Me and TheWife™ have busted outa town for a long weekend. It’s our 14th anniversary and we are ensconced in one of our favorite inns in the far north of New Hampshire. You May Also Like: Why You Should Give Pat Metheny’s ‘Rejoicing’ Another Listen

January brought in-depth talks with progressive rock legends Greg Lake and Steve Hackett, new blues from Dion and sweet standards from Paul McCartney. Also, a final collaboration between Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, and a long-awaited reunion of David Lee Roth with Van Halen. The only thing that could haveRead More

It’s a given that show tunes and Tin Pan Alley songs have provided plenty of fodder for jazz interpretations, especially in the decades before there were enough quality standards written specifically for jazz to fill up a fake book. You May Also Like: Why Keith Jarrett’s Reunion With Charlie HadenRead More

The time will come when architects and engineers will be summoned to my house to shore up the floor beneath my Keith Jarrett collection. Not yet though. A favorite items is my sealed copy of Bop-Be, a session covering the music of Jarrett, Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman and Alec Wilder.Read More

One night back in the late 1970s, me and my cousin Andy were playing a game of backgammon (cripes, that really was a long time ago … I remember there was a Styx Grand Illusion poster on the wall You May Also Like: Why Pat Metheny’s ‘New Chautauqua’ Still ProvidesRead More

by Mark Saleski Many artists, when asked to pick a favorite from their own discography, will lean toward their most recent release. Sure, I can see that. You work on new material, it’s fresh and exiting, and right there in the front of your mind. I’ve wondered what Pat Metheny’sRead More

Vacation Part 3. OK, so I didn’t win the lottery. I didn’t buy a big house on the Maine coast. There was no affair with the real estate agent. But you could have probably guessed all of that. You May Also Like: Why You Should Give Pat Metheny’s ‘Rejoicing’ AnotherRead More

by Nick DeRiso Jazz guitarist Al Di Meola, the former teen prodigy in Return to Forever, accomplishes an uncommon thing here, making something out of a cover attempt at the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever.” You May Also Like: ‘Danny Says: A Documentary on the Life and Times of Danny Fields’Read More

by Something Else Reviews Over the last few weeks, this merry band of music lovers has offered its varied take on the Year That Was. Now, we winnow it all down. First to go were the personal obsessions (Mark: Mary Halvorson; Pico: Greg Ward’s Fitted Shards), and other worthy entriesRead More

What kind of a year was it for music? It was so good that very often, I had a tough time figuring out what to listen to next. The proper cliché to be applied is “an embarrassment of riches.” Not only was it a great year for music, it wasRead More