Like the most artistically successful avanteers such as Mingus, Kirk and Braxton, the German composer, arranger and pianist Heiner Stadler fully understands, appreciates and loves the more traditional forms of jazz You May Also Like: Gregory Lewis, with Marc Ribot – Organ Monk Blue (2018)

I have a confession to make: Metal fan that I have always been, I’m not particularly a Black Sabbath fan. I know, I know: You’re all black-listing me right now. You May Also Like: Why Black Sabbath Went Out on a High Note With ’13’

by Mark Saleski Back in the mid-1980s, the arrival on the jazz scene of a trumpeter named Wynton Marsalis marked the start of the so-called “young lions” period. You May Also Like: Marcin Wasilewski Trio feat. Joe Lovano – ‘Arctic Riff’ (2020)

Since his 1992 debut Nice And Warm, you always know exactly what you’ll get from a Tab Benoit record: honest, rough-and-ready electric blues with a dash of Cajun seasoning, soulful bayou ballads and a two-step or two thrown in for good measure. You May Also Like: How Anders Osborne CameRead More

by Tom Johnson I fell hard for Sheik’s highly developed melodic sense on Phantom Moon, a moody, dark, mostly acoustic album of songs about the psyche written by a friend and playwright. I stepped back through his small catalog to Humming and found the album almost as beguiling, and onlyRead More

With Happy Daze, singer/songwriter Steve Macfarlane whisks us back to the lushly sophisticated melodies of Burt Bacharach and Neil Sedaka, perhaps his clearest inspiration. It’s a tricky thing, since both so often risked sounding mushy or maudlin You May Also Like: The Rainy Daze, “That Acapulco Gold” (1967): One TrackRead More

Recently, I’ve seen a lot of posts to both Twitter and Facebook gently reminding people that they might be able to change their lives if they do something about them rather than merely kvetch. You May Also Like: Denise LaSalle, Soul-Blues Belter (1939-2018): An Appreciation

The cleverly titled The Case Files is the ol’ “odd and ends” collection for this under-noticed troubadour Peter Case. First making his mark with The Nerves in the 70s and The Plimsouls in the early 1980s (remember “Hanging On The Telephone” or “A Million Miles Away”?), Case has now hadRead More

by Fred Phillips You won’t find a much stranger mix than HeadCat. On vocals and bass, you have metal legend Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. On drums, you’ve got Slim Jim Phantom from the Stray Cats. You May Also Like: Motorhead, February 16, 2011: Shows I’ll Never Forget

Steve Cropper talks about key influences, and how a last-minute delivery charge almost derailed his legendary music career.