After reveling in pre-Benny Goodman big band jazz with a cheery avant twist and unlikely pop references leading the Millennial Territory Orchestra, slide trumpet extraordinaire Steven Bernstein returns to his first major project after a seven year studio layoff. You May Also Like: Sexmob – Cultural Capital (2017) Steven Bernstein’sRead More

The Penguin Guide to Jazz On CD (Fourth Ed., Cook and Morton) opined back in the 90s that the Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko is an artist first and foremost and a musician second, asserting that “he is a man whose imagination is fired as much by words…as by music.” YouRead More

To commence Nou La, Vo-Duo sends blessings to the sacred heart of the Asoto drum, to the spirits and finally to the listeners. This modest, exquisite acapella piece, called “Bonjou,” foretells the loveliness and sanctity to come. You May Also Like: David Philips + Abel Boquera – ‘The Duo Sessions’Read More

One part Allman Brothers, one part Levon Helm, and one part Howlin’ Wolf, Southern Hospitality is a jam band, a blues band, and a roots band — sometimes all inside of one knee-slapping throwback tune. You May Also Like: Doobie Brothers – ‘Livin’ on the Fault Line’ (1977): On SecondRead More

When Stan Killian came out with Unified a couple of years back, it didn’t knock me back in one certain way, it knocked me back in many ways. Killian brought a stout but sensitive tenor saxophone to compositions he crafted with canny detail, but also pleasing to the ear. YouRead More

For the uninitiated, the JAC is actually a vehicle for the mercurial musings of singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Algeri. Hot on the heels of the JAC’s excellent debut album Faux Pas arrives a comparably intoxicating disc Record Store You May Also Like: Thrift Store Halo – ‘Enemies With Benefits’Read More

Last week Boz Scaggs issued his first album since 2008’s Speak Low, another covers-dominant record, but as the name makes clear, Memphis is not a jazz crooner record like his prior two, but rather, a soul crooner record. You May Also Like: Boz Scaggs – Out Of The Blues (2018)Read More

The news release that accompanies Wayne Hancock’s latest release on Bloodshot Records opens with a quote from Hank Williams III, who says, “Wayne Hancock has more Hank Sr. in him than either I or Hank Williams Jr. He is the real deal.” You May Also Like: Why I Avoided HerbieRead More

A longtime member of both the Mingus Big Band and the Roy Haynes Quartet, saxophonist Jaleel Shaw had first gotten my attention as a leader with 2008’s Optimism and his ASCAP award winning song “Flipside.” You May Also Like: Woody Shaw – ‘Love Dance’ (1976, 2026 reissue) Ernesto Cervini’s TurbopropRead More

The Cash Box Kings reanimate that moment when popular music — both black and white — began to coalesce into the rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic. It’s loud music, fun music, occasionally delving into darker themes, but possessing an impetuous, undeniable rhythm. You May Also Like: How Johnny Cash Challenged ConventionRead More