by Mark Saleski Sorta like Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, Pat Metheny and Ornette Coleman’s Song X has long been a strange attractor for all sorts of hyperbole, rumor-mongering and dismissal. You May Also Like: Ornette Coleman + Pat Metheny – ‘Song X’ (1986): On Second Thought Why You ShouldRead More

by Mark Saleski How many times have you heard somebody say that they were never able to get into jazz because “I don’t understand it?” Maybe you are that person? Well, I want to let you in on a little secret You May Also Like: The Secrets, “Feel Pretty Good”Read More

I do believe that there just might be a major error in the Guinness Book of World Records. They’re claiming that the loudest animal sound is made by the blue whale. Hmmmm … not that I want to be a know-it-all or anything but I’m fairly certain that the loudestRead More

by Mark Saleski Smack in the middle of the initial Norah Jones explosion (remember? When it seemed like the radio was tryin’ to brainwash you by playing “Don’t Know Why” every 20 minutes or so You May Also Like: How Norah Jones Examined a Deep Hurt on ‘… Little BrokenRead More

by Mark Saleski Superfluous. Meaningless. Pointless. Redundent. Obligatory. No, I haven’t been playing with my thesaurus. These are just some of the words that are often used to describe live recordings. You May Also Like: Classic Rock Songs Sung by the Other Guy: Gimme Five How Tesla’s ‘Real to Reel’Read More

by Mark Saleski The news reports have been (necessarily) very sketchy at this point. All we know is that Clarence Clemons has suffered a stroke. You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle’ Patti Scialfa Once Again Showed She Could Stand onRead More

by Tom Johnson Newly free of King Crimson in 2004, some wondered just what it was that Warr guitarist Trey Gunn would be doing. A great short answer came in the form of Untune the Sky You May Also Like: Greg Lake compares this era to the one that sparkedRead More

by Mark Saleski I’m not one to quote Wikipedia, but this time around it makes perfect sense: “Smooth jazz is a sub-genre of jazz which is heavily influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles (separately, or, in any combination).” This is an interesting definition because it highlights theRead More

by Mark Saleski Some musicians have the ability to transcend their physical talents to put on display their thought processes, a sort of direct conduit between the hands and that mysterious inner pool of music. Or … in Keith Jarrett’s case, the lack of thought You May Also Like: KeithRead More

by Mark Saleski Some people really have the wrong idea about jazz. They think that most of it falls into two very broad categories: traditional, where guys in suits play an introductory theme before taking turns soloing over the developed chord changes; and avant-garde, also known as “cats-on-piano” jazz, whereRead More