Where’d saxophonist Chris West get this groove? The undulating downtown streets of New Orleans, of course. Sassy and just plain nasty at times, “Where I Got This Groove” is like a sweat-soaked traipse across that city’s legendary Vieux Carre’. They start with drummer Justin Amaral’s slapping second-line groove, then addRead More

The lithe, understated pianist Lisa Hilton has led a dozen dates, and Underground is record no. 13. There’s a nocturnal ambience about her brand of jazz, one she seems to play up with past album titles like Cocktails at Eight…, Jazz After Hours, Midnight in Manhattan and After Dark. Moreover,Read More

Dominated by a dreamy wah-wah from guitarist Kyle Sclafani, Mia Borders’ “Try Me On” initially brings to mind all of the big-hat-wearing, too-tall-bootsy joys of 1970s funk. When her lyric, which starts out sexy and tough, gives way to Adam Matasar’s throwback turn on the Fender Rhodes, the lava-lamp lightningRead More

Pianist Benny Green’s aptly titled new release Source can come off as a familiar conversation, since it’s filled with a number of jazz music’s notable voices — most of them, no surprise, key influences on his work. You May Also Like: Chicago + Al Green, “Tired of Being Alone” (1973):Read More

There are times when I’d love to kick myself right in the ass, mostly for being so slow on the uptake. You May Also Like: Mike Keneally, “Draconian Blump” from ‘Nonkertompf’ (1999): One Track Mind How Mike Keneally’s Comeback on ‘The Universe Will Provide’ Fulfilled All of His Promise Here’sRead More

You’d think the use of a music box on the title track from an interesting release by Korean jazz singer Youn Sun Nah — “Same Girl” was originally found on Randy Newman’s 1973 recording “Trouble in Paradise” — would imbue it all with this childlike wonder. (Elsewhere, Youn Sun NahRead More

When the new self-titled project from reformed 1980s rockers King Kobra, issued by Frontiers Records earlier this month, landed in my hands, I remembered two things about the band. Sadly, neither one of them was legendary drummer Carmine Appice You May Also Like: No related posts.

Dave Grohl has, for the most part, put aside his throat-bleeding yell. Thank the gods. Oh, it’s still there, to be sure: “Bridge Burning” comes tearing out of the speakers at full bore, Grohl hollering away, but that gives way to singing pretty quick, and then he sticks with itRead More

John Oates takes us inside the love-gone-wrong beginnings of Hall and Oates “She’s Gone,” and talks about how the birth of Oates’ son sparked a standout solo track. He also laments that doo wop never gets its due, and how he remade a signature Hall and Oates hit into aRead More

For a musician who has devoted his life since early childhood toward his craft and studied for many years as well as earning his stripes in the bars of the great jazz cities of the world, the release of that first album has to be a feeling of relief, elationRead More