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Tal Wilkenfeld: Cosmic Joke
by Mike Jacobs
Though Australian bass wunderkind Tal Wilkenfeld may have indeed left jazz behind in favor of a more singer/songwriter-type rock approach, the music she put forth on her debut album Transformation (Goldelux Productions, 2007) still leaves an impression and a hope she will one day return to it. Superlative writing and playing from the then 20-year-old and ...
Rory Gallagher: I Wonder Who
by Ian Patterson
The blues was always close to Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher's heart. He covered tunes by Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Melvin Jackson, Otis Rush, Blind Boy Fuller, Rosco Gordon, Bo Carter, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Son House. He also recorded with Muddy Waters, Albert King and Albert Collins. This Muddy Waters song from the million-selling live ...
John McLaughlin with the One Truth Band: Guardian Angels
by Scott Lichtman
John McLaughlin's “Guardian Angels" must be on the ultra-short list of “most iconic jazz/fusion songs clocking in under 1 minute." The song takes us back to the time when experimental fusion artists were exploring jazz/rock, classical and world music. “Guardian Angels" is a nugget of shape-shifting guitar arpeggios and time signatures, unified by L. Shankar's entrancing ...
Brad Mehldau: Maybe As His Skies Are Wide
by Mike Jacobs
Long known for his absolute adventurousness, there isn't much that Brad Mehldau hasn't stylistically encompassed. Still, when the pianist released an exploration of the progressive favorites of his youth,--Jacob's Ladder (Nonesuch, 2022)--the results were like nothing else in his catalog. Among the album's most compelling tracks is the re-envisioning of a single famous melodic line from ...
Giorgi Mikadze Trio: Same Garden
by John Chacona
Your assignment for today is to name the composer of “Same Garden" (no fair looking!). Could it be a Jerome Kern deep cut? A rarity by Cole Porter? Wait! Victor Young, right? All good guesses for this tuneful, 32-bar AABA line, but the prize goes to the sharp-eared listener who named Shota Milorava, a ...
Johnny Smith featuring Stan Getz: Moonlight In Vermont
by Chris May
The last word in glacial serenity, this version of Karl Suessdorf's “Moonlight In Vermont" was, as a single on the Roost label, a bigtime jukebox and radio hit for Johnny Smith and Stan Getz in 1952. At the time both musicians were salaried musicians at NBC radio and TV studios in New York. In all, in ...
Josh White: You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
by Ian Patterson
Josh White could probably have made a career just as a singer, but for his wonderful guitar playing. Good job he refused doctors' advice to have his left hand amputated after a bar fight when he was just 22. An influence on everyone from Peter Seeger to Elvis Presley and Harry Belafonte, and from John Fahey ...
Meshell Ndegeocello: Gatsby
by Scott Lichtman
For 2024, the Grammys introduced a new category for Best Alternative Jazz Album, i.e. a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz with other styles. The first winner is Meshell Ndegeocello for The Omnichord Real Book. While Ndegeocello's pieces span jazz, hip hop, African, folk, and electronica influences, she's also capable of writing beautiful ballads. Have a ...
