Like a piped-in soundtrack on a rattling railcar, Nick Lowe’s “Check Out Time” somehow sounds rooted in old-school convictions even as it dashes away from them. You May Also Like: East Axis [Matthew Shipp, Allen Lowe, Kevin Ray + Gerald Cleaver’ – ‘Cool With That’ (2021) Paul McCartney, “Check MyRead More

by Tom Johnson It may not quite seem like it’s possible, but it’s been 7 years since Real Gone, the last album of original new music from Waits. You May Also Like: How Tom Waits Got Focused But Stayed Blessedly Weird on ‘Bad As Me’ Of All the Tom WaitsRead More

by Mark Saleski It was at a small Japanese restaurant north of Boston (or south of Concord, New Hampshire, depending on your level of Hub-centricness). Sushi. Never had it before. You read about things like this for years. Suddenly, it’s your turn. You May Also Like: John Scofield – ‘SwallowRead More

Why wasn’t Roland Hanna, a first-rate piano improviser and brilliant accompanist, more famous? Newly unearthed sessions for the IPO Recordings release Colors From a Giant’s Kit, again first-rate, again brilliant, don’t do anything to solve the riddle. You May Also Like: No related posts.

by Mark Saleski As the era of Classic Rock shrinks into the musical and cultural rear view mirror, it’s been enlightening to see how the stars have dealt with aging. You May Also Like: Why ‘Draw the Line’ Signaled the End of Aerosmith’s Blazing First Era Why I’m Still DisappointedRead More

by Mark Saleski Call me easily amused, by I’m a sucker for a girl who accompanies herself at the piano by whackin’ a chair with a drumstick. That was how Regina Spektor sang the sassy “Poor Little Rich Boy.” One hand for piano chords, the other for abusing a woodenRead More

Believe it or not, Phil Collins was once just a member of this group called Genesis. Back then, before Collins turned Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks into his backing band, Genesis had begun its musical life as a witty, sometimes quite theatrical prog-rock project. The twin departures, however, of PeterRead More

by Tom Johnson Our oldest daughter is preparing for her first days of first grade. Supplies have been bought, some in ridiculous quantities (seriously, 36 pencils for the first day alone?!) You May Also Like: No related posts.

by Mark Saleski Vertical Vision would remind me of Weather Report even if it didn’t contain a smokin’ reading of “Boogie Woogie Waltz.” Honest!! You May Also Like: Gerry Gibbs & Thrasher People – Weather Or Not (2017) ‘Elegant People: A History of the Band Weather Report,’ by Curt Bianchi:Read More

by Mark Saleski I can’t exactly remember either the song or the awards show I saw her perform it on. It had to be either Roy Orbison’s “Crying” or maybe “Constant Craving You May Also Like: Jonny Lang – Signs (2017) Canadian Brass – ‘Canadiana’ (2022)