Play This!
Play This! is a platform to share your prized musical discoveries (past or present) with your fellow readers. Recommend a favorite song, album, or performance here.
Rigmor Gustafsson: Calling You
by Jerome Wilson
"Calling You" is a song introduced in the 1987 comedy, Bagdad Cafe. With its floating melody and evocative lyrics, the song is haunting and memorable no matter who performs it. Jevetta Steele sings it beautifully in the movie itself, and it has been covered by the likes of Jeff Buckley and Celine Dion. The most remarkable version, however, may be the one Swedish vocalist Rigmor Gustafsson does on her album, Calling You (ACT, 2010). Gustafsson is accompanied here ...
Continue ReadingGianni Coscia: Sigla 1950
by Ludovico Granvassu
If Gianni Coscia were Korean, he would have been declared a “Human Cultural Asset," the title bestowed upon individuals recognized for their mastery and role in preserving national culture. But he's not Korean, so he may be more accurately described as an Italian living national treasure--a poet laureate trapped in the body of an accordionist. After a lifetime spent giving a jazz inflection to regional and popular Italian musical traditions, he has--at 94--released his first solo album, La ...
Continue ReadingIan Torres: The Legend Of The Prince Of Darkness?
by Artur Moral
Trying to describe the nature of Ian Torres' latest work, Comprovisation (Self Produced, 2025), with a single word, it would be intriguing. Presented on November 20, 2025 at the Fulton Street Collective in Chicago, the new album mixes spontaneous creation, unwritten composition and studio work. Here, radically acoustic timbres--tenor sax, trombone, drums and his own trumpet--meet the densely electronic sonorities of various synthesizers and drum samplers, utilized from the perspective of a carefully crafted contemporary avant-garde. To be sure, the ...
Continue ReadingScary Pockets & Frankfurt Radio Big Band: Sweet Child O' Mine
by Geno Thackara
Take a quirky group that specializes in cleverly funkified pop and rock covers with a rotation of top-shelf guest stars. On top of the novelty and fun factor, what's a nice way to elevate the recipe another step? Sharing the live experience with a big brassy band may be their best answer to date. ...
Continue ReadingTheo Travis: The Relegation of Pluto
by Geno Thackara
If Theo Travis's Double Talk has a particular strong suit, it's quadruple talk. They excel at moody atmospheres (see the odd guest appearance by Robert Fripp), but are just as happy to roll through a flat-out fusion jam--the kind that even makes it worth putting up with some mid-aughts video quality. ...
Continue ReadingSaha Gnawa: Bacha Hamou
by Ludovico Granvassu
Even though Saha Gnawa is co-lead by Moroccan master musician Maâlem Abdellah Ben Jaafer--genuine Gnawa royalty--the project was actually born in Brooklyn, sparked by his collaboration with drummer Daniel Freedman and growing from late-night sessions into a full-fledged band. Their self-titled debut includes notable guests, among them Donny McCaslin and, on this track, “Bacha Hamou," Nels Cline. Not to mention a power line up which also includes Gilad Hekselman & Guilherme Monteiro on guitars and Jason Lindner on keyboards.
Continue ReadingDon Was & the Pan-Detroit Ensemble: Nubian Lady
by Ludovico Granvassu
Don Was' Groove in the Face of Adversity (Mack Avenue Records) is both a celebration of friendship and positivity in challenging times, and a heartfelt love letter to his hometown. Sneaking out from behind the Blue Note presidential desk for a moment, Was slips back behind the upright bass to shine a light on Detroit's vibrant--yet too often under-recognized--jazz scene, as embodied by the circle of long-time friends and collaborators performing under the banner of the Pan-Detroit Ensemble.
Continue ReadingLuca Curcio: Fisk
by Ludovico Granvassu
You know you're in for a good day when extraordinary music lands in your headphones completely out of the blue. That's how I stumbled upon the remarkable debut album by bassist Luca Curcio, Bomba (Boomslang Records), through a chain of insignificant coincidences.What struck me most is the ease with which his Italo-Scandinavian quintet--Erik Kimestad (trumpet), Sölvi Kolbeinsson (alto saxophone), Francesco Bigoni (tenor saxophone), and Simon Olderskog Albertsen (drums)--manages to sound both deeply rooted in the tradition and strikingly ...
Continue ReadingOddjob: Baby Bop
by Ludovico Granvassu
2025 marks 28 years of adventurous music-making for Oddjob, the ever-inventive quintet featuring Per “Ruskträsk" Johansson (saxophone, bass clarinet, flute), Goran Kajfeš (trumpet), Daniel Karlsson (piano, organ, Moog synth), Lars Skoglund (drums, vibraphone), and Viktor Skokic (bass).Though each member has built a thriving solo career, the five Swedes make sure their creative trajectories keep intersecting in Oddjob, continuing to release remarkable albums very much on their own terms. “Baby Bop," from Atlas (Koyo Records), is a perfect example--with ...
Continue ReadingBanned From Utopia: Tink Walks Amok / Thirteen
by Mike Jacobs
The late Frank Zappa was known for, among many other things, having some virtuosic touring bands. Even the bandleader's demise wasn't enough to break the bond of many members of his various touring ensembles, who formed “The Band From Utopia" in 1994, just after the maestro's passing. Later re-monickered “Banned From Utopia," the group recorded So Yuh Don't Like Modern Art (Favored Nations, 2002), which featured a smattering of Zappa-esque original tunes alongside a handful of retooled--and notoriously challenging--Zappa classics. ...
Continue Reading
