Music
Brooklyn Jazz Warriors, In Service of the King (Independent)
Oddly enough I was reading about Akhenaten, that revolutionary monotheist sun-worshipping Egyptian pharaoh, when lead singer Yisroel Arye Gootblatt came in singing about the almighty, or at least the transcendent, […]
Next Collective, Cover Art (Concord)
The idea for this album should prompt a few red flags: A bunch of young-gun jazzmen (and guest trumpeter Christian Scott) cover material by Pearl Jam, Dido, Drake, Bon Iver […]
Miss Sophie Lee, Love Street Lullaby (Threadhead Records)
Vocalist Lee has been a popular local presence since moving to town from Chicago in 2001. But her Threadhead debut isn’t merely a love letter to New Orleans—it’s a love […]
Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet, In a World of Mallets (Basin Street Records)
On a drum kit, the youngest Marsalis often goes several directions (meters) (not Meters) at once. On vibraphone, as he demonstrates here, it’s more a matter of smoothing up many […]
Horace Trahan, All the Way (Independent)
Horace Trahan’s 2010 disc Keep Walking was not only brilliant, it revealed how Trahan had elevated his game a few notches during his hiatus. With 14 originals co-written by Trahan […]
Sonia Tetlow, Own Way Home (Threadhead Records)
Sonia Tetlow was the second of four female singer/bassists to join Cowboy Mouth in remarkably quick succession, and she’s now the second (after Mary Lasseigne) to make a solo album. […]
Hot 8 Brass Band, Life and Times of the Hot 8 Brass Band (Tru Thoughts)
A question occurred to me toward the end of “Let Me Do My Thing,” the seventh track off the Hot 8 Brass Band’s new record: “Why isn’t this style more […]
Bobby Rush, Down in Louisiana (Deep Rush)
A chittlin’ circuit trailblazer, unlike contemporaries like Bobby Bland, Latimore, Little Milton and Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Rush’s career has thrived for more than five decades without the aid of a […]
Johnette Downing, Reading Rocks! (Wiggle Worm Records)
Don’t get me wrong, my faith in humanity felt torn and frayed well before two women I know got almost everything they own ripped off by a heartless thief who […]
Seva Venet presents the Storyville Stringband of New Orleans, My Bayou Home (Independent)
It’s refreshing to hear a record of traditional New Orleans music not stuffed with the old warhorse tunes. I love to hear “Muskrat Ramble,” but nobody needs to record it […]
