jazz Archive
19 Jan 2020
Album Review: Bill Bruford’s Earthworks — Heavenly Bodies: The Expanded Collection
Bill Bruford is a hero in the world of progressive rock. Though it’s something of an oversimplification, the short story on him is that he found drumming for Yes not […]
18 Jan 2020
Justin Ray: Singing and Swinging
Asheville-based trumpeter Justin Ray has been a member of pop singer Michael Bublé’s band for 15 years. After a long string of tours around the world, Ray decided that he’d […]
11 Jan 2020
Album Review: Empire Strikes Brass — Brassterpiece Theatre
Some creative projects are the result of a carefully thought-out plan. Others happen through a special combination of good fortune and the participants’ openness to whatever develops. The latter is […]
05 Jan 2020
Russ Wilson: It’s All About the Music
Russ Wilson is one of the busiest musicians in Western North Carolina. Leading or playing in no less than nine bands, the singer and multi-instrumentalist has still found time to […]
30 Dec 2019
Deliciousness: Frank Zappa’s ‘Hot Rats’ at 50
By the time of the release of Hot Rats, his second solo album, Frank Zappa was well established as an important force in pushing the boundaries of pop music. Not […]
23 Dec 2019
Musoscribe’s Best of 2019: Reissue/archival Releases
2019 was another great year for reissue and archival releases. A few stood out as especially noteworthy; those are listed and briefly described) below. More details (my reviews, interviews … […]
15 Dec 2019
Hundred-word Reviews for December 2019, #3
Here’s the final installment of the year (and the decade!) of my quick, condensed album reviews. Ten titles, 100 words each. Seven are new releases; the remaining three are archival […]
14 Dec 2019
Hundred-word Reviews for December 2019, #2
With the end of 2019 on the horizon, I figure now’s as good a time as any to bring things up to date with another batch of quick reviews. In […]
06 Dec 2019
Free Planet Radio: In Pursuit of Modern Jazz
When Free Planet Radio debuted in 2001, the Asheville-based trio was often described as a world music group. And while by definition that label casts a wide net, it was […]
05 Dec 2019
Holiday Music for 2019
‘Tis the season for holiday music. It’s a genre that often gets a bad rap, for good reason: a lot of it is pretty dire. Though there are classics (like […]