Bob Margolin has spent his life around blues music’s most recognizable figures, and he’s now a respected band leader in his own right.

“The marble index of a mind for ever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone,” wrote Wordsworth in “The Prelude.” It was from this poem that German über model-turned-singer Nico took the inspiration You May Also Like: Bill Deal and the Rhondels – Vintage Rock (1969): Forgotten Series

Clarinetist Mort Weiss, who turns 76 years young tomorrow, is ten years into a remarkable comeback after laying off working as a musician for four — that’s right — four decades. You May Also Like: Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio – ‘Cold as Weiss’ (2022)

Shane Endsley might not be a familiar name to you, but the Grammy-nominated funk-rock-jazz group he cofounded Kneebody might be. Even if it isn’t, this trumpeter who’d gigged with Charlie Hunter, Ben Allison and Chris Speed became more noticeable with the debut of his own Music Band. Then The OtherRead More

A long-awaited advance single hails the return of that odd conundrum called Death Cab for Cutie, whose spit-take name can’t begin to hint at the deep musical complexities tucked away inside. You May Also Like: Death Cab for Cutie, “Summer Skin” from ‘Plans’ (2005): One Track Mind

by Mark Saleski There are two things that can be counted on when cracking open a new Carla Bley Big Band record: 1. many, many interesting and twisty passages of musical architecture and 2. volume. Oh yes, the horn section is enormous You May Also Like: Riverside [Dave Douglas, ChetRead More

by Tom Johnson David Torn’s Tripping Over God is an album that has defied description since the day I bought it in 1995. With only a vague knowledge of the man as a member of David Sylvian’s band for the Secrets Of The Beehive album You May Also Like: DavidRead More

This is a different kind of blues record, one with a joltingly modern menace. The Third International’s Beautiful Accident brilliantly updates a time-weathered genre by focusing on texture as much as lyrical content. You May Also Like: Michael McDonald – Wide Open (2017) Michael McDonald, “Find It In Your Heart”Read More

In the twisted, sound-bending world of Garage Á Trois, it’s well beyond finding that rare groove, it’s about finding sounds that are even more fundamentally rare. You May Also Like: Garage A Trois – ‘Calm Down Cologne’ (2021) Nolatet – No Revenge Necessary (2018)

“Mississippi Mile,” a country-inflected blues, finds John Oates right up close, even as his band sets about making this rafter-rattling ruckus.