In the Pat Metheny Group, there is always one musician who plays the role of “utility man.” The basic instrumentation is guitar, piano/keys, acoustic and electric bass, drums, trumpet, and (sometimes) harmonica. The extra player is responsible for filling in on any number of instruments including vibes, acoustic guitar, electricRead More

It might be easy to look at the title of this and dismiss it as yet another of those “unauthorized biographies” that seem to show up every once in a while — the kind of thing that only completists will snap up. And looking at the cover doesn’t help: nearlyRead More

Seattle-based Tim Carey is a multi-instrumentalist, music educator, composer and member of the zany sextet Reptet, a delightful outlaw jazz troupe I stumbled upon a few years back You May Also Like: Tim & Caio – In Brazil (2015) Steely Dan, “Carey” (circa 2001): Steely Dan Sunday Matt Nelson, TimRead More

The cover for Ralph Bowen’s newest release Total Eclipse is a picture of a “ring of fire” solar eclipse, much like the one that provided a spectacular show for residents of the U.S. Southwest on Monday. Putting on a saxophone show is what Ralph is about, though, and for theRead More

What to call this kinda music? Do a little research and you’ll see stuff like: Krautrock, cosmic punk, ambient, moody, art rock, minimalist, etc. Heck, when I originally popped this disc into my cdrom drive the CDMax selection dialog came up with three entries with musical genres of “misc”, “newRead More

Amanda Palmer? Yummy. Though, part of me wanted to run screaming in the other direction when I found out this solo record was a collaboration with Ben Folds. There is only one Folds song that I can remember (“Army”) that doesn’t make me want to shove an ice pick intoRead More

Remasters for the seminal post-punk godfathers of what would become “industrial.” (Not really industrial, but it inspired bands like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, who somehow got wrongly lumped in with bands like Einsturzende Neubauten and Skinny Puppy, who really are industrial.) Unique here is the first-time-ever-on-CD Ha! Killing JokeRead More

This is saxophonist Peter Brötzmann with cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, though it in no way sounded like Kenny G with Yo-Yo Ma. It was recorded in an “industrial urban warehouse district.” It’s on the Atavistic label (read: not easy listening). Brötzmann scares me. He claims to be playing a saxophone butRead More

Pianist Carrothers revisits the music of trumpeter Clifford Brown. With bassist Drew Gress and the great Bill Stewart at the kit, they interpret Brown (and Brown-related) classics like “Daahoud,” “Gerkin For Perkin,” and of course, that iconic title track. “Joy Spring” is definitely the not-so-secret ingredient of this recording, andRead More

Josh Homme’s band thankfully picked up where 2002’s exquisitely fun Songs For The Deaf left off, ignoring the dreadfully boring Lullabies To Paralyze that emerged in between the two. Just count that one as growing pains from Homme kicking bassist Nick Oliveri out of the band following Songs. Vulgaris, happily,Read More