A stylistic tour de force, this self-titled trio effort manages to take in many of jazz music’s most notable influences, even tosses in a dash of Pacific island flavor, but it never falls into the rote imitative traps of so many of today’s more traditionalist recordings. You May Also Like: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

This song, issued in the wake of the devastating attacks on New York City in 2001, nearly overwhelmed me with grief the first time I heard it. I thought of my father. You May Also Like: How Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Tunnel of Love’ Dug Deeply to Find Hard Truths Remembering 9/11:Read More

Remember last month when I said I have more examples of weird-assed trios coming up? Here’s another one. Inspired by the long running Ray Anderson-led BassDrumBone trio, Brainkiller has Brian Allen manning the trombone and Hernan Hecht on drums, but substitutes the bass for keyboards and effects by Jacob Koller.Read More

Tough times call for angry protest records, for political records, for records that produce rueful smiles. Ry Cooder has done that and more with “No Banker Left Behind,” a tart treatise on the recent financial meltdown You May Also Like: Ry Cooder’s ‘The UFO Has Landed’ Finally Put His AmazingRead More

We talked to Adrian Belew during an extended hiatus for King Crimson. But it’s not like he’d been sitting idly by.

You might say that top-notch jazz pianist Orrin Evans has become a fixture here at SER. It all got started four years ago when we noted his participation in Robin Eubanks’ EB3 unit that made the phenomenal double-CD Live, Vol. 1 of 2007. Early last year we salivated over Evans’Read More

Early on, you never heard much piano from Duke Ellington, a grievous thing. It was only in the twilight of his career that this American jazz master regularly consented to taping some shows where his impish wit at the instrument could be heard front and center. You May Also Like:Read More

If you were tasked with listing the influences of JazzGuitaristPatMetheny™, some good entries might be Four and More (Miles Davis), Ornette Coleman’s Something Else!!! (Sorry, couldn’t resist), and Smokin’ At The Half Note by the Wynton Kelly Trio with Wes Montgomery. You May Also Like: Pat Metheny – ‘Dream Box’Read More

Their Ocean, ambient then soulful, is one of those amalgams that sounds instantly recognizable, yet completely new. The Chicago-based psychedelic R&B/indie rock group has described itself as “a cross between Hall and Oates and Arcade Fire, if they were friends with the Soulquarians.” As funny as that sounds, it’s aboutRead More