Author: George W. Harris

Since making his name with Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler has decided to put out a catalogue of music that emphasizes the art of the guitar in a variety of settings. This two disc set might be the best one yet,…

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The way Miles Davis related the story was that he realized in the mid sixties that at his concerts the audiences were getting a bit older and long in the tooth. He couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t getting the…

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Wanna get on the fast track to understand various styles and genres of jazz? These 2 cd sets put out by Sony cover everything from mainstream to fusion with a bit of smooth in between. The great factor of these sets…

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I realize that Stan Getz receives all of the accolades for bringing bossa nova from Brazil to America, but there are those “conspiracy theorists” that state that actually Bud Shank and Herbie Mann beat Getz to the punch. Here are…

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Iro Haarla leads an intriguing and semi free band as she also plays piano and chen, sort of an Oriental harpsichord, along with Verneri Pohjola/tp, Jari Hongisto/tb, Kari ts-fl, Ulf Krokfors/b and Markku Ounaskari/dr. The band mixes  the flexibility of…

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I really want to like this record. The idea of producer/arranger Mark Masters to put together a jazz ensemble dedicated to the music of the highly creative and influential jazz-rock group Steely Dan was a stroke of genius. The band…

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Way back in 1973, guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin surprised both their sets of fans by collaborating on a feeding frenzy of frenetic fret fusion by collaborating on Love, Devotion and Surrender, and album of searing guitar solos that…

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You can make fun of the “Awesome” 80s (as well as the “Have a Great Day” late 70s) all you want, but the fact  is that they produced a couple of genres that surprisingly stand up pretty darned well against…

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