by S. Victor Aaron John Scofield isn’t regarded as the top two or three jazz guitarists of the last couple of decades just because he’s such a great guitar player. The thing that sets him apart from almost all the others is his ability to play a different style ofRead More

by S. Victor Aaron I remember once or twice seeing the seventies folk-rock band America on one or two lists of most despised bands, and that always puzzled me. So what if the music is soft, my way of thinking goes, if the vocals are rich, the melodies robust andRead More

NICK DERISO: A crazy collision between the brassy sound of Rebirth and the great grooves of Parliament Funkadelic, LA Funk Brass Band is a party actually taking place on the bandstand. That makes sense, considering this funky roadhouse choir features a rotating set of 50-or-so performers with roots from northeasternRead More

Irma Thomas, whose Louisiana legend of a voice has darkened into a more expressive place, is taking a similar career tack. The new “Simply Grand,” in fact, finds Thomas moving deeper into the emotional underpinnings of her best work at a time when safer environs would probably be more profitable.Read More

From the first chunky guitar chords, the Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around” is a different kind of a song about getting dumped, and still loving her anyway, and thinking to yourself — and then saying out loud — that you’ll wait for as long as it takes for her to return,Read More

Philip Bailey should have been a star in his own right. Here’s a guy with a falsetto as divine as Russell Tompkins, Jr.’s, served as co-lead singer of the superstar soul group Earth, Wind and Fire and used star producers to handle his first two solo albums. And yet, allRead More

NICK DERISO: The blue-eyed soul template has been copied so many times that it can feel like a faded and calculating conceit, something singers do simply to attact a demo. Unless you’re Eric Lindell, a native of San Mateo, Calif., who not only aspires to a Van Morrison/Delbert McClinton-level ofRead More

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?

by Nick Deriso Hall and Oates are, of course, the poster boys for what happens when hair gel meets R&B. Funny thing is, they were originally anything but polished. Hall had reportedly been in an early Philly band with Thom Bell, later a central figure in that city’s R&B legacy.Read More

NICK DERISO: “The Ultimate Session” might not completely live up to the billing. Forgive us, however, if we cherish its sense of hip-shaking fun, anyway. Assembled are a who’s-who group of New Orleans musicians who played nearly five decades before with the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino and ProfessorRead More