“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” …before there was rock and roll… there was swing guitar! This paraphrase of the famous Star Wars line shows how far electric guitar has come. Where the guitar used to…
Month: May 2021
Carl Verheyen: Sundial
LA stalwart guitarist and vocalist Carl Verheyen may be best known world wide for his association with the rock group Supertramp, but as this album displays, he can take his ax and blues it or fuse it as well. He…
James Francies: Purest Form
Pianist and arranger James Francies is quietly working on creating a new direction in jazz, melding the best from classic mainstream and bringing in a dash of modern R&B with rich textures and harmonies. His core trio of bassist Burniss…
STILL RAMBLIN’ MEN…The Brothers…March 10, 2020, Madison Square Garden
They can’t be accurately called “The Allman Brothers” anymore since Gregg left us in 2017, but the sound and heartbeat of the remaining band members is felt on this wonderful 4 disc peach jam from 2020 in Madison Square Garden.…
Chris Gill: Between Midnight and Louise
Personal and back porch blues are picked, played and sung by Chris Gill on this collection of various stages of blues. His strings can create light droplets of dew as on “You Never Know” or create dark ominous clouds on…
Thomas Stronen/Ayumi Tanaka/Marthe Lea: Bayou
An intuitive and unorthodox trio is created by pianist Ayumi Tanaka, drummer/percussionist Thomas Stronen and Martha Lea, who switches between clarinet, voice and percussion for this collection of originals plus a traditional Norwegian folk tune. The latter, the title track,…
NEW TENORS…Ryan Devlin: Thoughts On the Matter, Matt Carmichael: Where Will The River Flow
Vintage and new sounds on the tenor sax by a couple of new names No, not THAT Ryan Devlin! This one is the one that I want to hang around, as he plays a tenor sax like he was…
HOT’CHA CHICKS…Sweet Megg & Ricky Alexander: I’m In Love Again, Tatiana Eva-Marie & Terry Waldo: I Double Dare You
Music created about 100 years ago still sounds fresh with these two ladies… Husky voiced Sweet Megg joins with reed man Rickey Alexanders team for a collection of two stepping pre-swing era dandies. The two have fun on a vocal…
Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones: Here To Tell The Tale
Did you ever notice the type of girl in school that she was so “out” that she was “in”? Well, that’s red-spectacle’d Lara Hope, wearing 70s hot pance, a Buck Owens reject top and playing like she invented rockabilly (or…
The Echo Park Project: It’s My NRUT
You get truth in advertising here, as the Echo Park Project subtitles this release “Latin Jazz Octet”. The percussion’s the discussion here, as Carlo Lopez, Joey de Leon and Tomas Martin Lopez dig deep rivulets with congas, timbales, bongos and…