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

Will Sellenraad is a member of a newer generation of jazz musicians who have that ability to fold in elements of rock, soul and folk into jazz without diluting the jazz component at all. His guitar playing style has a full, rounded tone that can best be described as unaffected,Read More

NICK DERISO: With “New Orleans Meets Harlem,” pianist Marcus Roberts explores the connections between two of jazz music’s most elemental tributaries — building on familiar ideas put in place by Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. The record, Roberts’ first in eight years, hitsRead More

Finally, a musician with a one-letter last name I can actually embrace. Harvie S was the rock-solid bassist who firmly anchored Linda Presgrave’s completely enjoyable Inspiration CD, released last month. It’s only the latest notch in a long career that’s found S paired with such legends as John Scofield, StanRead More

NICK DERISO: A crazy collision between the brassy sound of Rebirth and the great grooves of Parliament Funkadelic, LA Funk Brass Band is a party actually taking place on the bandstand. That makes sense, considering this funky roadhouse choir features a rotating set of 50-or-so performers with roots from northeasternRead More

by Pico As an acclaimed maestro on a variety of stringed instruments (violin, mandolin, guitar) Mike Marshall can call upon just about anyone in the field of progressive bluegrass to accompany him on an album. For his fresh-out-of-the-oven album Mike Marshall’s Big Trio, he sticks with acoustic guitar and enlistsRead More

Dr. Lonnie Smith enjoyed a Joe Henderson-styled late-career resurgence during the ’00s, capped by ‘Rise Up!’

NICK DERISO: “The Spirits of Our Ancestors,” pianist Randy Weston’s vibrant exploration of the African roots within jazz, remains a rapturous delight in any language. Legends Dizzy Gillespie, Idris Muhammad, longtime Basie sideman Benny Powell and Pharoah Sanders appear, while groundbreaking trombonist Melba Liston — then working for the firstRead More

NICK DERISO: Recorded live at the club Memory Lane in Los Angeles over a two-night stand on May 25-26, 1967, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie’s five-track “Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac” is sometimes criticized for its brevity. Sure. There have been boxed sets produced with slighter source material. Still, Gillespie, in particular onRead More

The last two Quickies were an investigation of jazz records only. We’re still hacking through some recent noteworthy jazz records of different stripes, but this time, I threw in some non-jazz right at the end. Still on a blues bent that started with coverage of Shemekia Copeland’s and Joe Bonamassa’sRead More