by Mark Saleski “Subtlety” is not a word to be used lightly in a music review, mostly because it’s likely to scare off the listener before even a single particle of the music has entered their ear parts. The sad fact is that “subtle” and “entertaining” are often thought ofRead More

By Nick DeRiso Otis Rush is the star-crossed guitar god, always in the right place at the wrong time. Close but no rock star. That despite his role as a principal architect of the modern Chicago blues-guitar vernacular, and a memorably emotional style of singing that echoes some of theRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Gebhard Weber is the German sax and bass clarinet player we introduced here last spring when reviewing the new album by the combo he co-leads with trombonist Steve Swell, The Ullmann|Swell 4. Ullman has other projects going, though and the Conference Call whack jazz supergroup heRead More

by Pico Ever since the music business as we know it first came into existence, there have always been musicians for whose need for artistic purity and/or just out of financial necessity has made them into “do it yourself” musicians, producing homemade music for a limited audience. More accurately, aRead More

photo: Jimmy Katz by Pico Bob Dylan is a towering figure in folk, and as we were reminded a few days ago, his legacy extends deep into rock music, too, via the all the strong and memorable covers done by rock bands, especially The Byrds. What’s more interesting is thatRead More

by S. Victor Aaron A record that truly lives up to its title, composer, arranger and horn player Rafi Malkiel creates a stew of orchestral klezmer jazz, Latin jazz, classical, and European folk music that is themed around H2O. Throughout every cut, water can be heard as a percussion instrument,Read More

Here’s a free mp3 download of Cassandra Wilson’s “Silver Moon,” a tune featuring saxophonist Ravi Coltrane from the forthcoming Blue Note recording Silver Pony. A hybrid live/studio album set for release on Nov. 9, Silver Pony features live songs from a European tour and studio work done at New Orleans’Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Pianist and composer Ryan Cohan follows up his highly acclaimed One Sky (2007) with another slate of mostly originals, Another Look. Though Cohan is an exceptional composer (Ramsey Lewis has recorded many of his tunes), Cohan sought to make his latest record more performance-oriented. He supplementsRead More

by Mark Saleski For many years, I was very comfortable with the statement: “I hate country music.” It was easy to say because there was so much evidence all around: Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Faith Hill and all of that — it was really just pop music with belt buckles,Read More

By Nick DeRiso For all of her wandering, Allen Toussaint remains this touchstone for New Orleans-born vocalist Christina Gaudet. But Gaudet doesn’t let her lasting affinity for a hometown soul legend pigeonhole her wider ambitions on Solid, though it’s subtitled “Featuring new songs by Allen Toussaint.” She’s particularly adept atRead More