Natalie Merchant offers an album full of distilled thoughts, easily the most intense collection of her solo career.

by Mark Saleski Sometimes, a writer can feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of releases that come along during the year. Look at those piles of CDs! It’s a fraction of what shows up on my desk over a 12-month timespan. As I said in my list of Jazz FavoritesRead More

by Mark Saleski On paper it looks like a mess. A mess that has been done before. For lyrical source material, take a bunch of words written by a cast of poets both famous and not. Set the poetry to music. Then, record the songs with a huge assortment ofRead More

by Nick DeRiso “Come Together,” a concert first envisioned as a benefit to raise anti-violence awareness through the work of John Lennon, was scheduled to be held on Oct. 2, 2001, at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall. Then came Sept. 11. This rangy event, featuring recorded snippetsRead More