Articles by Michael A. Edwards

Ernest Ranglin: Surfin'

by Michael A. Edwards
June 22, 2005

Nothing new can be said about the genius of Ernest Ranglin and the breadth of his influence on modern guitar. He's been around since the heyday of Kingston club life with combos like the Eric Deans Orchestra, through to the studio period and the countless hits he both played on and arranged (largely without credit), and on to American neo-ska outfits like Rancid that cite him as an influence. He's also joined in on reggae-jazz outings with longtime companion Monty ...

St. Lucia Jazz 2005

by Michael A. Edwards
May 25, 2005

The rain that I left at home had followed me across the Caribbean to the small, volcanic isle of St. Lucia, temporarily dampening my first evening there. with flight delays and document problems, I barely had time to chuck my bags and board a shuttle tothe evening's first event, a doubler bill at the Gaiety Theatre in the northwestern suburb of Rodney Bay.But inside the Gaiety's well-laid out confines, the Ravi Coltrane Quartet quickly made the weather irrelevant. Accompanied ...

Ravi Coltrane: In Flux

by Michael A. Edwards
April 2, 2005

Neither overly-swayed by or unrealistically-dismissive of his father's legacy, Ravi Coltrane has focused on putting out solid, challenging jazz in the modal and modern bop forms. His latest, a quartet recording, continues that line and offers palpable improvements both in his playing and compositional ideas. Each member contributes to In Flux, and there is a spirited re-working of Wayne Shorter's “United" with the leader on soprano saxophone. Neither harsh, nor biting, he deftly twists shorter and longer phrases ...

Two Siberians: Out of Nowhere

by Michael A. Edwards
February 20, 2005

One of the great wonders of modern music is how seemingly disparate genres be assimilated into and reflect each other, with the artist oftentimes unaware.

Out of Nowhere , the brisk and largely high-spirited album from from electric violinist Artyom Yakushenko and Yuri Matveyev, billed as Two Siberians, is a fusion record in the truest--and best--sense. Both the opening “Radio Outpost" and a later track, “Vodka Diaries" (featuring guests Don Byron and Richard Bona), have traces of Jamaican dancehall in ...