On his latest album, New Orleans, Clarence Bucaro revisits a project he shelved prior to releasing 2008′s ’Til Spring. Backed by an all-star ensemble, including sousaphonist Kirk Joseph and guitarist Anders Osborne, with whom Bucaro also shares production credits, this ten-song suite depicts the journeyman’s love affair with the Crescent City. Steeped in blue-eyed soul, [...]
Tag Archives: Piano
Mike Hood, Hocus Pocus (STR Digital)
November 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Pianist Mike Hood knows how to please a crowd during his regular gigs at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, as long as the patrons are blues fans. “I take requests, but I don’t play Elton John and I don’t play Billy Joel,” Hood notes. Hocus Pocus, Hood’s solid debut, sticks to that script. He opens with “Black [...]
Lawrence Sieberth, Arkipelago, (Musik Blöc)
October 1, 2009 – 12:14 am
On his latest release, pianist, composer and synth sorcerer Lawrence Sieberth embarks on an excursion deep into the realm of ambient, avant-garde jazz. Unlike his previous album, New New Orleans, a solo endeavor focused solely on the aesthetic qualities of the “New Orleans piano,” Arkipelago’s compositions aim to deconstruct all logocentric preconceptions associated with the [...]
Henry Gray and the Cats, Times are Gettin’ Hard (Lucky Cat)
October 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Scotlandville blues piano legend Henry Gray is one of those rare musicians—in the blues field they can be counted on one hand— whose style is instantly recognizable. Case in point is the intro on opening track “Trouble, Trouble” from his latest album, Times Are Gettin’ Hard. Now pushing 85—35 years ago the UK blues press [...]
Marcus Roberts, New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1 (J-Master)
June 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Blind piano prodigy, Wynton Marsalis protégé and staunch traditionalist Marcus Roberts returns with his first album in eight years, New Orleans Meets Harlem, Vol. 1. He is back with his longtime trio, New Orleans bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Jason Marsalis, reinterpreting the sounds that led from saloons of Storyville to the streets of the [...]
Paul Bley, About Time (Justin Time)
September 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
Paul Bley says the subject of his new album is time. I take him at his word. On About Time the 75-year-old jazz pianist offers two solo improvisations: the 33-minute title track followed by a 10-minute “encore.” When we think of time in music, it’s the meter and not the length that matters. Music marks [...]
Various Artists, City of Dreams (Rounder)
December 1, 2007 – 12:01 am
If you’ve been listening to New Orleans music during the past 25 years, chances are your collection contains more than one Rounder CD/LP. From the mid-1980s to the end of the century, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based label released more New Orleans music than any other record company—over 100 albums. This four-disc, 48-track set documents just [...]
Janice Medlock: Confessions of a Piano Bar Star
October 1, 1989 – 12:01 am
“It’s a life,” declared Janice Medlock emphatically. “It’s more than just a profession—more than music even—it’s a way of life.” The topic at hand was piano bars—specifically what it is like to be a piano bar performer. Medlock, who plays at the Monteleone Hotel’s Carousel Lounge Wednesdays through Thursdays, has developed a loyal following for [...]
Piano Bar Profile: Miss Lily
September 1, 1989 – 12:01 am
When people think of Bourbon Street, images come to mind of a cacophonous carnival of sights and sounds, bright lights and loud music, a frenzied, often garish atmosphere. This boozy barrage on the senses is often the image that lingers, and if in town only briefly, a visitor may end up thinking of New Orleans [...]
