Upon reflecting back on the year, I’ve concluded that Torben Waldorff’s American Rock Beauty ranks up there among 2010’s finest fusion jazz records. by S. Victor Aaron It’s been a great year for fusion records, as there has been an abundance of new ideas and well-recycled old ideas. Moreover, there’sRead More

by Nick DeRiso For me, the traditional year-ending Top 10 list has a more utilitarian standard: Which albums did I add to my permanent rotation? See, it’s the rarest of rare items that actually becomes a member of the collection. That’s the kind of standout recording we’ll be talking aboutRead More

Nobody plays it like Buddy, as his Living Proof testifies. by Pico This part of the Year End series is typically the shortest, and not because there’s less excellent blues and roots records than other kinds of music, but because I regrettably have little time leftover to delve into theseRead More

We begin this series by covering the kind of music most music critics cover when making lists: the Great Mainstream.

What kind of a year was it for music? It was so good that very often, I had a tough time figuring out what to listen to next. The proper cliché to be applied is “an embarrassment of riches.” Not only was it a great year for music, it wasRead More

by S. Victor Aaron There’s jazz and and there’s whack jazz, that label I assign to jazz that is unrestrained, unconventional and sometimes, rude. The kind of jazz that you wouldn’t play at any party, but boy, they sure are fun to listen to when you’re really engaged to theRead More

by S. Victor Aaron I’m not one of those critics who creates a “best of” list by merely dumping a bunch of names and titles. But I felt a need to explain that because this list of mainstream and modern jazz from the past year has 41 entrants on it.Read More

by Pico I was going to start off this year’s version of the Fusion Jazz list by explaining what exactly we are calling “fusion jazz,” until I recalled that I already attempted to define it last year. And looking back, it seems so damned convoluted. So disregard that: if it’sRead More

by S. Victor Aaron 2009 has had its share of the blues but there were plenty of blues practitioners making the best of the hard times, as we saw a slew of fine releases by them last year. There were seven of those that really stood out to me, aboveRead More

by Pico It’s the middle of January, which can only mean we’re about a month late on those year-end lists. Oooops. This past year, I’ve listened to perhaps a little less of the rock, pop and r&b records than in 2008, but the selections for my favorites were easier toRead More