“Blue Tip” is tensile and itchy then soaring and romantic — the closest this new record, the Cars’ first in 24 years, gets to approximating its own career-making mixture of Ric Ocasek’s weirdo aloofness and Benjamin Orr’s sun-drenched pop warmth. Orr, of course, passed in 2000 after a bout withRead More

Up until the year 2003, I had successfully avoided Kurt Elling. This wasn’t all that hard to do considering that male jazz vocals never really resonated with me. I do own a Coltrane/Hartman record, and of course some Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. Still, only a handful of albums? ItRead More

There is a sensuous, lush quietude to this recording, which notes on the front that it was “inspired by water.” Ritter’s playing — trickling and ruminative one moment, bubbly and adventurous the next — certainly echoes the theme. You May Also Like: Josh Ritter, “Rosalie” from Link of Chain: ARead More

by Tom Johnson It’s hard not to wonder how bassist Gerard Smith’s fight with cancer during the recording of Nine Types of Light affected the group. After all, the end result is a decidedly different affair than past TV On The Radio efforts, sounding all the more mature and, admittedly,Read More

My first encounter with the musicianship of fusion guitarist Steve Khan came from Billy Joel’s 1978 album 52nd Street. I still remember a studio picture of Khan in the vinyl record’s sleeve, big black hair, mustache, guitar and all. These days, Khan doesn’t have the big black hair anymore, butRead More

Where’d saxophonist Chris West get this groove? The undulating downtown streets of New Orleans, of course. Sassy and just plain nasty at times, “Where I Got This Groove” is like a sweat-soaked traipse across that city’s legendary Vieux Carre’. They start with drummer Justin Amaral’s slapping second-line groove, then addRead More

Critics hung soft rock around their necks, but Toto was never so easily identifiable.

The lithe, understated pianist Lisa Hilton has led a dozen dates, and Underground is record no. 13. There’s a nocturnal ambience about her brand of jazz, one she seems to play up with past album titles like Cocktails at Eight…, Jazz After Hours, Midnight in Manhattan and After Dark. Moreover,Read More

Pianist Benny Green’s aptly titled new release Source can come off as a familiar conversation, since it’s filled with a number of jazz music’s notable voices — most of them, no surprise, key influences on his work. You May Also Like: Red Garland Trio, “On Green Dolphin Street” from Swingin’Read More