This Week in Music, 1983 (Revisited)
Sean MurphyI don't know what you were up to but I was partying like it was 1983. Due to the miracles of technology, we can see precisely how I was living,…
50 Albums You May Not Know…But Need To Own: Part Three
30. Santana: Caravanserai Abraxas gets most of the recognition, even though Santana III is better. (The less said about Supernatural, the better.) Yet not enough people name-check Caravanserai, which is…
Never One for Striped Trousers: Talking Shop with Steve Howe
Rock gods typically fall into two distinct camps: the ones who live off heroic deeds of yesteryear and the ones who plug along, pushing themselves because they can’t live any…
50 Albums You May Not Know…But Need To Own: Part Two
40. Aram Bajakian: There Were Flowers Also in Hell Who is Aram Bajakian? He’s been on the road with both Lou Reed (RIP) and Diana Krall. Let me repeat that:…
50 Albums You May Not Know…But Need To Own: Part One
NO SELF-RESPECTING writer should ever undertake the process of making a list lightly. As we all know, lists are ultimately trivial, subjective and practically a provocation inviting rebuttals, questions and…
Ornette Coleman and The First Day of the Rest of My Life
Topic: The Album You'd Give Anything To Hear Again for The First Time I still remember everything about it. Fall semester, senior year. The more I learned at college, the…
All Hail Me: The Golden Goddesses of Veruca Salt (Never Say Never Edition!)
So...I just purchased my ticket to see Veruca Salt, in July. And this isn't the fractured version of the band that saw Louise Post-led incarnation that carried on after Nina…
Beauty is a Rare Thing: Celebrating International Jazz Day (Revisited)
All hope is not lost. At least enough people are still making --and listening to-- jazz that we can even attempt to initiate what hopefully becomes an ongoing occasion. In…
The Song Remains The Same or, The Agony of Influence (Revisited)
Two thoughts from T.S. Eliot: April is the cruelest month... Whatever. Good poets borrow; great poets steal. Now we're talking. And here is where it gets interesting: debate rages (well,…
Ladies and Gentlemen: Max Roach & Co.
The ocean is not this deep. Outer space is not this vast. Reality is not this real. Max Roach and M'Boom. This is music. This is life. This is genius.…