The Quickies columns have been settling into a theme of late, a theme of pimping obscure jazzers, especially whack jazzers. Hey, I can do nothing but that for years on end, but then I’d be skipping over some albums worthy of salute that come the more mainstream side of music.Read More

Last year I put funk fusioneer Jeff Lorber on a short list of guilty pleasures of mine. Sometimes I wonder if that was justified giving him such a back-handed compliment. I mean, Lorber’s got chops to spare and his music makes me feel good most every time I listen toRead More

As Mac Rebbenack, aka Dr. John the Night Tripper, says: He’s done “whatever I had to do to get the job did.” Over the years, this amounts to a list of jobs including, but not limited to, snot-nosed duck-tailed rocker, record producer, songwriter, way-out psychedelic pop star, reliable recording-session sidemanRead More

by Pico It’s a CD that might be best enjoyed with a bucket of popcorn and a box of Ju Ju beans. That’s probably the way Barry Adamson intends for it to be, too. Ever since his first solo album Moss Side Story from almost two decades ago, Adamson hasRead More

Decades before it became a catchy rallying cry for an historic presidential campaign, “Yes We Can” was associated with an inspired message of another kind: the essence of New Orleans-styled funk. Crescent City all-world songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint has done more in his behind-the-scenes role to shape New OrleansRead More

by S. Victor Aaron The first Quickies of 2008 is all that jazz. More precisely, it’s all jazz. Or variants of jazz. That is, if you don’t count the last entry, which is soul-funk. Got it? Good, let’s get started… Pat Metheny Trio Day TripToday is supposed to be theRead More

In looking back on 2007, it’s time to assess the releases over the last 12 months and pick out the more outstanding ones.

by S. Victor Aaron There was a time during my carefree youth when I was listening to little else outside of jazz and fusion but funk. We’re talking Prince, Gap Band, The Time and several other lesser known acts on the scene at that time. Right up there with theRead More

After a quarter of a century away as he delved into lightweight urban contemporary, soundtracks and side gigs, I’m becoming a Stanley Clarke fan again.

by Pico Songs that I’ve known for a quarter of a century don’t tend to stay in my brain’s record rotation continuously for that long, but this song popped up out of nowhere in my consciousness once again. Maybe it’s a sign that it’s time to write about it. “ThatRead More