instrumental Archive
31 Aug 2021
Album Review: Alchemy Sound Project – Afrika Love
Jazz differs from rock in some important, fundamental ways. While there are exceptions, one is the manner in which jazz ensemble tend to be collectives of equals rather than stars […]
20 Aug 2021
Album Review: Lennie Tristano — The Duos Sessions
Strictly speaking, jazz is uncommercial music. Not that the artists eschew the possibility of commercial success; it’s simply that jazz is a specialist genre. From the perspective of sales revenues, […]
05 Aug 2021
Virtuosity on display: Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers
In the classic music idiom, concert violinist Anne Akiko Meyers is the equivalent of a rock star. Debuting onstage when she was only 7 years old, she has gone onto […]
18 Jul 2021
Album Review: Stephan Thelen — Fractal Guitar 2
Stephan Thelen is a modern classical composer; he has been commissioned by Kronos Quartet to write a piece. His creative worldview encompasses a wide vision, as this new release demonstrates. […]
16 Jul 2021
Album Review: True Loves — Sunday Afternoon
If you have an appreciation for – heck, even an awareness of – the sort of kinetic soul jazz that formed the musical component of late ‘60s and early ‘70s […]
14 Jul 2021
Album Review: WRD — The Hit
Far more often than not, the term supergroup is hype. Even when it isn’t use of the word can create unfairly high expectations. The members of Blind Faith understood that, […]
26 Jun 2021
Album Review: Three-Layer Cake – Stove Top
Bassist Mike Watt is one busy guy. He lends his talents and skills ot myriad creative collaborative projects, and here’s another one. Three-Layer Cake is a trio featuring Watt plus […]
25 Jun 2021
Album Review: Humanbeing – Humanbeing
Rossano Baldini has a background in soundtrack work and scoring as well as jazz. This new release takes his music somewhere that’s both consistent with those pursuits and pushing the […]
16 May 2021
Album Review: Scott Helland — Guitarmy of One
I’m very much a fan of spy/detective/crime/noir-style music. I was over the moon when I discovered someone – Derrick Bang – had written a book about it. I was every […]
10 May 2021
Album Reviews: Two featuring Fernando Perdomo
In this post-major-label era when many of the so-called barriers to entry have been swept away, the fact that a recording artist is prolific doesn’t provide a reliable indicator as […]