Articles by: Nick DeRiso

Nick DeRiso’s Mid-Year Best Of 2013 (Jazz and Blues): Boz Scaggs, Wicked Knee, Terence Blanchard

Nick DeRiso’s Mid-Year Best Of 2013 (Jazz and Blues): Boz Scaggs, Wicked Knee, Terence Blanchard

We explore triumphs over time from legends like James Cotton and Wayne Shorter. Triumphs of conception like Billy Martin’s Wicked Knee, and Michael Wolff’s combining with Mike Clark. And triumphs of sheer artistry from Boz Scaggs. You May Also Like: Boz Scaggs – Out Of The Blues (2018) Boz Scaggs,Read More

Vinyl

Jacelyn Parry – In Quiet Tones (2013)

Jacelyn Parry’s new album deftly reflects a life’s history that begins in Malaysia, continues through Singapore and Australia before settling now in Rome. In Quiet Tones has a similar worldliness, and a similar sense of adventure. You May Also Like: Georgia Mancio and Alan Broadbent – ‘Quiet Is the Star’Read More

Vinyl

Omar Dykes – Runnin’ with the Wolf (2013)

Omar Dykes clearly possesses a deep-seated passion for the rumbling joys of old Howlin’ Wolf records — both his gruff howl, and the work of his flinty guitarist Hubert Sumlin. Luckily, he doesn’t let that passion turn into mimicry. You May Also Like: How ‘London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions’ Gave BoomerRead More

Vinyl

Jan Luley – Blues Gumbo: Down in Pianorleans (2013)

Pianist Jan Luley has fashioned an album in Blues Gumbo: Down in Pianorleans with a lasting sense of place – of second-line parties, and swampy regret, and spicy passions – despite having studied piano not in the Big Easy but in Holland. No matter. Listen as Luley reanimates the classicRead More

Sammy Hagar Songs With Van Halen That Aren't Terrible: Gimme Five

Sammy Hagar Songs With Van Halen That Aren’t Terrible: Gimme Five

We’d like to make the argument for those times when Sammy Hagar’s edition of Van Halen, affectionately known as Van Hagar, was pretty good.

Vinyl

Preservation Hall Jazz Band – That’s It! (2013)

Its very name speaks to the old ways, and keeping them as they always were. And for a long time, maybe too long, that’s the way it’s been with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Until now. You May Also Like: Dr. John, Preservation Hall + others: Music framed initial journeyRead More

Vinyl

Mickey Thomas, on Jefferson Starship’s transformation into Starship: Something Else! Interview

For Mickey Thomas, a summer stop as part of the Raiding the Rock Vault series hosted by Asia’s John Payne is a kind of homecoming. The two singers know each other well, and share a bond having carried forward with established bands You May Also Like: Remembering Paul Kantner’s Flight,Read More

Vinyl

Abigail Riccards – Every Little Star (2013)

Abigail Riccards has decamped to Chicago, where she continues to ply her trade as an intimate and involving singer — not to mention a respected educator. But time spent in New York, which exposed her to the work of Artsrides, still resonates. You May Also Like: Yes’ Chris Squire WasRead More

Nick DeRiso’s Mid-Year Best Of 2013 (Live and Reissues): Ringo Starr, Otis Redding, ELO, Greg Lake

Nick DeRiso’s Mid-Year Best Of 2013 (Live and Reissues): Ringo Starr, Otis Redding, ELO, Greg Lake

The standard for making this list is that these projects — some lavish remastering jobs, others new live interpretations — illuminate corners of an artist’s work that we’d never noticed before. You May Also Like: Greg Lake picks his favorite Emerson Lake and Palmer album: ‘Where it all comes together’

Vinyl

Kim Kalman – At Last (2013)

Kim Kalman, whose grandfather was mid-century big band leader George Kindler, reconnects with the sounds and styles of that bygone era on At Last – and reanimates some shopworn classics along the way. You May Also Like: Kim Cypher – ‘Love Kim x’ (2019) Simon Phillips – Protocol 4 (2017)