by Pico Ever since the music business as we know it first came into existence, there have always been musicians for whose need for artistic purity and/or just out of financial necessity has made them into “do it yourself” musicians, producing homemade music for a limited audience. More accurately, aRead More

photo: Jimmy Katz by Pico Bob Dylan is a towering figure in folk, and as we were reminded a few days ago, his legacy extends deep into rock music, too, via the all the strong and memorable covers done by rock bands, especially The Byrds. What’s more interesting is thatRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Since at least the fifties, many a jazz musician have made records of their live gigs at festivals. Some of the largest and most enduring ones have been a favorite location for cutting a record: Newport, Montreaux, Monterrey, North Sea and so on. And then there’sRead More

by S. Victor Aaron I don’t pay a great deal of attention to what other jazz critics say about records as I probably should; chalk it up to laziness, I suppose. But even my lazy ass couldn’t help but notice all the interest in media circles buzzing around guitarist MaryRead More

by S. Victor Aaron About this time last year Henry Threadgill ended a eight year hiatus from the recording studio and released This Brings Us To, Vol. 1. It was very well received, and made almost everyone’s year-end “best of” jazz albums for 2009, including ours. On one day shortRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Last month, percussionist Sameer Gupta presented a CD that was one of the more creative fusions of East Indian and jazz music ever attempted. His keyboardist Marc Cary played a key role in that endeavor but the productive partnership extends to Cary’s own records, too. LiveRead More

Photo: Shawn Brickbill/High Two It’s been quite a while since the bassist and composer Michael Formanek has led a date but with his ECM debut The Rub And Spare Change, he’s more than made up for lost time. Out since October 12, The Rub marks his return as a leaderRead More

by Pico I remember at least as far back as 1988 that South American grooves and contemporary jazz can and do mix together well. I was reminded of that harmonious blend again when I first spun up the new CD by New York electric guitarist and composer Nelson Riveros. TheRead More

One of the bigger regrets I’ve had with this site was missing the opportunity to review Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Kinsmen when it was released two years ago, because this saxman of Indian descent did such a brilliant job in combining traditional Indian music with traditional jazz. Last week, the debut albumRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Love ’em or hate ’em, Styx was part of many an American boy’s soundtrack of the late 70s and early 80s. When I think of arena rock, the first two bands I think of are Journey and Styx; both bands encapsulated everything that was good andRead More