by Pico As much of a transformational figure as he was, Scott LaFaro wasn’t the only brilliant bassist who had played in Bill Evans’ trio; Eddie Gomez held that esteemed seat for longer than anybody, from 1966 to 1977. Like LaFaro, Gomez was virtually an equal harmonically as the legendaryRead More

by Nick DeRiso It takes a complex, genre-bending singer to fend off the distracting brilliance of fabled guitar-playing Danny Gatton. Maine-based Steve Erwin, who made his name playing around Washington, D.C., pulls it off on the newly re-released Was It Like This. Originally recorded in December 1988 with Gatton, theRead More

by Nick DeRiso While much of Tony Joe White’s new recording “The Shine” feels so bare-bones as to be undercooked, the muscular “Tell Me Why” bubbles up with the rough moral drama of a storyteller’s yarn. Still standing, despite years unjustly spent outside fame’s spotlight, White hasn’t stopped believing inRead More

by Nick DeRiso Voyage d’armour, French-born Danick Isabelle Jawer’s thrillingly intricate new collaboration with Amitie, captures the affection, the sorrow and the music of a relationship – whether the listener speaks her native tongue or not. That’s thanks in no small way to Amitie (“friendship” in French), a trio fromRead More

Jazz saxophone and flute giant James Moody has been around seemingly forever and never slowed down, but yesterday pancreatic cancer finally ended a long and distinguished career at the age of 85. He was a key member of Dizzy Gillespie bands going back to the 1940s (Diz once remarked, “PlayingRead More

Photograph by Amy Dey by Nick DeRiso A radiant uncertainty runs through “Maybe,” Emily Hearn’s song about the confusion and memorable pain of a lonely young heart. OK, there’s a girl, and there’s a guy, and the guy won’t give her the time of day. This, we’ve heard before. ButRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Jazz that’s hard to categorize is usually the kind of jazz that’s also hard to describe adequately with words but also the kind of jazz I prefer. And if it swings and grooves, so much the better. Alto sax player Pete Robbins’ music has all thoseRead More

by Mark Saleski See, I just knew I was going to like this album. About twenty seconds into the first listen and the whole “Is it jazz?/Is it rock?/What the hell is it?” issue popped up — almost always a recipe for a good time. Heck, I knew even beforeRead More

by Mark Saleski When I was a little kid, we used to take vacations out on Cape Cod. Back then there was a target ship anchored out in the bay, the SS James Longstreet. There was something both creepy and majestic about that ship. Of course, the boy in meRead More

by Nick DeRiso Mark “Pocket” Goldberg’s Off the Alleyway, a rootsy Americana recording with the flickering neon-soul of a blues joint, stays well away from the beaten path. His sound is as eclectic as the country’s rolling byways, bringing in low-country pedal steel, back-pew harmonizing, the nostalgic wheeze of anRead More