Yonder Mountain String Band Re-Releasing Debut LP ‘Elevation’ For 20th Anniversary
Falling in the middle of their 2019 fall tour, this September marked the 20th Anniversary of award-winning Colorado bluegrass band, Yonder Mountain String Band’s critically acclaimed debut album, Elevation. Out of print for years and considered by decades-long fans to be the band’s career-defining album, it only seemed natural for YMSB to celebrate this milestone with a 20th-anniversary 180g double vinyl […]
SONG PREMIERE: Nicholas David Lays Into Funky R&B Groove on “I’m Interested”
Nicholas David is excited to bring his original music to listeners. The pull of the American heartland has been ever increasing in recent years, bringing this gifted pianist/singer/songwriter to the point where he can deliver, as he likes to say, “music from the heart for the heart.” Nicholas David is at this point through two […]
33 Years Ago Today – Beastie Boys Release Debut Studio LP & Game Changer ‘Licensed To Ill’ (Watch “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” Video)
‘Ford v Ferrari’ Revs Up the Drama (FILM REVIEW)
Director James Mangold returns with a thrilling car racing drama.
Drummer Ralph Peterson Channels Art Blakey with Gen-Next Big Band of Berklee Players on ‘Listen Up!’ (ALBUM REVIEW))
Jazz will continue to thrive for years because of all the educational opportunities for talented young players. Evidence abounds but one needs to look no further than the exciting projects taking place at Boston’s esteemed Berklee School of Music. For Listen Up!, the sophomore release from Ralph Peterson’s Gen-Next Big Band, and their first studio […]
NO WIN Play First-Ever NYC Concert at Baby’s All Right (PHOTOS)
NO WIN took the stage for their first-ever NYC concert at Baby’s All Right. What’s more, the LA power pop outfit were also breaking in a new drummer, Ryan Moutinho, who more than held his own behind the kit on cuts like “Carbar”. Lead singer/guitarist Danny Nogueiras wasted no time in kickstarting the shredding by […]
Trumpeter/Bandleader Darren Barrett and Esteemed Guests Pay Tribute to the EVI on ‘Mr. Steiner – The EVI Sessions’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
This is the eleventh release from trumpeter Darren Barrett and one his most important ones, calling attention to synthesis guru Nyle Steiner, credited with the invention of the EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument) and its cousin the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), the latter made popular by the late saxophonist Michael Brecker. Nyle Steiner played the EVI […]
Saxophonist Azar Lawrence’s Melding of Modern and Brazilian Jazz Sparkles on Reissue of 1975’s ‘Summer Solstice’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
This writer saw saxophonist Azar Lawrence in L.A.’s famed Catalina Jazz Club about a dozen years ago and it was surely the closest anyone could get to John Coltrane’s playing at the time. Lawrence, of course, is a Coltrane disciple, having issued more than a few albums covering Trane. Yet, most of us first became […]
40 Years Ago Today – Little Feat Release ‘Down On The Farm LP’, Last Studio LP With Lowell George
LP ANNOUNCEMENT/PREMIERE: Saw Black & the Toys Deliver Off-Kilter ‘Christmas in the Background’
With its mix of original songs and abbreviated carols, Saw Black & theToys’ Christmas in the Background due out December 6th returns a sense of magic, mirth, and old-fashioned melancholy to the holidays. It’s an off-kilter Christmas album — the sort of thing you’d only play for your visiting relatives after they’d finished a few cups of […]