by Mark Saleski Ever have a dream where the impossible has suddenly come true? No, I don’t mean something like you’ve won the lottery, or you finally hooked up with that special someone. No, I’m talking about the impossible. In my case, it was my guitar playing ability. For aRead More
Bobby Whitlock reflects on Derek and the Dominos’ ‘Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs,’ and other career highlights.
Part of the genius of Miles Davis (aside from the incredible compositions, insanely great trumpet work, and spooky ability to play just the right notes) was his amazing talent for selecting band members. You May Also Like: How Bennie Maupin Left Mwandishi Behind on ‘The Jewel in the Lotus’ WhyRead More
Photo by Tom Marcello A new reissue series focusing on turn-of-the-1980s sides by the underappreciated Woody Shaw doesn’t consistently illustrate why he’s sometimes considered the last of the true innovators at the trumpet. But United certainly does. You May Also Like: Woody Shaw – ‘Love Dance’ (1976, 2026 reissue) Pre-FameRead More
The early Warner Bros.-focused ‘In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003’ does a great job of exploring a period I refer to as the band’s Adult Years.
by S. Victor Aaron Since very early on we’ve eagerly pounced on records that re-image that dense, impenetrable period of Miles Davis between about 1969 and 1975 when he first defined fusion jazz and then kept redefining it again and again. This is music that doesn’t come easily to mostRead More
Ginger Baker’s all-too-brief ‘Horses & Trees’ was fusion in the most complete sense of the word.
“Am I Blue” is a largely forgotten argument for Ray Charles’ striking ability to synthesize jazz, blues, country and gospel into music with a broader appeal. That’s saying something, considering that it appears on The Genius of Ray Charles, a half-big band/half-strings Atlantic release that became one of his mostRead More
by Nick DeRiso Though not the hoped-for third-act triumph, Ella and Oscar still has its enduring charms. See, Oscar Peterson, a hard-banging piano genius as bluesy as he was inventive, should have made the perfect foil for Ella Fitzgerald on this stripped-down date, set for reissue on March 15 byRead More
Howlin’ Wolf had no right to rock it like this. Not after what he had been through.
