The Fastball band features the trio Miles Zuniga/g-voc, Tony Scalzo/voc-g and Joey Shuffield/dr who are teamed with Bruce Hughes/b, Andy Streck/dr-key and a collection of guests on this eleven song album. The songs are mostly 70s-influenced rockers, with earnest voices…
Month: November 2019
THE FIRST HALF CENTURY OF ROOTS MUSIC…The Band: The Band 50th Anniversary Edition
As I mentioned in my review of the recently reissued Rolling Stones Let It Bleed and The Beatles’ Abbey Road, 1969 was a golden year for both jazz and rock releases, in fact being arguably the first year they joined…
ON A ROLL…Van Morrison: Three Chords And The Truth
While so many artists his age are simply living on past glories, Van Morrison is on a creative tear, still searching and climbing to the higher ground. He’s released some smoking jazz albums with Hammond hummer Joe DeFrancesco, and with…
WITH EVERYTHING…Chris Trinidad Y Con Todo: Con Todo
Bassist and composer Chris Trinidad leads a sizzling band through 8 Afro Cuban originals on this optimistic album. The rhythm team of Christian Tumalan/p, Carlos Caro/perc and Colin Douglas/timb percolate like sizzling onions, as they suavely drive the line of…
TWO GEMS FROM A CLASSIC YEAR…The Beatles: Abbey Road Anniversary Edition, The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
1969 was one of the golden years for music. There may have been more “classic” albums released 50 years ago than any other year. Just a cursory list from jazz and rock has to include seminal albums by (take a…
Julia Bomfim Trio: Reencontro
Brazilian violinist Julia Bomfim teams up with Eduardo Mercuri on guitar and Kan Yanabe tapping the pandeiro on this upbeat and concise ep of four songs, all in concise form of 3-5 minutes. The fingers of percussion and guitar dance…
BLUE STRINGS…Brad Vickers and his Vestapolitans: Twice As Nice, Wentus Blues Band With Duke Robillard: Too Much Mustard
Brad Vickers sings with a pop styled voice and plays guitar like a juke joint junkie as he rocks the blues with a team of Bill Rankin/dr, Margey Peters/b, Jim Davis/ts, VD King/bs, Dave Keyes/or and Mickey Junior/harp-voc in a…
Kneebody: Chapters
The Kneebody quartet of Ben Wendel/sax, Shane Endsley/tp, Adam Benjamin/key and Nate Wood/dr (along with guest bassist Kaveh Rastegar) continue their journey of melding together the adventurous sounds of jazz with the feel of indie rock on this latest release.…
Big Star: In Space
Alex Chilton’s time with his band Big Star is chronicled here in this reissue of In Space that includes a bunch of bonus tracks to boot. The 70s band had Chilton with Jon Auer/v-g, Ken Stringfellow/b-key-voc and Jody Stephens/dr-voc as…
EARLY ROCK, POST BOP AND LATE NIGHT COOING FROM AVID…The Shadows: Three Classic Albums Plus, John Handy III: Three Classic Albums Plus, Julie London: Five Classic Albums
Whether you were a fan of rock, vocals or jazz, the early late 50s and 60s were your happy days. Here are three beauts. The Shadows were best known as the group that backed heart throb Cliff Richard, but they…