by Nick DeRiso I always chuckle when I pull out this Columbia-Legacy compilation, a CD of pre-war tracks that boasts one of those blocky black PARENTAL ADVISORY stickers for explicit lyrics. It’s an album of steadfastly dirty blues songs — though innuendo replaces the jarring language of today’s brazen newRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Cello virtuoso Erik Friedlander must have found a second wind at 50 years old because yesterday he released his second album of all new material as many months. The album, incidentally, is called Fifty: 50 Miniatures For Improvising Quintet and in Friedlander’s typically atypical fashion, itRead More

photo: Jason Quigley by S. Victor Aaron Although we don’t really cover indie rock on our little corner of the blogzine world, I’m often intrigued by musicians who approach jazz from the indie angle. They don’t swing and they usually don’t try to dazzle with labored technique. Most times theRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Two years is not a long time between albums, and Charles Lloyd has maintained a steady output of an album every couple of years and sometimes every year since hooking up with ECM Records in the late 80s. It’s impressive when keeping in mind that LloydRead More

When we last visited the music of the brilliant bassist and composer William Parker three years ago, he was putting his poetry to his music on Corn Meal Dance. Yesterday, he introduced a new album that again revolves around poetry but this time it’s based on the poetic music ofRead More

The Wilson Sisters aka Heart are among long-time rock acts with an infrequent new release. by Pico Long, established rock acts like Eric Clapton and Heart have nothing more to prove and have plenty enough hits that they really don’t need to make records anymore. They still do, of course,Read More

by S. Victor Aaron I know exactly what our own Mark Saleski speaks of when he states that “music obsessives and regular folks alike know of the song/memory retrieval phenomenon — you hear a song and instantly remember where you were the first time you heard it.” Moreover, a songRead More

Maybe it’s just me, but I think we’re in the midst of a full-fledged revival in jazz organ, led by a newer generation of players who have gone beyond mimicking the tried and true voicings of Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and Richard “Groove” Holmes. In that group of innovative newRead More

by Pico As the most popular pop band of all time, it naturally follows that the Beatles have been the most-covered band of all time. Their songs’ popularity has extended into every form of music, and that greasy, soulful organ jazz has been no exception. Before the Beatles were evenRead More

by S. Victor Aaron When Jon Irabagon signed with the mighty Concord Records after bagging the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition for saxophone, you might assume that he would have left behind his wild side to become a more “serious” player. But his continued involvement in the gangsta jazzRead More