by Mark Saleski Do things in music always have to go smoothly? Does it bother you when your expectations are upset? I’ve always enjoyed it when a song takes an unexpected left turn. You May Also Like: No related posts.

When I think of all the members of the young, exciting roster that the fledgling Brooklyn Jazz Underground Jazz Records has in its ranks, one of the first names I think of is Anne Mette Iversen. She is a serious talent at both acoustic bass and compositions. You May AlsoRead More

You don’t see me cover a lot of jazz vocalist or smooth jazz records, so you may wonder what is up with this piece about a record from smooth jazz’s premier vocalist, Michael Franks? When I informed our own Mark Saleski my intention to cover Franks his reaction was toRead More

Liam Finn’s second solo record is different, something far more conventionally pop-infused than his 2007 debut, a thrilling but almost confusingly complex outburst of creativity called I’ll Be Lightning — and that can, at first, sound like a step backward. It starts with his noticeable drift back into the shadowRead More

Of the two recently released AC/DC DVDs, Live at River Plate is by far the least interesting to me. I’m much more intrigued by the long-awaited DVD/Blu-Ray release of Let There Be Rock, featuring original singer Bon Scott. But this is the one Sony has presented me with, so hereRead More

Inspired by an early Cachao album, “Tin Marin” is the rousing closer on Mongorama’s new self-titled project on California-based Saungu Records. A thrilling exposion of classic charanga-jazz, the album features a nine-piece all-star band You May Also Like: How ‘Live: Oy Vey, Baby’ Reminded Us That We Never Deserved TinRead More

Guitarists Bill Anderson and Billysteve (yep, one word) Kopri turn the blues inside out on Churchwood’s “Vendidi Fumar,” then wear it around like Lady Gaga’s meat dress. Theirs is a sound — sudden, bright and menacing — not unlike a car crash You May Also Like: No related posts.

Last fall, we saluted the arrival of a new Richard Pinhas CD, Metal/Crystal, one that supplemented his trio with fellow experimentalist warriors Merzbow and Wolf Eyes. You May Also Like: Richard Pinhas, Tatsuya Yoshida & Merzbow – Process & Reality (2016) Keiji Haino, Merzbow, Balazs Pandi – An Untroublesome DefencelessnessRead More

What Grayson Capps brings to country music, if you can call it that, is a real sense of danger. From the first of “Highway 42,” a tune that jangles like a loose fender, I was thinking about those long-haired rebels of the 1970s You May Also Like: No related posts.

I probably say this too often, but here goes … this record is just too much fun! Saxophonist Troy Roberts knows how to lay down the funk and on Nu-Jive, the funk is relentless. From the David S. Ware-meets-Steely Dan opening salvo of “Chiver-town,” to the slippery “Shavon” (where electricRead More