second release, the Bluerunners were not so much tinkering with their tough southern-Louisiana sound, as they were utterly revamping it. “Chateau” (on the terrific old Monkey Hill label) was to traditional Cajun what punk music was to rock — a whole new version, but bornRead More

Many is the legend with a forgotten sideman who helped make him great. Count among them Johnnie Johnson, the sleeper pick’s sleeper. See, you’ve been listening to him for years, as the barreling bar-room pianist in those old Chuck Berry records. Do yourself a favor, if you love that earlyRead More

*** STEELY DAN SUNDAY INDEX *** NICK DERISO: I was a huge Steely Dan fan, so I once bought even the individual releases, pining for those lost moments of the 1970s. Meaning: I was ready to love Fagen’s second solo album. Bought it out of the box, hoping for “Aja”Read More

NICK DERISO: As Mardi Gras dawns in a reborn New Orleans, we provide your cool-rocking road map to some recommended local hot spots. Now, most will say Preservation Hall, next to Pat O’s. But that’s overrated, and too crowded for our tastes. A sampling from elsewhere — though the listRead More

by Nick DeRiso The pianist, of course, got all the press. But Scott Lafaro, this tragic genius in a unique counter-melodic style, is the one who so often gets forgotten. If you care anything about bass (rock, jazz or blues) you will find his recordings with Bill Evans at NewRead More