Here was Billy Joel: talented, confident and getting ready to bust out into superstardom.

Photo by Steve J. Sherman by S. Victor Aaron When reviewing Vijay Iyer’s sublime piano-only disc Solo last year, I tossed out my personal maxim that “when a great, small combo jazz pianist makes a solo record, it usually doesn’t signal that pianist’s arrival, it means he’s solidifying his legacy.” Well,Read More

The aptly titled Live Forever, a newly released concert set by Bob Marley and the Wailers, doesn’t sound anything like a man just moments away from the end. Instead, it underscores the indomitable spirit of the singer and his song. Marley had collapsed while jogging in New York just twoRead More

Featuring this dreamtime folk whimsy and a fabulist band name, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger sound at times like Syd Barrett, or maybe Simon and Garfunkel. Or, like an ornate, late-night 1960s French pop singer, after perhaps one too many tokes. What they don’t sound like, not really,Read More

What I want to do now is describe the “whatness” of the music of the band Rush.

You could argue that Robert Johnson, the doomed 1920s-era Mississippi bluesman, was the first rock ‘n’ roll star. Johnson certainly played the role, with his flair for the dramatic, questionable lifestyle choices and early death. More particularly, he sounded the part: Tough and honest, full of vibrancy, danger and rhythm.Read More

“Am I Blue” is a largely forgotten argument for Ray Charles’ striking ability to synthesize jazz, blues, country and gospel into music with a broader appeal. That’s saying something, considering that it appears on The Genius of Ray Charles, a half-big band/half-strings Atlantic release that became one of his mostRead More

Photo from Gary Sellers’ website by Nick DeRiso Blues guitarist Gary Sellers has a depth of passion, and a delicate touch at melding styles, that belies his youth. Whatever grade he’s in, though, Sellers has done his homework. Listening to his new recording Soul Apparatus, you hear Gregg Allman inRead More

Photo by Mark Seliger by Nick DeRiso “The Afterlife,” featured on Paul Simon’s forthcoming album So Beautiful or So What, is pulsing and sinewy — almost like a lost track from Graceland. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. See, Simon has said the premise of this new recording wasRead More

Photo from Gregg Rolie’s website by Nick DeRiso Gregg Rolie, a founding member of Santana and then Journey, is probably best remembered as this tiny speck playing keyboards in a sold-out arena. That makes the deeply introspective new EP Five Days, recorded live with just piano and vocals, an unexpectedRead More