About a dozen or so years ago when I first came across the impossibly great blues guitarist Melvin Taylor, I noticed how much his guitar playing owes to jazz and particularly George Benson You May Also Like: James Taylor – ‘One Man Band’ (2007; 2019 reissue) Brian Bringelson – ‘BurningRead More

Born in Toronto, living in Brooklyn (where, it seems, all the good musicians aspire to call home), jazz guitar specialist Avi Granite has recently put forth Snow Umbrellas. You May Also Like: Avi Granite 6 – Orbit (2018)

With the three-album ‘Dansere’ compilation, we’re not really examining a single piece of Jan Gararek’s work but a trio of distinct ones.

Apart from his trademark whammy bar-induced vibrato, Norwegian guitarist, keyboardist, saxophonist, composer and bandleader Terje Rypdal has been one of the hardest to define figures of progressive jazz You May Also Like: The Dream, featuring Terje Rypdal – Get Dreamy (1967, 2017 reissue) Terje Rypdal – ‘Conspiracy’ (2020) Various ArtistsRead More

Mike Keneally joined us to talk about working with – and working without – XTC’s Andy Partridge on the terrific ‘Wing Beat Fantastic.’

Columbus, Ohio’s fo/mo/deep calls themselves an “Eclectic Groove Oriented – Funky Jazz Collective,” and it’s truth in advertising. You May Also Like: Manu Katché – Unstatic (2016) Peter Erskine and the Dr. Um Band – Second Opinion (2017)

Allan Holdsworth’s career is perhaps nearly as well known for his brief stays in well-regarded prog and fusion bands as it is for his guitar wizardry. Tony Williams’ Lifetime, UK and even Level 42 all have Holdsworth “one-and-done” studio albums. You May Also Like: Soft Machine – ‘Live at theRead More

UK guitarist Mike Walker got this capital idea to put together a quartet with Americans Steve Swallow (el. bass) and Adam Nussbaum (drums), and enlisted young piano talent and fellow Englishman Gwilym Simcock to round out the group. You May Also Like: John Scofield – ‘Swallow Tales’ (2020)

There is a real sense, as OUiZZZ’s galvanizing, sometimes deeply experimental Hello Goodbye unfolds, of joint discovery. Though formed a decade ago in Lausanne, Switzerland, this band still plays like a lively conversation amongst new friends You May Also Like: Richard Turgeon, “Goodbye to Summer” (2020): One Track Mind

One thing became readily apparent to me from listening to Bruce Kaphan’s new album and that is, Kaphan and I are in strong agreement that there really isn’t any reason why the pedal steel guitar doesn’t belong in jazz or any other styles of music. You May Also Like: MaryRead More