Posts by Jim Hynes

Age has not diminished one bit of Mavis Staples’ passion. On the Ben Harper written and produced We Get By, Staples has delivered her best recording in perhaps fifteen years. It’s the cohesive writing of Harper, his decision to record Mavis with her road band, and terrific engineering that showcases Staples’ classic voice. Oh, and […]

Award-winning guitarist Duke Robillard has garnered two Grammy nominations and countless BMAs in his forty-plus year career. It’s always exciting to learn what project he’ll take on next because he’s anything but predictable. Ear Worms is another installment in this musicologist’s catalog that for simplicity will be labeled “blues” while it could just as easily […]

This past November vocalist, composer and producer Vivian Sessoms released Life, her first full album in ten years, to much acclaim and now the much-anticipated companion, Life II, follows. It’s a jazz-influenced piece that carries elements of R&B, spoken word, and hints of classical. Sessoms is one who likes to push the boundaries and this […]

Canadian singer-songwriter Lucette bears her soul on her sophomore release, Deluxe Hotel Room, produced by Sturgill Simpson. Checking in at a mere 29 minutes, this music is so searing and impactful, the short dose is plenty; it makes its mark. Simpson’s name obviously conjures country,  but Lucette’s sound is more about fusing R&B, pop and […]

Jimmie Vaughan honed his clean, note-driven guitar style with the Fabulous Thunderbirds in the ‘80s and together with his brother Stevie Ray, Robert Cray, and very few others brought a resurgence of blues to FM radio. Of course, Jimmie didn’t stay with that band long. He left to explore his own approach to the blues, […]

We hailed Joanne Shaw Taylor (JST) as “several cuts above the rest” of the blues-rock artists on her previous album, Wild, with Joe Bonamassa’s band. Now the British born and raised, currently Detroit resident, steps up her game again with Reckless Heart. Surely, the blistering guitar attack remains every bit intact, and there are a […]

Great Divides is the fifth album for the Seattle-based alt-country rockers Massy Ferguson (MF), who, for lack of a better reference point, are the Pacific Northwest’s version of the Drive-by Truckers, (DBTs) at least in terms of their aggressive, no-holds-barred guitar-driven attack. You would expect a heavy, dense sound. After all, they take their name […]

These past couple weeks, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival web stories were all about big name headliner acts. Of course, The Rolling Stones were due to play there this year until Mick Jagger had his unexpected surgery. Today’s recap included Bonnie Raitt, The Indigo Girls, Santana and Van Morrison. Yet, aside from the […]

The Memphis-born, Chicago blues legend Johnny Shines is captured here at a live show at Washington  University’s Graham Hall in St. Louis In 1973. The recording, now titled The Blues Came Falling Down was overseen by Leroy Jodie Pierson, founder of the legendary label Nighthawk Records, but was never issued until now. The liners and […]

Don’t let the name fool you. The Seattle-based Barrett Martin Group (BMG)is not a law firm or a real estate office. Of course, it’s not, but the staid nature of the name, unfortunately, conjures up those boring references when the music is anything but. It’s demonstrative, thrilling, exotic, and eminently accessible. Barrett Martin is a […]

Mention The Last Poets to most people and the likely responses are “You mean that group from the ‘70s?” or “Yeah, they were part of that whole spoken word thing back then with Gil Scott-Heron.” Both responses are reasonable, but many don’t realize that The Last Poets released their first album in more than twenty […]

Southern Avenue returns with their highly anticipated second album, having become a popular act at festivals worldwide since their self-tilted 2017 Stax release, which was honored with a Blues Music Award for “Best Emerging Artist Album.” On Keep On the young quartet brings a refreshing approach to soul/blues/R&B for these contemporary times. They’ve got diverse […]

The robust vocalist Billy Brandt sings about his adopted city, Seattle, on City Noir, his third CD. Using the film noir genre as a backdrop, he fashions an album of jazz, blues, and soul as he sings of love, loss, and possibility. Brandt is a smoother version of Tom Waits, but perhaps with similar sensibilities. […]

You’re probably tiring of the “resurgence of jazz,” “jazz now in the hands of creative, young talents,” and phrases that try to capture the excitement of what jazz is right now. Surely, though, the beat must go on. You may have already seen vibraphonist  Joel Ross’s name adorning such projects as the widely acclaimed Makaya […]

The Philadelphia Heritage Art Ensemble (PHAE) was co-founded by current contributor trumpeter Fred Adams who composed four the seven tunes here. The others are from influential Philadelphia jazz artists Lee Morgan and Hank Mobley. The PHAE  on Crossing the Bridge 2 is a seven-eight piece collective where  Fred Adams is joined by the late Kool […]

Little Steven created a stir with his 2017 Soulfire release, followed by last year’s 3-CD live version.  This momentum, and this strong 14-piece band, were primed to do more and have now delivered Van Zandt’s first album of new material in 20 years with Summer of Sorcery. Like those efforts, this is written, arranged, and […]

The photo on the back of the jacket provides a strong indication of what this collaboration between Rhiannon Giddens and Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi sounds like. The two are encircled by an array of string instruments and various types of frame drums; three different types of banjoes, for example. The drums trace to Italy, Morocco, […]

When Resonance Records undertakes a project, they persist even if it takes seven years as did in this case from unearthing yet more work from iconic jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery. Montgomery is one of the mainstays for the label’s efforts to release unissued archival jazz. This is the label’s sixth Montgomery collection, a 2CD, 2LP […]

Colorado-born, Los Angeles-based neo-folkie singer/songwriter Patrick Park is not prolific but has now made seven records since his debut in 2003. As he did on his most recent Love Like Swords, he once again, five years later, on Here/Gone highlights his voice as the number one instrument. It ebbs and flows throughout this record and he masterfully […]

Buddha and the Blues is the album that New Orleans-based guitarist and singer-songwriter Anders Osborne and producer Chad Cromwell have wanted to make for many years. The album is a showcase for Osborne’s singer-songwriter side as opposed to his aggressive guitar playing that we heard when he was recording for Alligator. And, despite the title, […]