Jazz Articles about Josh Smith

About Josh Smith

Album Review

Larry McCray's Heartbreak City, released on Keeping the Blues Alive Records, is steeped in grit, anguish, resilience and hard-won joy. The album reflects the life of a working-class blues man who sharpened his craft in the clubs of Saginaw after shifts on the General Motors assembly line, before touring nationally and eventually across Europe with Albert Collins. Every track carries the emotional weight of decades spent earning success the hard way, drawing deeply from McCray's Arkansas roots while sounding fully ...

Album Review

Jimmy Hall: Ready Now

Read "Ready Now" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
December 3, 2022

Vocalist/musician/songwriter Jimmy Hall has had quite the career for himself. From his days as frontman for Dixie rockers Wet Willie-- remember “Keep On Smilin'"?--to more recently singing with guitar hero Jeff Beck, he's navigated spots on the Allman Family Revival tour as well as commanded the stage on multiple occasions with the latter-day Allman Brothers Band during their final years of annual runs at the Beacon Theater. The Alabama native has always acquitted himself with more than a ...

Album Review

Melbreeze: I Love Paris

Read "I Love Paris" reviewed by Jim Worsley

by Jim Worsley
February 21, 2021

"I Love Paris" declares Melbreeze in song. It “fucking sizzles" she exclaims, adding just a tad of creative expression to the lyrics of Cole Porter. The delightful ambiance of France was the perfect vacation spot (if only in one's mind) to celebrate the unveiling of her tenth—yes, its been that many-- record. Melbreeze has long put the instrumental aspect upfront or on top. Her voice is often heard as another cog in her crafty musical structure. Ah, ...