Back in January we covered two of JLP’s albums from the early eighties at once, to examine a turning point in this French violinist’s approach to jazz-rock. This time around, there’s a brand new release to examine and twenty-five years later, Ponty is still effectively leveraging much of the sameRead More

Since new David Torn releases don’t come around that often–the last one came out in 1998–Christmas arrived last month to lovers of electric improvised music, such as myself. Mark Seleski’s review of Prezens whetted my appetite further as he described the album’s music as “the combination of ambient approach andRead More

Sometimes a record doesn’t smack you across the head on the first listen but at some point…maybe that 3rd or 4th listen…it hits you: “Damn! This is some well made, well played music!” That’s how it was with me for Joel Frahm’s new release, We Used To Dance. Frahm isn’tRead More

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — Musicians in white shirts and black pants led a hearse carrying the body of clarinetist Alvin Batiste through the streets of New Orleans on Saturday, and hundreds of mourners attached themselves to the jazz funeral honoring one of the city’s most revered musicians. In the morning,Read More

Next to Sly and the Family Stone and James Brown there might not be another act as influential to funk music than P-Funk, the shorthand name for George Clinton’s twin ensembles Parliament (horns) and Funkadelic (no horns). In fact, they were cited in my last OTM as an influence toRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Since the mid-sixties, jazz musicians have sought to combine electronic instruments with jazz to create something new and fresh sounding. The most obvious result of this mix is called fusion, but others have managed to do it taking different approaches that uses these instruments to actuallyRead More

photo: Genevieve Ruocco Of all the rock or fusion guitarists out there, there’s none out there who possesses the most pleasing tone, amazing technique and exceptional phrasing all wrapped up into one than the Brit Allan Holdsworth. He’s is a guitarist’s guitarist, having influenced everyone from Eddie Van Halen toRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Guilty pleasures. Admit it, we’ve all got ’em when it comes to music. For some time, now, I’ve been meaning to put a list together for everyone’s amusement. I was reminded of that half-serious promise I made to myself when I came across Rolling Stone Magazine’sRead More

Fewer bands in rock have been more unjustly maligned than Chicago. Now, I’m no fan of the David Foster years, but being responsible for some of the shlockiest pop of that era doesn’t diminish the more innovative and ambitious output of the seventies, especially those first five albums. You MayRead More

The lead-off track from Anders Osbourne’s Grammy-nominated ‘Living Room’ is a rootsy jam and a helluva good time.