Bill Summers shares thoughts on a new album, his rejuvenated collaboration with Irvin Mayfield and some of those classic Headhunters sides.

Since Tom Cora’s tragic passing in 1998, there might not have been a more adventurous cellist on this planet than Erik Friedlander. You May Also Like: George Crotty Trio – ‘Chronotope’ (2022) Tim Berne – ‘inSOMNIA’ (2011): On Second Thought

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

One of the more contentious issues in Ozzy Osbourne’s career may have finally been laid to rest with the release of a pair of reissues on Sony Legacy — Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz. You May Also Like: Why You Should Count ‘No Rest for the Wicked’Read More

Too often, it was like Jon Anderson didn’t want to make a solo record that sounded too much like Yes. As interesting as these sideroads no doubt were, they gave few clues to how his own voice fit into the wider topography of the band. You May Also Like: JonRead More

by Tom Johnson I really admire trumpeter Dave Douglas. Not only is he world-renowned as one of jazz’s best, he has taken the high and difficult road by setting out to create his own little sanctuary for musicians, a label in Greenleaf Music where they get treated fairly and whereRead More

Three of the larger figures in the downtown New York avant jazz scene – Jim Black, Nels Cline and Tim Berne – join forces.

Over the course of the striking, stripped-down Medicine, former Detroit autoworker Solomon King returns to that moment when the blues moved inexorably away from the uplift that defined gospel music, and ultimately toward rock ‘n’ roll and then hip hop. You May Also Like: How B.B. King Left Us WithRead More

In most big bands, the guitarist functions as nothing more than a member of an expanded rhythm section — and for a while it seems like Richard Nelson (even though it’s his band, and all) had fallen into the same role on his forthcoming album You May Also Like: HenryRead More

Intense and beautiful, Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s new Fe’ … Faith, is this meditative wonder. Like the earth making its inevitable yearly circle, Rubalcaba returns time after time to themes and thoughts — but never approaches things exactly the same twice. You May Also Like: Susie Blue and the LonesomeRead More