Album Reviews

Hurry Up and Wait, the twelfth album by Minneapolis rockers Soul Asylum, doesn’t tread much new ground, but it is a good representation of frontman Dave Pirner’s vision. The album is sonically similar to the band’s output since its 1992 breakthrough Grave Dancer’s Union, melding rock intensity with sing-along melodies while lacking much of the […]

There’s nobody like David Bromberg, except for maybe Larry Campbell (recent survivor of COVID-19 as you may have read), his producer now for three albums. The two are mutual admirers; both have been guitarists for Dylan. Bromberg says of Campbell, “he’s the only one who understands and knows all these genres I like to play.” […]

The visionary South African pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini makes his Blue Note Records debut, Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds, an expansive album anchored by Makhathini’s expressive, McCoy Tyner inspired piano in modal style in which lyrical, plaintive horns mingle with percussion, vocal shouts and urgent lyrics. He’s the first South African artist […]

Prior to Stuff I Heard, most of us thought of composer/multi-instrumentalist/bandleader/sideman Troy Roberts as all those descriptors, except multi-instrumentalist, pegging him as a saxophonist. On this effort he often layers his three saxophones (alto, soprano, tenor) in various combinations but also plays acoustic and electric bass, being accompanied only by his long-time drummer Jimmy MacBride. […]

The Strokes have released their long-anticipated sixth album The New Abnormal through Cult and RCA records. Featuring the same lineup as their acclaimed debut and production by Rick Rubin, the album is a continuation of the recent direction they have taken; a more combined sound versus each band member contributing parts that add to the […]

The Oakland based Once and Future Band’s newest release Deleted Scenes combines their love of larger than life psychedelic pop, progressive influences and overall 70’s aesthetic in throwback fashion.  The group’s love of David Bowie, ELO and The Beatles (especially the Paul McCartney tunes) is immediately evident from the first notes of opener “Andromeda”. The […]

It’s been over years fifty now since we lost Billy Strayhorn, one of the most important composers of the twentieth century and yet his compositions keep appearing on so many recordings this writer has covered lately, some on these pages and some on others. Philadelphia-born pianist and composer John Di Martino is a 45-year career […]

As many times as Bruce Springsteen saw Bob Dylan’s name evoked in early reviews of Greetings From Asbury Park, he must have felt a combination of pride and frustration. Pride to be name-checked alongside what was essentially the best songwriter to come around in generations, and frustration to be reminded constantly about the impossibly high […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Better Hurry Up, the new album from roots rocker Caleb Caudle, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Satin Nickel is a band from New York that began as a collaboration between Samantha Aneson (vocals, guitar, banjo) and Morgan Hollingsworth (guitar, vocals, mandolin), who explored it as an intersection of Americana and folk. You can hear the Americana and folk influences on their new album Shadow of Doubt, but there are many more […]

The opening track, “Home Again to You,” a worthy and infectious opening to Jono Manson’s Silver Moon certainly sounds like Steve Earle but it’s not necessarily reflective of the rest of the album which goes in several directions and involves a practically unrivaled cast of roots musicians. Manson is a veteran who’s been laying down […]

Saxophonist Wayne Escoffery is best known for his robust, muscular tenor tone through his decade-long work with Tom Harrell and his long run in the Mingus Dynasty Big Band as well as over a dozen albums as a leader on various labels since 2001. Humble Warrior is his debut for Smoke Session Records. He previously […]

Released roughly a year after the very milestone its subtitle commemorates, Trouble No More: 50th Anniversary Collection spans the arc of The Allman Brothers Band’s near half-century career. Producers Bill Stevenson, John Lynskey and Kirk West clearly took great pains to touch all the necessary bases on a compendium available as five-CDs, ten vinyl LPs […]

Watkins Family Hour is an acclaimed musical collective featuring Grammy Award-winning siblings Sara and Sean Watkins who are releasing their first album in five years, the aptly titled Brother Sister. The siblings wrote together with the Family Hour in mind for the first time, retaining their unique familial creative partnership while still harnessing the energy […]

Heaven To A Tortured Mind, the fourth studio album by Yves Tumor, is a uniquely intricate journey through the mind of the artist. Tumor is continuously updating and maturing in his songwriting and the album serves as a perfect canvas to create on. Co-produced in part by Tumor the album is an extremely cerebral approach […]

Open the inside jacket and there is an emblazoned quote from Frank Zappa that reads, “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” Just the use of Zappa’s name suggests that this is highly imaginative music. These are not songs one associate with sophisticated jazz arrangements rendered by configurations stretching form quartets to septets. […]

Vocalist and composer Thana Alexa has released her latest album, ONA. Throughout ONA, which is the word for “she” in her family’s native Croatian language, Alexa explores through eight unique original compositions and two new arrangements, the complex theme of what it means to be a woman. The tracks are at once deeply personal, in part reflecting Alexa’s Croatian-American […]

Most of us think of Ella Fitzgerald singing in front of a big band or orchestra, be it Chick Webb, Duke Ellington or Count Basie. Yes, there are many smaller combo recordings too. Yet, perhaps the best way to appreciate the amazing quality of her vocals is to hear her accompanied only by a pianist. […]

This writer witnessed the extraordinary pianist/vocalist Kandace Springs perform some of these songs in her exquisite set at last year’s Newport Jazz Festival so this kind of album is highly anticipated, at least in these quarters. The Women Who Raised Me features songs associated with, in order of the album sequence – Diana Krall, Ella […]

“I Wanna Wake Up Now,” the first track off Painted Horses’ new EP, A Heart Like Mine, begins as if I just went to grab beers for friends and joined back in mid-conversation. I was a dreamer, singer-songwriter Denys Kozakis confesses in his affable and sonorous timbre. We all can relate: pop open the Sierra […]