Her album is populated with songs we’ve heard too often, sung in front of a band that’s bland and not engaging. It’s a lot for Pam Saulsby to overcome, but she does, and she does it with vigor. You May Also Like: Ella Fitzgerald, “Perdido” (1949): Appreciations

From its first dramatic rat-a-tat, this undulating rhythm signature that plays off a driving acoustic riff, “Northern Lights” moves with a persistent ardor. Alex Wand’s vocal runs in tandem, even as the drums recede into the background, until he has finally, definitively captured the center of the song. It’s onlyRead More

by Fred Phillips Warrant? Seriously? Is this some kind of test? Have I somehow offended the editors in my brief time here? You May Also Like: Heart – ‘Alive in Seattle’ (2003; 2017 reissue) Aerosmith – ‘1971: The Road Starts Hear’ (2022) How Elvin Bishop Kept It Seriously Fun onRead More

For all the mediocre music he shelled out under the Black Sabbath name following the departure of Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi seems to be making amends later in life. His reunion of the Dio-era Sabbath lineup under the name Heaven and Hell a few years ago produced the bestRead More

Grammy-nominated singer and pianist Karrin Allyson starts “April Come She Will” in the same melancholy mood as the Simon and Garfunkel original, then pushes the tune into a gently swinging cadence. That rhythm, trickling along like a babbling brook, contrasts nicely with her wood-grained, country-inflected delivery of the lyric —Read More

If “Past, Present and Future” from drummer/composer Aaron Comess, a founding member of the Grammy-nominated, 10-million album-selling Spin Doctors, sounds like two people talking at once, that’s kind of the point. You May Also Like: Zig Zag Power Trio, Aaron Comess, Sofia Trio + Others: Five for the Road MarkRead More

We’ve heard this all before, right? Not exactly: The New Orleans-based Pat Casey opens the second of two interpretations of Herbie Hancock tunes with a gurgling bass before Rex Gregory and Ashlin Parker join in with on sax and trumpet, respectively, to restate the swinging, salacious, but by now unfortunatelyRead More

A few years ago when I sat down and took a stab at identifying some up and coming women in a world of instrumental jazz still dominated by men, one of those ten names that came to mind was avant garde saxophonist Matana Roberts. After moving to NYC from herRead More

His name is linked forever with the town, and the sound, of Memphis. But Booker T. Jones’ influence moves beyond Beale, into hip hop and today’s rhythm-and-blues — something that’s underscored on The Road from Memphis You May Also Like: No related posts.

The Toronto-derived drummer, composer and bandleader Harris Eisenstadt was described by The New York Times jazz critic Nate Chinen as taking a “fixer’s approach to music making, looking for ways to fit the pieces together,” and while I agree with the praise he and others have heaped on Eisenstadt, IRead More