by Mark Saleski While many “serious” jazz fans will turn up their precious noses at the jazzification of pop tunes, we here at SomethingElse! steadfastly believe that life is too short to be keeping that bow tie so tight. Sure, we love us some Miles and ‘Trane, but that doesn’tRead More

Photo by Lindsey Verrill, from Melissa Engelman’s MySpace page by Nick DeRiso Austin-based singer-songwriter Melissa Engleman explores life with a tough vulnerability on the urban folk set At the Hotel Café, often displaying a fortitude so quiet as to deceive. She gets knocked to the ground, while brilliantly fusing alt-country,Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Eva Cassidy had only one record released in her lifetime, a live document at a local club in her native area of Washington, D.C. She only sang covers, most of them overly familiar, finding them within the realms of jazz, Tin Pan Alley, folk, pop, gospelRead More

Photo of Ingrid Jensen from http://www.ingridjensen.com by S. Victor Aaron Nordic Connect is a grouping of musicians from Canada (Ingrid Jensen, trumpet; Ingrid’s sister Christine Jensen, alto and soprano saxes), U.S.A. (Ingrid’s husband Jon Wikan, drums), and Sweden (Maggie Olin (piano, Fender Rhodes; Mattias Welin, acoustic bass). The name pointsRead More

by Mark Saleski One of the markers of high-level instrumental interplay is the perception of intimacy. We see this again & again in review language — that the musicians seemed as though they were “of one mind,” that their communication was “telepathic.” There are plenty of recorded examples that comeRead More

We already knew how well they can rock it, with searing lyrics and memorable melodies. ‘Go-Go Boots’ showed the Drive-By Truckers had soul.

Photo from www.Jonathan-Parker.com by S. Victor Aaron Many up and coming jazz artists we’ve covered here typically come from just about every corner of the U.S.A., attend a prestigious music school and, perhaps after some intermediate stop at a regional jazz hub, eventually end up in the intensely competitive butRead More

Photo from www.SashaMasakowski.com by Nick DeRiso Sasha Masakowski, at once fearless and charming, is featured on two new EPs, one as a leader with Musical Playground (a sampling from the forthcoming next-gen jazz recording Wishes on Hypersoul Records) and another as part of the New Orleans indie rock/electronic band BionicaRead More

photo: Jazz Eyes Records by S. Victor Aaron BANN is a jazz supergroup of sorts, consisting of saxophonist Seamus Blake, bassist Jay Anderson, guitarist Oz Noy and drummer Adam Nussbaum. We know how supergroups can be hit-or-miss affairs; either egos clash and the different voices don’t click together, or theyRead More

Photo from Todd Christoffel’s ReverbNation.com page by Nick DeRiso Seattle-based folk-rockers Don’t Ask have a fondness for the comfy sounds of 1970s pop, though they are careful not to get too caught up in nostalgia. They simply use that era’s singer-songwriter-inspired prose, its soaring symphonic pop structure and its feel-goodRead More