Posts by Jim Hynes

You’ve seen many collaborations between bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade on these pages, typically backing Danish saxophonist Benjamin Koppel. The two have long collaborated with pianist Edward Simon, going back to groups involving saxophonist David Binney and guitarist Adam Rogers three decades ago. Recently, this trio appeared to wide acclaim along with a string […]

When the legendary pianist and composer NEA Jazz Master Andrew Hill’s live A Beautiful Day was issued in 2002, he had long left Blue Note in 1969. The intervening years were sketchy, with releases on European labels and long hiatuses to care for his ailing wife on the West Coast. In the late ‘90s, Hill […]

Beth Lee has one of those voices that one never tires of, a mix of charm, sensuality, and defiance, belting out her original hook-laden songs. You’ve likely heard her before as the lead singer of The Breakups or through her solo work beginning with 2008’s Cassette Tapes & Cash Money to the predecessor for this […]

Although the title indeed suggests dark songs and plenty of melancholy, singer-songwriter Grayson Capps injects his personality into these classic songs on Heartbreak, Misery, and Death, and the listen may brighten your day. That’s due to his astute selection of songs and rough-hewn, enjoyable baritone vocals. The Alabama-bred Capps teams with his longtime guitarist, Corky Hughes, to […]

It seems like we were just getting to know the young spiritual jazz force Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few, who are calling it quits after an eight-year run and three albums. Their awareness level has never been higher, as evidenced by a full-length piece in The New York Times earlier this month. Yet saxophonist […]

Little Big III is pianist/composer Aaron Parks’s sixth album as a leader and his second for Blue Note. Between his groundbreaking 2008 Blue Note debut, Invisible Cinema, Parks has issued a solo piano, two trios, and two albums with his Little Big quartet.  Parks cut his chops with Terence Blanchard in the early 2000s and made a […]

Folk and blues legend Eric Bibb has racked up numerous BMA Awards and Grammy nominations over five decades and now 33 albums. His input is consistently strong, yet In The Real World stands with his best because it’s one of the few with all original material, and it has perhaps the most pristine production of any […]

Roy Hargrove was the most influential post-Miles Davis trumpeter and one of the most important mentors to many of today’s contemporary jazz artists. Hargrove left us way too soon at the age of 49, yet he was massively prolific, which is why archivists are doing everything possible to unearth his unheard recordings. The album is […]

In the early ‘80s, The dB’s mixed pop-rock with punk and dashes of psychedelia and  experimentation to spawn a new sub-genre called ‘jangle pop.’ Their influential sound was later adopted in some ways by R.E.M., The Bangles, The Smithereens, and The Replacements, among many others. In general and less specific terms, let’s say that The […]

Beyond the bizarre wardrobe and hairstyles, beyond his fuzzed-out, distorted blues, Fantastic Negrito is a champion of blues traditions and one of its most passionate performers. You will undoubtedly concur if you were fortunate to catch his rendition of the Reverend Gary Davis’s “Samson and Delilah” on the Americana Music Awards online airing. His was by far […]

Saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins’ multi-media work, Blues Blood, marries nostalgia with concepts of ancestry, all with a keen awareness of Black struggles and the need for peaceful reflection. At times, Blues Blood seems like the work of a different artist, but it’s another stunning example of Wilkins’ creative approach. This time, his artistic vision taps into […]

All Species Parade is a jazz album, and it may well be the versatile Jenny Scheinman’s best across a multi-genre career that now counts eleven. It’s her first in six years since her acclaimed co-led Parlour Game with Allison Miller. Scheinman had built most of her reputation while based in New York but returned to […]

Seldom has an album come with more anticipation given young jazz vocalist Samara Joy’s Grammy win as Best New Artist in 2023.  Arguably, much of Joy’s meteoric rise was attributable to the traditionalists who had found their new Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughn. Joy burst out with a natural affinity for singing jazz standards to […]

In the mid-2010s, slide guitar-wielding blues rocker Michelle Malone was as raucous as any on the scene. Yet, Malone has always had the sweeter singer-songwriter, country soul side, too, as definitively evidenced in her nostalgic, acoustic 1977, released in 2022, and again with the two volumes of Fan Favorites, Unplugged that followed a year later. The Atlanta-based Malone has […]

There is an off-the-cuff nature to several of Walter Smith III’s album titles – “casual,” “return to casual,” and now this latest one – “Three of us are from Houston, and Reuben is not.”  Yet, Smith and his bandmates mostly play with an enthusiasm that belies any such notion. On this outing, beyond paying homage to his hometown, he convenes […]

Breakup albums are so common among singer-songwriter types that it’s fair to call them a genre staple. While several jazz vocal albums may be in that same category, it is rare to find an instrumental jazz album wholly devoted to separation and loss. Yet, saxophonist Wayne Escoffery released Alone a few weeks ago, and now […]

It seems like hyperbole to suggest that the trio of electric guitarist Bill Frisell, pipe organist Kit Downes, and drummer Andrew Cyrille have opened up a whole new sonic vista, but Breaking the Shell is truly unique. Rarely has any album been more meditative, and rarely, if ever, has this configuration of instruments been on record.  It takes a daring […]

When Bettye LaVette proclaimed Randall Bramblett “the best writer I have heard in thirty years” on the fully Bramblett-penned, Grammy-nominated LaVette!, she likely turned more than a few heads and had the uninformed rushing to their favorite streaming platform to find out just who Randall Bramblett was and is. While he is a certifiable Southern […]

Mike Stern’s Echoes and Other Songs is a celebratory toast to overcoming adversity. While it doesn’t necessarily mark new ground in fusion, it is significant for several reasons. Despite career-threatening injuries in 2016, where Stern broke both arms and still deals with lasting nerve damage, he has continued to play live. Yet this is a […]

It’s been six years since we’ve heard from literate and poetic singer-songwriter Kevin Gordon. His conquering throat cancer explains the longer-than-usual hiatus. These kinds of interrupted albums are challenging, especially knowing the vocal tracks will come later. Still, Gordon and his longtime producer, Joe V. McMahon, pull this off with aplomb, with Gordon’s vocals solid […]