Full Circle isn’t not so much about a CD than it is a story of a certain musician’s redemptive long journey back from personal tragedies. And his new band is a musical group led by a man who sought to provide a willing public the soulful, energetic free wheeling styleRead More

When talking about notable adventurous jazz of any sort that’s being made these days, it’s hard not to mention the Scandinavians. You’ve got your Esborn Svennson Trio (EST), Jaga Jazzist, Bugge Wesseltoft, Nils Petter Molvær, and even old stalwarts like Terje Rypdal and Jan Garbarek who remain vital to theRead More

‘Truth’ finds Robben Ford record playing it safe. But he does it all so well and with such honesty that you can’t help but to enjoy it, anyway.

Guys like Tab Benoit and Kenny Neal are testament that the blues are still alive and kickin’ in South Louisiana. But when it comes to making the blues come alive in the bayou country, those guys have their match in a sixty-two year old blind white guy from Wisconsin. ThatRead More

From “Don’t Stop Believin’” to konnakul. What does that mean, you ask? Allow me to explain. Journey, a band mostly known for gargantuan stadium anthems from the late-seventies to the mid-eighties, had a secret weapon in their ranks. Those who didn’t take their toilet breaks during the individual solo segmentRead More

In February, 1968, before departing for an ill-fated trip to India for an extended course in transcendental meditation, the Beatles convened at the Abbey Road studios to cut a single that would keep them in the public eye while they were away. That single eventually became John Lennon & PaulRead More

David Witham is one of those figures in jazz who is hardly a household name to the general public, shoot, even to the jazz public. But just behind the curtain, Witham has been a major contributor to the scene. A pianist who likes to dabble in the electronic stuff, he’sRead More

by S. Victor Aaron When you put the words “Paul Motian” and “Live At The Village Vanguard” together, most jazz fans can’t help but to think of of the time this legendary drummer played at that very venue one magical Sunday in June, 1961. But there were many other enchantedRead More

  Now that Rolling Stone magazine has recently anointed him a “guitar god,” cutting edge guitarist Nels Cline has progressed far beyond his minor icon status of the 1990’s in the Los Angeles experimental music scene to become something of a known quantity among followers of progressive-minded electric guitarists likeRead More

by S. Victor Aaron There’s often a certain poignancy inherent in the last recordings of great musicians, and last October we examined notable final recordings of such jazz legends such as Bill Evans, Clifford Brown and John Coltrane. In that article, Goin’ Home by alto saxophonist Art Pepper was citedRead More