“The Soul Cages,” a Sting album about boyhood grief, remains this strangely powerful if demanding narrative, one with textured song structures and densely emotional themes. Its triumph comes right away, though, on the opener “Island of Souls” — a compellingly dark, perfectly conceived tale of a riveter’s son whose dreamRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Robert Hurst is a guy I remember being Wynton Marsalis’ bassist in the late 1980s, before performing in the same capacity for Branford’s Tonight Show band. From there, I don’t recall much. But that’s on me because in reality, Hurst has kept very busy: he’s servedRead More

by Pico Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts doesn’t hail from New Orleans (he’s a native of Pittsburgh), but it seems he enjoys hanging out with guys from there. The Marsalis family—Wynton, Branford and Ellis—have enlisted his services, as well other Big Easy luminaries as Terence Blanchard and Harry Connick, Jr. Watts firstRead More

The ongoing summer reunion tour by the Police — which included last night’s appearance as part of the Live Earth concerts — got me to thinking about Sting’s solo stuff, an often too-precious group of records that has nevertheless had its undeniable moments of transcendent beauty. You want to likeRead More

Funky and tough, the Jazz Messengers were, until the very end, a group best heard blasting away on stage as vital, hard bop pioneers. That made this the definitive late-period release from Art Blakey. “Art Collection” features two celebrated tracks with Wynton and Branford Marsalis, as well as one withRead More

Branford Marsalis’ sibling producer Delfeayo said ‘Bloomington’ was the “most important concert recorded in our generation.” Thing is, he could be right.

Neatly mixing two of our favorite topics, Branford Marsalis pays no empty lip-service to exploring blues through the jazz idiom here. In fact, you don’t have to listen more than once to hear that’s he’s gone off the deep blue end. Any CD with appearances by B.B. King, Linda HopkinsRead More