Scrapomatic’s third album ‘Sidewalk Caesars’ once again brought the spirit to mid-20th century folk blues to the early 21st century.

NICK DERISO: Pianist Les McCann is something like a lesser Horace Silver — somebody with a soulful, bluesy delivery who often strayed a step too far into pop. This release showed why: Despite its many joys, a fat electric bass gave the CD an unwanted fusion-y feel — in particular,Read More

For this episode of Quickies, we stick mainly with the jazz genre with a couple of diversions to other styles found here and there. These new releases all start with traditional jazz, but our protagonists each put their own little twist on it. Our first entrant is a well-known quantityRead More

Here’s a case of “old school meets new school.” Saxophonist Rob Dixon, who we earlier introduced as a key player in Derrick Gardner’s Jazz Prophets, is another Indianapolis-based jazz talent who’s been getting notice since the mid-nineties as an up and comer for both his playing and composing. Hammond B3Read More

NICK DERISO: This Smithsonian Folkways release, issued today, is a hot-dawg compilation that sets up both as primer for the new-to-this and reminder for the been-there-done-that crowd. A remarkably deep catalogue has helped the label continue for years with a series of myth-confirming sets. “Classic Piano Blues” is no different,Read More

Long before I was able to digest the epic, twenty-five minute meandering noodlings of Dicky Betts and Duane Allman, I deeply dug the Allman Brothers’ “Melissa.” It’s a wistful, country-flavored ballad that was easy to learn how to play on a beat-up Yamaha acoustic guitar, and since it was oneRead More

From the God Of Hellfire to an Angel Of Love? That’s the one-hit wonder from 1968 who brought us that singularly psychedelic, bombastic classic “Fire.” Brown had been mostly out of the public focus since then, but one of rock’s most flashy and colorful characters never faded. Nah, he wasRead More

“Trio Brubeck,” though not the first time that Dad Dave had collaborated with the kids, had the randy feel of a whole new direction for the legendary pianist. Following the 1970s recording “Two Generations of Brubeck,” and the more recent “Quiet as the Moon” with son Darius (also on MusicMasters),Read More

For this installment of Quickies, the inaugural releases of a new label dedicated to presenting the music of talented up and coming jazz musicians are highlighted. These musicians are all members of an artist collective, the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, and this spring saw the launching of the collective’s Brooklyn JazzRead More

Editor’s note: This column ran as part of an obituary package on the national Gannett News Service wire upon Cab Calloway’s passing in 1994. by Nick DeRiso Between the tombstones of the two World Wars, there emerged the knock-down joys of swing music. Perhaps no single figure from the periodRead More