Next to Lennon and McCartney, Becker and Fagen is, in my view, the highest quality songwriting partnership in rock. You May Also Like: Walter Becker, “The Dopest Cut / Down In the Bottom” (1992): Steely Dan Sunday Walter Becker, “Medical Science [Demo]” (1994): Steely Dan Sunday Walter Becker, “Three SistersRead More

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77yuAl2Zc_c&w=420&h=315] Last year we told you about this funky, compact combo from the San Francisco Bay area by the name of Flowtilla, and their last album Waves and Particles showed how you can wring a lot of funk from such a little band. You May Also Like: Flowtilla –Read More

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lcGp6XXHVY&w=420&h=315] The Seattle-based trio Triptet calls themselves “a meeting of minds and spontaneous electrical impulses between Michael Monhart (saxophones and percussion), Tom Baker (fretless guitar and effects), and Greg Campbell (percussion, french horn and cheap electronics).” I call them, simply, a trip. You May Also Like: MMBC (Michael Bisio,Read More

The debut album from any hard-working jazz musician is a reason to celebrate for all jazz fans because it signals that another practitioner of the art form is adding in some way to its rich and storied recorded history. You May Also Like: Adam Larson – Second City (2017) AdamRead More

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ughyl0WTOBU&w=420&h=315] When I listen to Patricia Barber sing, I think of her not so much as a jazz singer than as a poet reciting her work, with the depth and feeling that only the originator of that work can deliver. You May Also Like: Patricia Brennan – ‘More Touch’Read More

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB7aWTFGcuI&w=420&h=315] Vancouver native and saxophonist Michael Blake came back to this Canadian city after residing in NYC for a quarter century, and brought home a wealth of ideas with him. You May Also Like: Ryan Blotnick – Kush (2016)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk7NPU9jF3E&w=420&h=315] Jazz performed by large orchestras make up a big, important part of the history of jazz but the kind of big bands that get me fired up the most are ones who break from convention and behave like a rowdy, small band. You May Also Like: Satoko FujiiRead More

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNCbJY5647o&w=420&h=315] <<< BACKWARD (“Confide In Me”) ||| ONWARD (“Down In The Bottom”) >>> *** STEELY DAN SUNDAY INDEX *** Another Fagen rarity, first appearing as the B-side to the “Trans-Island Skyway,” and finally finding a long-player home on the Nightfly Trilogy in 2007. No, wait, it actually first appearedRead More

Brit-styled power pop has been making undiluted rock bouncy and fun since the Beatles and “Can’t Buy Me Love” took the world by storm in 1963. New wave bands that emerged at the end of the 70s such as Squeeze The Cars, The Romantics and The Knack reminded us ofRead More

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di2EmyzCmdw&w=420&h=315] As one of jazz’s more restless saxophonists of his generation, Jeremy Udden has moved from the “melodic jazz-rock” of his Torchsongs ensemble to the country/folk-inflected jazz of Plainville. You May Also Like: Three-Layer Cake [Brandon Seabrook, Mike Pride + Mike Watt] – ‘Stove Top’ (2021)