A dizzying mixture of muscular, electric guitar-driven jazz ensemble playing and these intriguingly angular Balkan textures, this energetic follow up to the Slivovitz septet’s Moonjune Records debut Hubris builds on that success, even as it adds different musical shadings. See, this isn’t your typical chamber-rock; at times, it threatens —Read More

Many a jazz singer has stumbled through the Great American Songbook, slowed by imitative missteps or the inability to keep pace with a swinging quartet surrounding him. David Paul Mesler is not that singer. You May Also Like: Shawn E. Hansen, Mike Pride + Clayton Thomas – ‘DREAMBAND’ (2023)

Greg Wood takes plenty of opportunities to play his guitar with bloody-knuckled purpose on this self-titled album. But there’s more — much more — to this project, as Wood uncovers a series of complex, emotional thoughts. You May Also Like: Oliver Wood, “Yo I Surrender” from ‘Fat Cat Silhouette’ (2024):Read More

Dennis “Fergie” Frederiksen was, at one point, all over the radio. Then, just like that, he was gone.

Frank Kohl approaches the guitar with an exuberant curiosity, but also a well-crafted ability — skittering from influence to influence without ever stumbling. He sounds like he’s having a ball, too. That’s led to an album called Coast to Coast that boasts a savvy veteran player’s satisfying structural logic, butRead More

Go inside the studio as Billy Sherwood enters the complex world of Yes, and find out how he came to work with David Paich on a signature Toto release.

Billy Sherwood talks about his original hopes for Yes, how the association initially fell apart, and how it continued to inform his subsequent work.

There are couple of ways that Kevin Crabb’s all-original Waltz for Dylan could have gone wrong. Rangy saxophonist Kelly Jefferson and, in particular, pianist John Beasley (Miles Davis) might have completely overtaken this project, dedicated to the drummer’s son. Or, they might have become lost in the distracting bashing ofRead More

This is a script-flipped blues rock record, with a plugged-in emphasis on the rock part. Back to New York City, in many ways, is as loud as it is brash — a thundering restatement of Popa Chubby’s outsized persona and even outer-sized personality. You May Also Like: Chubby Tavares, “GottaRead More

It’s one thing to cover somebody, quite another to expose something fundamentally true about the original song through your interpretation — and that happens with Johnny Cash’s take on this Bob Dylan classic. You May Also Like: How Johnny Cash Challenged Convention Once Again on ‘American Recordings’ How Johnny Cash’sRead More