Posts by Jim Hynes

On the rainy, dreary evening of September 25th, those who witnessed Ches Smith and his ten-piece ensemble at Philly’s avant-garde venue, Solar Myth, basked in the bright, colorful visuals and sonics of spirited vocal chanting, explosive percussion, and improvised jazz and couldn’t help but be touched by the engaging, contagious smiles from the performers. It […]

Unlike the Detroit-centered Thad Jones, Donald Byrd, and Elvin Jones albums that we have covered as part of the five-part The Third Man/Blue Note partnership, the relatively unheralded Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet’s second album, Multidirection, was recorded in Detroit. For whatever reasons, this group, abbreviated to CJQ, comprised of native Detroiters, (the […]

While most of today’s fans know Susan Tedeschi as the vocalist and guitarist in The Tedeschi Trucks Band, Tedeschi exploded seemingly out of nowhere (Boston) to the blues world 25 years ago.  As they say, timing can often be the key to success and Tedeschi’s powerful half Bonnie Raitt/half Janis Joplin vocals coupled with her […]

You’ve seen the names of Danish altoist Benjamin Koppel and his American mates, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade grace many jazz albums and, in Blade’s case, other genres as well. The three have been together as the chordless trio, dubbed the KCB Collective, for a decade now, and while they appeared as a […]

Late in 2022, we covered the unearthed discovery, Elvin Jones’ Revival: Live at Pookie’s Pub, recorded in 1967 when Jones led a quartet that featured saxophonist Joe Farrell. In subsequent years Jones often featured a chordless trio that featured either Farrell, Dave Liebman, or Frank Foster. Yet, on this re-issue, Genesis, the third installment in […]

In the footsteps of Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore, we now have a new Irish singer/songwriter/guitarist for this generation, Dom Martin. Well, only partially. Unlike those guitar heroes, Martin has principally made his mark as an acoustic guitarist. Martin has won The UK Blues Award for Acoustic Act of the Year for three consecutive years, […]

Hearing the husband-and-wife roots team of Buddy and Julie Miller is for most Americana fans is like hearing the comforting voices of long-known friends. Yet, before diving into their latest offering, In the Throes, we need to take issue with the phrase in the advance publicity – “just their fourth album together in 40 years […]

When the Count Basie Orchestra (CBO) comes to mind, so too do the names of blues singers and shouters Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Williams, Ray Charles, Helen Humes, the immortal Billie Holiday and many more.  Arguably this lineup of contemporary greats is as impressive in this merging of traditional blues and swinging jazz, Basie Swing […]

Following the success of 2021’s Promises with Floating Points (aka Sam Shepard) and the London Symphony Orchestra, there’s been a resurgence of interest in the late Pharaoh Sanders, who unexpectedly passed just shy of a year ago. Until now, the iconic saxophonist’s years following the expiration of his contract with Impulse! in 1973 are not […]

Few individuals have led three different talented lives as the octogenarian jazz trumpeter Eddie Henderson, a practicing physician, a championship figure skater earlier in life, and a five-decade-plus career in jazz that began under the tutelage of Louis Armstrong. We will learn more from the pending documentary Dr. Eddie Henderson: Uncommon Genius due on PBS […]

There are a series of firsts for veteran saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and multiple Grammy Award-winning Joshua Redman’s Where Are We as it’s his debut for Blue Note Records, his first album built around a vocalist, the first time he’s ever written lyrics, and the first time the trio that backs him had ever played together. […]

Kurt Elling is the epitome of Wayne Shorter’s definition of jazz – “I Dare You.”  Elling could have easily settled into his Grammy-winning crooner mode for his 2010 Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane. Instead, he kept searching and won another Grammy for his highly creative avant vocal […]

Trumpeter/composer/bandleader/educator Terell Stafford named his album with Victor Lewis’ “Between Two Worlds” but if we were to examine that notion Stafford lives in at least in four different “worlds.” He leads the jazz program at Temple University, is a valued sideman with Charles McPherson as well as his many years with Bobby Watson, he’s a […]

The forward-pushing saxophonist James Brandon Lewis also has a penchant for looking back as we learned with his 2021 poll sweeping Jesup Wagon, which honored the work of George Washington Carver. Admitting that his Red Lily Quintet has a mission statement of sorts to honor history and science, Lewis now follows up with his beloved […]

Singer/songwriter/activist/multi-instrumentalist Allison Russell delivered a heart-wrenching, cathartic, honest, and ultimately triumphant account of her own abusive upbringing on the widely acclaimed 2021 Outside Child, her first solo album. The impact of such, beyond all kinds of honors, rocketed Russell into the limelight, with television appearances, sold-out shows, and high-profile festival appearances. She has become an […]

By now, there may still be a few folks who do not realize that Fleetwood Mac began as a blues band, part of the lineage of John Mayall’s Blues Breakers that at one time included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, and other soon-to-be-famous British guitarists. What many do not realize is that the units […]

In a career that embraces soul, psychedelia, pop, country, and rock Joan Osborne has never sounded as pensive and intent on imparting her hard-earned wisdom as she does on Nobody Owns You. This is a different side of Osborne than we heard with Trigger Hippy or alongside surviving members of The Grateful Dead. This is […]

To hear Coco Montoya’s aching, spiraling guitar solos, the unaware would never guess that Montoya began his blues career as a drummer for the late Albert Collins. Yet, the self-taught, left-handed Montoya absorbed his tutelage from Collins and later from John Mayall before embarking on his solo career. Writing on the Wall is his eleventh […]

Soul and bluesman Johnny Rawls, one of the last of the original deep soul singers, is back where he belongs, returning to Catfood Records after a rather inexplicable six-year absence. From 2008 through 2017 Rawls issued a strong string of eight albums on the label. Three of them made Downbeat magazine’s Critics Choice Best of the […]

Arguably there is no more storied jazz venue than NYC’s Village Vanguard, yet pianist and composer Kris Davis is one of only four women leaders to have recorded at the famed venue, along with Geri Allen, Shirley Horn and Junko Onishi.  Davis’ recording comes at the end of a one-week residency when Davis tried to […]