This month, we have celebrated the vision of King Crimson, with interviews with artists who either played with or were inspired from Robert Fripp. In light of that, we’ve put together a TOP TEN list of modern albums that have…
Month: September 2023
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Diego Figueiredo: My World
One of my favorite contemporary guitarists, Diego Figueredo shows all of his strengths in this mix of solos, duets and small group swing from a Brazilian flavor, teamed with Nilson Matta/b, Duduka Da Fonseca/dr, Helio Alves/p, Nicholas Payton/tp and Ken…
VINYL REVIVAL OF A DESERT ISLAND DISC…Steely Dan: Aja
Perennially listed as one of the Top Ten albums of all time, Steely Dan’s 1977 Aja is a perfect marriage of intelligent rock and tasty jazz. By this time, Steely Dan, like the latter period Beatles, had essentially become a…
CLASSIC BLUES AND JAZZ FROM AVID…Jimmy Reed: Three Classic Albums Plus, Nat “King” Cole: Four Classic Albums Plus
Two iconic legends in their fields get a second look from UK-based AVID One of the most identifiable jazz artists, Jimmy Reed, hit the ground running with his 1959 debut. Teamed with Earl Phillips/dr, Milton Rector/b, Morris Wilkerson/dr and Eddie…
TRIOS…Ember: August In March, Mike Jones Trio: You Three Guys, Dan Pitt Trio: Stages, Doug MacDonald Trio: Edwin Alley, Michael Ragonese: Stracci
These days, trios come in many shapes… Caleb Wheeler Curtis plays the esoteric stritch and reed trumpet as well as “regular” trumpet with bassist noah Garabedian and drummer Vincent Sperrazza for a collection of originals. It’s hard to tell the…
Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet: Emergence
Alex Cole/fl-sax and Carl Michel/g form a chamber jazz team with James Sutter/b, Carolyn Trowbridge/vib, Elaine Barber/harp and Bob Hoffner/pstg on this sublime album of originals and covers. The teams sustains a gentle tension on a pastoral read of John…
Jason Kao Hwang Critical Response: Book of Stories
Violinist and composer Jason Kao Hwang teams up in trio fashion with electric guitarist Anders Nilsson and drummer Michael TA Thompson for five loose originals. It’s hard to tell where the violin starts and guitar ends on extrapolations like “Friends…
Berghall Brothers Big Band: Vol II
I have to take it on faith that, as the notes say on the back, “All instruments, voice, music, recording, mixing & production” are from only Joakim Berghall. He must be able to play everything,as there is a lot of…
Steve Howe, Jon Anderson, Tony Kaye, Alan White: The Music Roots of Yes
Subtitled “Recorded Before The Birth Of Yes” and “Rare Recordings From the Early Years 1963-1970, this two dis set has recordings of the various members of Yes before they became, well, YES! There is almost nothing that gives hints of…
Wave Cage: Even You Can See In The Dark
Consisting of Ryan Garmoe/tp-fh-el, Nolan Schroeder/ts-el, Jarrett Purdy/key-synth and Christopher Jensen/dr, the band Wave Cage mixes pulsating electronic grooves with occasional poetry on the melding of bohemia and funk. The spoken poetry by Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainy is surrounded…