new release Archive
18 Mar 2026
Album Review: Robbin Kapsalis – The Blues is in the House
Blues singer Robbin Kapsalis is from Chicago’s South Side, with a career that has taken her from Atlanta to D.C. and beyond. But to record The Blues is in the […]
12 Mar 2026
A conversation with Tikiyaki Orchestra’s Jim Bacchi
Jim Bacchi is the founder and leader of exotica ensemble the Tikiyaki Orchestra. As with my Randy Wong conversation, I interviewed Bacchi in connection with a feature I wrote for […]
11 Mar 2026
A Conversation with Waitiki 7’s Randy Wong (Part 2 of 2)
Continued from Part One… From my perspective as a listener, exotica is a quintessentially American form because it plunders from a lot of different things. And what could be more […]
10 Mar 2026
A Conversation with Waitiki 7’s Randy Wong (Part 1 of 2)
Randy Wong is the founder and leader of exotica ensemble the Waitiki 7. The group recently released two new albums: Caves of the Sea and Enchantment Under the Kiawe Tree. […]
06 Mar 2026
Box Set Review Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here 50: Deluxe Edition (Part 2 of 2)
Continued from Part One… LP4: Live at Wembley 1974 In June 1974 – more than a year before Wish You Were Here was released, and in fact more than six […]
04 Mar 2026
Hundred-word Reviews for March 2026: Archival
This roundup of new(ish) archival releases features five albums, all available on good ol’ back-to-vinyl. Jeffrey Runnings – Piqued Though the label is bandied about with reckless abandon, Lo-fi is […]
03 Mar 2026
Hundred-word Reviews for March 2026: New Releases
This time around it’s an assortment of riches in a variety of styles, all with my enthusiastic recommendation. Salt Collective – A Brief History of Blindness One of the most […]
25 Feb 2026
Everybody Digs Bill Evans; Two of Us Talk About Him (Part 2 of 2)
A shorter edit of this conversation appeared previously in The Tonearm. Continued from Part One… In the new set’s liner notes, you assert that LaFaro helped move bass beyond its […]
24 Feb 2026
Everybody Digs Bill Evans; Two of Us Talk About Him (Part 1 of 2)
A shorter edit of this conversation appeared previously in The Tonearm. Bill Evans is one of the most important figures in jazz. While he had more than his share of […]
23 Feb 2026
Book Review: Land of a Thousand Sessions
My first knowing encounter with the writing of Rob Bowman came when I bought a used paperback copy of his 1997 book Soulsville USA. That book was and remains a […]