Some might see the acoustic guitar as an apparatus for playing folk, blues, soft rock, and anything that’s smooth and gentle. Duck Baker prefers to see it as an instrument of limitless possibilities. Sure, Duck might have started out playing those predictable styles of music when he embarked on aRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Steve Smith is a man with a common name and an uncommon ability to beat the skins. Looking back at his entire career, that 1978-85 stint with the superstar arena rock group Journey during its classic period looks like an aberration to Smith, who has madeRead More

by Pico It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled… -Led Zeppelin What can I say, I’ve let a lot of release dates on the mainstream side go by without any mention. And so, it’s catch-up time. Three major acts, plus an act with a major cause. NoRead More

by S. Victor Aaron After forty years in the business, ECM remains one of the busiest jazz labels around, and if anything, they’ve been picking up steam lately. That might be because they continue to bring on exciting new artists while continuing their amazing ability to retain so many ofRead More

by Pico Last October 20, the up-and-coming violin wizard from Copenhagen Mads Tolling put forth his second CD The Playmaker, a celebration of the kindrid spirit shared by musicians and athletes. Yes, that’s right, the connection between people who make music and people who make plays. As Tolling correctly pointsRead More

by Tom Johnson I have been mulling over how to properly review a film like Rivers and Tides, a documentary that follows sculptor Andy Goldsworthy as he creates his mind-boggling artwork. It almost seems cruel to attempt to judge a film like this, so beautiful, so gentle, and so mesmerizing,Read More

One tendency I’ve found among musicians is that worldly artists tend to be pretty good at making worldly music. Vocalist and songstress Somi certainly qualifies. Born in middle-American Illinois but to immigrants from the East African nations of Rwanda and Uganda, Somi spent part of her childhood in Zambia. SheRead More

by Pico When musicians get together for jam sessions at a restaurant or a music house after the marquee gigs are done, that’s called a “late set.” It’s been a part of the NYC jazz scene at least since guys like Charlie Christian, Thelonius Monk, Kenny “Klook” Clarke, Charlie ParkerRead More

by Nick DeRiso Billie Holiday’s voice, fragile and thin at the end, belied the strong-willed fighter she always was. This record, dotted with tunes she’d once owned two decades before as a bubbly bird in front of big bands, makes the argument for her. By the mid-1950s, the hard-living HolidayRead More

by Pico Last year I devoted precious little space to praise a then-new album by bassist-composer Ben Allison called Little Things Run The World. The brief praise didn’t really do the record justice, as Allison is a certain kind of composer and bandleader who can build rib-sticking compositions and findRead More