by Pico When you look at what the pianist from Palermo, Sicily has already accomplished, any new release by Salvatore Bonafede should be a highly anticipated one. A Berklee grad, Bonafede has played with Jerry Bergonzi, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Tim Berne, John Abercrombie, Lester Bowie, Tom Harrell, Dave DouglasRead More

by Pico We’ve been long overdue for another “Quickies,” as there’s been way more new releases to talk abput than there’s time to talk (as usual). Nonetheless, the show must go on and the word has to get out. This variation has a certain theme. Well, sort of. We startRead More

by S. Victor Aaron The tenor and soprano saxophonist Ada Rovatti is a rising star in the contemporary jazz arena; a Berklee School of Music grad who hails from Italy, she’s performed with such jazz heavies as Joanne Brackeen, Miroslav Vitous, John McLaughlin and Randy Brecker. She’s appeared on Brecker’sRead More

Getting the word out on some of more esoteric or little-known artists and their albums is something we love doing here at Something Else, hence the name for our little tea room on the interwebs. “Quickies” is where I’ve yakked up a lot of records by musicians who are notRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Last year brought the welcome return of Enrico Rava’s 1975 masterwork The Pilgrim And The Stars to American shores for the first time in CD form. Only a few months later, we’re getting treated to a new set of recordings by Italy’s foremost jazz musician. NewRead More

by Pico Yesterday was a look back at what I thought were the best mainstream music releases of 2008. Now it’s time for the installment of this year’s “Best Of” series that’s my main bread and butter: straight ahead jazz. More records of that sort were covered in this spaceRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Last year we gave a testimonial to a new small-group Carla Bley album that featured a uber-talented Italian trumpeter by the name of Paolo Fresu. But as good as Fresu is, he’s not yet the king of Italian trumpeters. That’s because Enrico Rava is still wearingRead More

by s. Victor Aaron A few months ago, we bemoaned the loss of a quality modern jazz composer in Paul Nash and noted how it seems we are well past the heyday of melodists of large-form jazz. Oh my, how did I ever forget about the still-thriving Carla Bley? CarlaRead More