‘Raven’ probably won’t sell like Paula Cole’s moon-shot breakthrough ‘This Fire,’ but it should.

The appropriately named “Combustible,” part of an upcoming Wallace Roney project called Understanding, bursts out like a spit-shined hard-bop muscle car — and the trumpeter never takes his foot off the gas. You May Also Like: When Miles Davis Finally Looked Back on ‘Miles and Quincy: Live at Montreux’ NickRead More

Pat Metheny is such an accomplished figure that it’s easy to overlook his cohorts in the Metheny Group — making this new live document an endlessly instructive journey. You May Also Like: Pat Metheny, “You Are” from ‘From This Place’ (2019): One Track Mind Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays’ AsRead More

The soon-to-be-released Lifesigns single “Telephone” is perhaps the best example of how the group’s previous lives in prog and pop can coalesce into a listenable, yet still challenging, amalgam of both. You May Also Like: Steve Hackett, Rob Reed, Nick Beggs + others, “Spectral Mornings” (2015): One Track Mind

In a strange and beautiful coincidence, Days Between Stations was working on an album about birth, life and death with Peter Banks just before he passed.

In adding muscular horns to California Transit Authority, Danny Seraphine has fulfilled the promise of one of the best songs on CTA’s hard-grooving new release Sacred Ground: He’s come full circle. You May Also Like: Chicago, “Take Me Back to Chicago” from Chicago XI (1977): One Track Mind Danny SeraphineRead More

As Steven Wilson begins a 17-date North American tour, one that will feature a half-dozen in-store appearances, it’s increasingly clear where his passion lies: On solo projects like the recently released The Raven That Refused To Sing. You May Also Like: Porcupine Tree offered a more approachable kind of progRead More

Following 2010’s High Standards, Jeff Berlin assembles a sizzling trio — his electric bass sounding like anything but an instrument of support — for a cheekily named return engagement with some classics. You May Also Like: Jeff Berlin, Ben Sidran, Jeff Denson + Others: Five for the Road Boz ScaggsRead More

Optic Yellow Felt takes the rangy concepts of folk and jazz and sparks it up with the complex emotional underpinnings of classic turn-of-the-1970s rock on this deeply involving — and yet utterly listenable — self-titled debut. You May Also Like: Dario and the Clear – ‘Optic Nerve’ (2021) Elton John’sRead More

Long a shadowy figure, Shuggie Otis had become known more for his absence than for psychedelic soul successes like 1974’s Inspiration Information and writing songs like Brothers Johnson’s No. 5 1977 hit “Strawberry Letter 23” You May Also Like: Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” emerged out of crushing grief:Read More