“Guitar virtuoso” for some can conjure up images of lightning fast shredders and gadget-filled guitar pyrotechnics. Some of these guys are pretty amazing technicians, to be sure, but a lot of them forget about applying their ample technique to songs that are any joy to listen to. But Oz NoyRead More

by Pico Maybe you’ve noticed the trend and maybe you haven’t, but there sure seems to be a whole lot more of the fairer sex among up-and-coming jazz players. I’ve found myself covering a lot more jazz records by female artists lately, and it hasn’t been by design; there areRead More

by S. Victor Aaron So let’s see… The saxophonist has played for such big names in jazz, soul and pop such as Nile Rodgers, The Crusaders, Aretha Franklin, Mike Stern, Dave Liebman and The Temptations. Eleven of his own records have appeared on the music charts. The trumpet player hasRead More

photo: Nitin Vadukal by S. Victor Aaron Yesterday marked the release of Stefon Harris’ seventh album, the urban-minded Urbanus. As this is the second album with his hip-hop/r&b/jazz vehicle Blackout, Urbanus marks the true follow-up to 2004’s Evolution (African Tarantula from 2006 was a delightful little excursion into Duke Ellington).Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Chris Potter has long been one of my favorite saxophonists simply by virtue of playing in a couple of my favorite bands. As a former long-time member of The Dave Holland Quintet and the reconstituted Steely Dan, Potter made his name while in his twenties withRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Know any good music in Baltimore? I do. The city that has spawned or raised such diverse, quirky talents such as Cab Calloway, Frank Zappa and David Byrne is currently the home to a new one: Quartet Offensive. Formed just two years ago, Quartet Offensive playsRead More

East West Quintet, based out of the decidedly eastern locality of Brooklyn, NY, is coming out with only their second full-length album today, Vast. Starting out in 2003 as an outfit celebrating the soulful hard bop popularized by Cannonball Adderley and his famous quintet, East West quickly absorbed much ofRead More

by Pico So far here we’ve covered a fairly wide variety of music styles, but still repped for only a handful of countries. Today, though, we’re going to add a few more countries to our slowly-burgeoning list of nations from which the talented musicians we cover come from. Most ofRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Hybrids are all the rage these days; you see Toyota Priuses and Honda Insights filling up our roadways as recent gas price hikes has engendered a greater focus on fuel efficiency. There’s was recently another cool new hybrid unveiled, but this isn’t a hybrid of gasRead More

by Pico Back in the late seventies my oldest brother would come home from college for the weekend and bring with him records by all these fusion and crossover jazz figures that I hadn’t heard of before but sounded good to my younger ears. That’s how I first got toRead More