by Pico The last time I covered a band out of Providence RI, I was thunderstruck by the wonderfully weird folks who make up the musical buffet table Barnacled. On the other end of the spectrum but in the same seaside New England town hails an folk-rock outfit called TheRead More

by Pico There has long been this deep divide in jazz. One one side are the traditionalists, who believe in the purity of jazz as an art form that shouldn’t be diluted by combining it with other forms of music, nor should stray far from the tenets of jazz establishedRead More

Crosby, Stills & Nash hadn’t produced a new studio record in fifteen years (or ten, if you add Neil Young), but there hadn’t been a more active period of release activity of new/previously unheard material by these three than there have in the last few years. David Crosby and GrahamRead More

The term “Milwaukee’s Best” probably doesn’t have the positive connotation that it should, thanks to that being the name of Miller Beer’s economy brand. But when it comes to musicians, there’s plenty from this fine Wisconsin city to be proud of, from Woody Herman and Al Jarreau to Daryl StuermerRead More

Daniel Kelly is a keyboardist and composer with three albums since 2000 already under his belt before this one, and given his predilection for delving into so many different styles, every release has been a surprise. For Emerge, Kelly’s theme is the piano trio format, but to him, that’s hardlyRead More

This live set is only Kell’s third album, but the bassist/composer offers a fully-conceived collection of songs that’s both modern and melodic. Providing the support are alto saxophonist Loren Stillman (Jackalope, Ecumenics), drummer Joe Smith (John McNeil, Ryan Blotnick) and guitarist Brad Shepik (Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, DaveRead More

by Pico So far here we’ve covered a fairly wide variety of music styles, but still repped for only a handful of countries. Today, though, we’re going to add a few more countries to our slowly-burgeoning list of nations from which the talented musicians we cover come from. Most ofRead More

Photo: Kevin Westenberg By Pico A year ago I broke with my unusual protocol and included a “non-new” album in a Quickies piece. These Streets by Paolo Nutini had already been out for a couple of years by that time, but the debut album by this exceptionally talented teenaged singer-songwriterRead More

by Pico Duck Baker has made his name over several decades as a virtuosic acoustic guitarist, one who prefers to play it solo. That might make him sound like another Leo Kottke, but there’s much more to Baker that makes him a compelling and interesting musician. Baker obviously craves applyingRead More

by S. Victor Aaron It’s been the season for fusion superstar comebacks lately. Last year the classic lineup of Return To Forever got back together and toured, culminating into the 2-CD live souvenir Returns. Later in the year, Corea hooked up with fellow Miles sideman John McLaughlin to headline aRead More