photo: The Picture Booth by S. Victor Aaron Last year came the debut of a promising young guitarist, composer and bandleader Ryan Blotnick, who was already thinking beyond conventional melodic structures and places intelligence over cheap licks. We took notice at the time, and Music Needs You received our praise,Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Born in the Mississippi Delta town of Leland, MS just a few miles west of BB King’s hometown of Indianola, Wadada Leo Smith didn’t pick up a guitar and started singing the blues but his mark on music ended up having a worldwide impact, anyway. AfterRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Previte has from the start been a “go it alone” kind of guy and found success taking that route, a remarkable achievement considering that drummers usually have to first make their mark as a member of a band. He’s gotten his due in a wide varietyRead More

Russian-born Brooklyn-raised guitarist and composer Gene Segal may have released his first album Hypnotic only this past July, but there was a lifetime of intense schooling that brought him to this point. Having earned multiple music degrees, Segal also studied under established guitarists as diverse as Scott Henderson, John Abercrombie,Read More

by Pico Phil Upchurch is a guitarist I’ve known about for a long time, from his stint in George Benson’s band in the late seventies. Even though he was the rhythm guitarist in a band that was fronted by one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time, Upchurch managedRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Last year we spotlighted a trio of CD’s that made up the maiden releases by a new record label, the artist-run collective Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. A year later last June, there were three more BJU records to examine. And here we are less than sixRead More

by Pico To say Anson Wright is diversely multi-talented is like saying that the sun is hot. This true rennaisance man who graduated from Princeton has drove taxis, built cabinetry, run a trucking company and written published novels and poetry. He also knows a thing or two about playing aRead More

Some might see the acoustic guitar as an apparatus for playing folk, blues, soft rock, and anything that’s smooth and gentle. Duck Baker prefers to see it as an instrument of limitless possibilities. Sure, Duck might have started out playing those predictable styles of music when he embarked on aRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Steve Smith is a man with a common name and an uncommon ability to beat the skins. Looking back at his entire career, that 1978-85 stint with the superstar arena rock group Journey during its classic period looks like an aberration to Smith, who has madeRead More

by Pico It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled… -Led Zeppelin What can I say, I’ve let a lot of release dates on the mainstream side go by without any mention. And so, it’s catch-up time. Three major acts, plus an act with a major cause. NoRead More