Steve Lukather discusses the complicated history of Toto’s lead singers, and why he still keeps a copy of ‘Meet the Beatles’ in heavy rotation – even today.

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

We’ve heard this all before, right? Not exactly: The New Orleans-based Pat Casey opens the second of two interpretations of Herbie Hancock tunes with a gurgling bass before Rex Gregory and Ashlin Parker join in with on sax and trumpet, respectively, to restate the swinging, salacious, but by now unfortunatelyRead 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.

Ahmad Jamal originally recorded this concert at The Spotlite Club, in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 6, 1958. Featured is the same terrific trio that had that Top 40 hit with “Poinciana” — Jamal, bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier. That signature song, which charted for 108 weeks (then unprecedentedRead 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

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

Even if he wouldn’t have established so many jazz standards, Artie Shaw would have still been famous for his blaze-of-glory exit. You May Also Like: Woody Shaw – ‘Love Dance’ (1976, 2026 reissue) Horace Silver – ‘Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse’ (1965, 2025 release) Digging Into Craft Recordings’Read More

Where’d saxophonist Chris West get this groove? The undulating downtown streets of New Orleans, of course. Sassy and just plain nasty at times, “Where I Got This Groove” is like a sweat-soaked traipse across that city’s legendary Vieux Carre’. They start with drummer Justin Amaral’s slapping second-line groove, then addRead More