by Mark Saleski Back in the dark ages (read: before the Internet) I spent a fair amount of time searching out new music by paying very close attention to the listings of my local public and classical radio stations. You May Also Like: How Bennie Maupin Left Mwandishi Behind onRead More

‘Levin Torn White’ ain’t for the weak, but it’s lethal combination of brawn and brains makes it the release of the year.

Here’s a look back at the Top 10 stories from last month on SomethingElseReviews.com, based on page views from our readers. No. 10 — THE MEKONS – ANCIENT AND MODERN: Only a band like the Mekons could make something like Ancient and Modern, this whipsawing triumph of country contemplation andRead More

‘All We Are Saying’ feels so connective because of guitarist Bill Frisell’s willingness to simply let things happen – to accept life as it goes.

by Tom Johnson In many ways, I am still no closer to being able to put words to my feelings for this album. Instead, I find myself forcing words upon it, all of which are rendered meaningless because they really don’t describe this album, only things that have come beforeRead More

A sharper direction on this new release, not to mention an all-star backing cast, helps Stanley Jordon overcome many of the stereotypes that have dogged him since rising to fame in the early 1980s. Back then, Jordan was riding a wave of attention over his use of a eye-poppingly fastRead More

As much as I wanted to argue with the smaller ambitions of Ramsey Lewis’ Taking Another Look,’ in the end, it was simply too ingratiating.

I like a good guitar solo as much as the next guy, but given a choice between a display of fretboard pyrotechnics vs. something with a little more soul, I’ll always gravitate to the latter. You May Also Like: Pat Metheny, “You Are” from ‘From This Place’ (2019): One TrackRead More

by Tom Johnson Jazz has been in a kind of holding pattern since the mid-1970s, when even Miles Davis declared the genre dead. You May Also Like: Matthew Shipp Trio – Piano Song (2017) Matthew Shipp – Zero (2018) Matthew Shipp – Symbol Systems (1996, 2018 reissue)

by Tom Johnson Drummer Joey Baron’s Barondown, featuring Steve Swell on trombone and Ellery Eskelin on tenor sax comes across like the mischievous little brother to John Zorn’s Masada. You May Also Like: Trombone Shorty Raced Beyond Genres on Transcendent ‘Backatown’