• Smith/Kotzen

    Music

    Smith/Kotzen

    Black Light/White Noise

    This is the third album from rock veterans Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs). The busy axeslingers – especially Kotzen, who is always involved in solo and band projects – released their full-length debut and an EP in 2021. Smith-Kotzen has happily blossomed into a going concern. What’s interesting about Smith/Kotzen’s

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John Pizzarelli

John Pizzarelli knows lyricist Johnny Mercer’s timeless compositions inside out. He’s recorded them on various albums and was a cast member of the 1997 Broadway musical Dream, which saluted Mercer’s music. Mercer Street,…

Ray Mason – Old School

Ray Mason – Old School Ray Mason’s music, while being full of wonderful chord changes, quiet vocals, and lyrics with discreet meaning, is also quirky and hard to define. On this disc, the…

The George Benson Quartet – It’s Uptown and The George Benson Cookbook

It's Uptown and The George Benson Cookbook

George Benson was another of A&R legend John Hammond’s famous discoveries, alongside the likes of Count Basie, Charlie Christian, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, and Bruce Springsteen. This put Benson in a tough position…

Steely Dan – Everything Must Go

Everything Must Go

Since I was a youngster, sitting at home nursing a broken collarbone and listening to Can’t Buy a Thrill every afternoon, I’ve been a huge Steely Dan fan. They always were doing the…

Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets – Which Way Is Texas?

Which Way Is Texas?

Anson Funderburgh is one of the few – if not only – blues guitarists I’ve ever seen get an ovation for a chorus solo. Such applause might be common for jazz shows, but…

Iggy and The Stooges

MVD Audio

In 1973, the Stooges were newly reformed yet seemingly on their last legs. Their early attempts at Raw Power, their third and last album before breaking up again, were rejected by management, although…

Burnin’ Mike Vernon’s 3 Balls Of Fire

Burnin’ & Churnin’ and Live! (featuring Nokie Edwards, George Tomsco, and Jerry Cole)

Of all the surf-instrumental revivalists, Vernon is one of the most prolific. Since forming Balls Of Fire in 1987, he has also dipped his toe into “crime jazz” and Hollywood soundtrack covers –…

American Folk Blues Festival – Various Artists

This is the British TV counterpart to the German broadcasts that were unearthed on three stunning volumes of The American Folk Blues Festival, in 2003. If you saw those, you’ve probably already stopped…

John Pizzarelli – Bossa Nova

John Pizzarelli’s latest should come as a surprise to no one. The fact that he’s been influenced by Jobim and his many disciples is evident in his past work. And it should come…

Strange Angels: In Flight With Elmore James

Dusting Off Elmo

In an essay for Guitar Player magazine in 1977, Frank Zappa said of Elmore James, “Even though Elmore tended to play the same famous lick on every record, I got the feeling that…

Roy Buchanan – American Axe – Live In 1974

It’s not too far of a stretch to say Roy Buchanan was one of the most unique guitar players in the past 40 years. This recording, done at two shows in 1974, does…

Commander Cody – Live at Armadillo HQ

A disc of outtakes from the classic Live From Deep In the Heart of Texas makes for a fine live record on its own, especially fun to again hear a young Bill Kirchen…

Alan Paul

With the news that the Allman Brothers are losing guitarmen Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks at year’s end, and the subsequent announcement by Gregg Allman that the band will call it quits, one…

Wes Montgomery

There’s not a lot more that can be said about Wes Montgomery that hasn’t already been said. But new recordings keep surfacing, almost demanding more superlatives about his playing. Suffice it to say…

Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Luther Dickinson, and others

Falling Out And Hollerin’

Blind Willie Johnson – the Texas preacher, slide guitarist, and gospel singer – may seem a tough artist to pay homage to in a tribute album. His music is so singular, so extraordinary…

Bad Company

Thanks to advances in audio tweaking, studio engineers can now take 40-year-old concert tapes and make them sound thrilling. Case in point, Bad Company’s first-ever live album, culled from a few late ’70s…

Sean Costello – Moanin’ For Molasses

Moanin' For Molasses

I really enjoyed Sean’s last album, Cuttin’ In, and this one is just as likeable. He’s young, but man, he knows the blues. Both his singing and his guitar playing reek of soul.…

Stéphane Wrembel

Djamming!

There’s plenty of Gypsy jazz guitarists who can play more notes at faster tempos than Django Reinhardt, but few can truly match the master in inventiveness, melody, and sheer swing. Stéphane Wrembel is…

Mel Brown

Hellafied

Before becoming a member of the house band at the legendary Austin venue Antone’s, Mississippi-born Mel Brown (1939-2009) was a blues guitarist who gained notice with West Coast R&B icon Johnny Otis. This…

Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard

Whatever’s changed in the 32 years since their duet album Pancho & Lefty, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard continue to share vast musical common ground. The proof lies in this blend of new…

Pine Mountain Railroad – Alone with Forever

In a world where everything is at our fingertips, anyone with access to the internet can instantly listen to original recordings by Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Stanley Brothers, Osborne Brothers, Red Foley,…

Andy Timmons Band

To translate one of the touchstones of popular music is not something most guitarists would attempt, but Timmons and his trio take the Beatles’ classic and turn it into an instrumental rock album…

Shawn Lane – All For Today

All For Today

Being part of a successful band can be a mixed blessing. You work regularly and play your music for a large audience, but because it is a band, you can only stray so…

Jimi Hendrix – Live at Berkeley

Experience Hendrix has settled into a regular schedule of new Jimi releases. This latest is taken from a live performance in May, 1970, and shows Hendrix in good form with a now well-indoctrinated…

Big Al Anderson – After Hours

This is the first solo album by the former lead guitarist for NRBQ in almost a decade, and he uses it to cover lots of ground. Anderson writes good ballads that fall between…

Bob Seger – Face The Promise

Anyone who saw Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band’s Letterman appearance several weeks ago can attest that he’s lost none of his power or edge during his decade-long hiatus. But, as his…

Tomo Fujita – Right Place, Right Time

Fujita is a professor at Berklee College of Music, and the music here flies in the face of the old adage, “Those who can’t do, teach.” Fujita proves himself a true player’s player;…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Bill Dixon – Guitar Collecting: How I Built a $65,000 Collection

Morris Publishing 2003

Bill Dixon has done what many of us have done. He bought, traded, and sold guitars. And he has done well. He made a profit that he plowed back into his collection. He…

Buzzcocks

Late For The Train: Live & In Session (1989-2010)

On the punk-rock timeline, some bands haven’t quite received their just acknowledgment. Two Australian bands, The Saints and Radio Birdman, come to mind, as do groups like Flamin’ Groovies and Dr. Feelgood, which…

Tal Farlow – The Complete Verve Tal Farlow Sessions

If Mosaic’s compilations haven’t yet appeared on your radar screen, let me enlighten you. Mosaic issues stunningly beautiful and often sprawling tributes to legendary jazz performers like Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Hank Mobley,…