Twenty-two year-old Alex Brown presented his debut album Pianist a couple of months ago with a big boost from his mentor of the last four years, Cuban-American sax giant Paquito D’Rivera. Sure enough, this record has the unmistakable flavor of Cuba You May Also Like: The Crazy World of ArthurRead More

Christian McBride’s new duet with Sting, a smart and groove-filled take on 1985’s “Consider Me Gone,” shows again why the former Police frontman’s original synthesis of new wave and jazz seemed so interesting in the first place. You May Also Like: Sting – 57th and 9th (2016) The Police –Read More

In 2004, XTC mastermind Andy Partridge opened his heart and new label Ape Records to house not only his Fuzzy Warbles series — and initial releases by Peter Blegvad, Orpheus, the Lowdown, as well You May Also Like: Why Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘In an Aeroplane Over the Sea’ Still VeryRead More

I’ve listened to the side-long title track of Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays’ As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, oh, maybe just a couple of times in the last twenty years. You May Also Like: Lyle Mays (1953-2020): An Appreciation Lyle Mays, “Eberhard” (2021): One Track Mind

by Fred Phillips In the early days of my metal fandom, one of the best ways to sample new music was the compilation albums from K-Tel and the like. They were a lot cheaper than a standard cassette, usually running $4-$5 as opposed to $7-$8 for regular albums You MayRead More

Ben Folds, for all his blind-alley turns into jokes that go nowhere, retains a particular eye for the turn of phrase, for the precise word the opens your heart like a flower You May Also Like: Ben Folds Returned to Older Work on ‘Stems and Seeds,’ and Vastly Improved It

On an album boasting a number of dark ruminations on this digital age, Billy Sherwood takes a second on “Living in the Now” to contemplate the answers.

Todd Rundgren’s oddball “Love My Way” is perhaps the most perfectly, head-scratchingly reformulated song on ‘(Re)Production.’

The last track on Pretzel Logic might be my least favorite one of that album, with that over the top fuzzy bass line. To some it makes the song nice ‘n’ fonky but I find it a distraction; I wanna hear Dias and Baxter’s guitars over that noise. You MayRead More

Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra has worked well as a creative outlet for its slide trumpet-playing leader, who seems to come up with some off-the-wall ideas for a jazz orchestra. You May Also Like: Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra feat. Catherine Russell, “Yes We Can” (2022): One Track Mind StevenRead More