For all the mediocre music he shelled out under the Black Sabbath name following the departure of Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi seems to be making amends later in life. His reunion of the Dio-era Sabbath lineup under the name Heaven and Hell a few years ago produced the bestRead More

Grammy-nominated singer and pianist Karrin Allyson starts “April Come She Will” in the same melancholy mood as the Simon and Garfunkel original, then pushes the tune into a gently swinging cadence. That rhythm, trickling along like a babbling brook, contrasts nicely with her wood-grained, country-inflected delivery of the lyric —Read More

If “Past, Present and Future” from drummer/composer Aaron Comess, a founding member of the Grammy-nominated, 10-million album-selling Spin Doctors, sounds like two people talking at once, that’s kind of the point. You May Also Like: Zig Zag Power Trio, Aaron Comess, Sofia Trio + Others: Five for the Road MarkRead More

A few years ago when I sat down and took a stab at identifying some up and coming women in a world of instrumental jazz still dominated by men, one of those ten names that came to mind was avant garde saxophonist Matana Roberts. After moving to NYC from herRead More

His name is linked forever with the town, and the sound, of Memphis. But Booker T. Jones’ influence moves beyond Beale, into hip hop and today’s rhythm-and-blues — something that’s underscored on The Road from Memphis You May Also Like: No related posts.

The Toronto-derived drummer, composer and bandleader Harris Eisenstadt was described by The New York Times jazz critic Nate Chinen as taking a “fixer’s approach to music making, looking for ways to fit the pieces together,” and while I agree with the praise he and others have heaped on Eisenstadt, IRead More

“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: Why I Avoided Herbie Hancock’s Triumphant ‘River: TheRead 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