It’s less than one week to Christmas, ladies and gents. Still trying to figure out what to give your loved one or boss that perfect music gift?

‘Mantis’ will be the first Umphrey’s McGee album of all-new material, never before performed live.

Missing in the eternal argument embodied in their 1970s lyric — Which one’s Pink? — was my idea that it was neither Roger Waters nor David Gilmour. Maybe there would have been no Pink Floyd, not really, without Richard Wright. That’s what I hear in “Live at Gdansk” with GilmourRead More

It’s been since the beginning of August since we’ve last done a “Quickies” here, so we’re long overdue for another one. There’s been a bevy of music put out during these last eight weeks that our full-fledged reviews don’t begin to cover, and a lot of it noteworthy. Gosh, IRead More

Extended improv sections of songs oftentimes turn into what Umphrey’s McGee calls a “Jimmy Stewart.” So what exactly is a “Jimmy Stewart?”

It might be best to take Brian Eno — the electronic mastermind behind some of the most important modern rock albums by the likes of David Bowie, Talking Heads and U2 — in smaller doses than this three-disc set allows. A thinker, a tinkerer, he’s always risked much — notRead More

by Pico This version of Quickies focuses on new rock and old jazz. One thing they have in common: it’s all good. >Bennie Maupin The Jewel In The Lotus Multi-reedist Bennie Maupin first made his mark contributing that bad-assed bass clarinet to Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and then joined HerbieRead More

by S. Victor Aaron From the first two words of this group, you already know that it’s a combo that features King Crimson’s all-everything rhythm section of Bill Bruford (drummer extraordinaire) and Tony Levin (bassist extraordinaire). This side project of theirs produced just a self-titled studio album in 1999 andRead More

I tried but, damnit, I just couldn’t ignore Fear Of A Blank Planet any longer. Whenever someone asks me who among the current crop of prog rock bands they should explore, Porcupine Tree is always on the top of my list. While I enjoy Yes-reincarnated outfits like Spock’s Beard, PTRead More

by Pico “Machine & the Synergetic Nuts”. What kind of music does that band moniker conjure up in your mind? New wave? Neo-prog? Goth metal? Vintage psychedelic rock? How about avant jazz-rock? At least that’s the closest I can come to describing this compelling instrumental music. This isn’t the firstRead More