Celebrating Community
My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you that in 2020, the state of jazz is… well, I suppose it all depends on what you mean by “state.” In a country where the highest-paid public employees are football coaches and where artists are expected to work for the non-remuneration of “exposure,” jazz as a professional calling remains a daunting […]
Much in the same way as the madeleines that Proust wrote about so many years ago would involuntarily conjure memories from a single bite, hearing video game melodies takes me back to the safety of my childhood living room floor, to hours spent cross-legged, lost in digital adventures scored to these enduring songs. This is the power of the music […]
On December 31, the Amore Opera celebrated the incoming 2020 with a glorious New Year’s Eve gala of opera and dinner at St. Paul & St. Andrew’s Church in New York City. Nathan Hull welcomed one and all to the Amore Opera’s tenth seasons. Many received New Year hats and noisemakers to properly ring in the new decade. The event’s […]
Grammys Less than two weeks have passed since Lizzo conquered the 2020 Grammys, opening up music’s biggest night in the wake of the tragic passing of global icon Kobe Bryant. Lizzo performed her chart-topping single “Truth Hurts” in a medley of her other songs, and won three awards: Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Pop Solo Performance, and Best Traditional R&B […]
Jalopy Records has recently released the debut album Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones. Samoa “Fatboy” Wilson and Ernesto “Lovercat” Gomez (aka Old Viejo Bones) are an acoustic duo who specialize in old-time, folk, Americana, blues, and more. Wilson sings and plays baritone ukulele while Gomez sings and plays guitar and harmonica. The sound of this recording is true to […]
The piano player and singer Aaron Louis Hurwitz goes by the nickname of Professor Louie. He was christened as such by Rick Danko of The Band. Professor Louie now has his own group, the Crowmatix. All of its members boast long associations with The Band family tree, having performed with the likes of Levon Helm and the other departed ones. […]
I moved to Cambridge, England for almost a year back in the fall of 2016. I now have a version of the Jack Grace Band in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one in Cambridge, England. I also have versions in Colorado, Canada, and Austin. I have spent much of my life in a van. Lately, my general approach is to go to […]
When you think of Cuban music, what comes to mind? Perhaps the slow, emotional son and danzon music represented by the Buena Vista Social Club; or the fiery singing from Celia Cruz; or the energetic mambos of Perez Prado; or, if you happen to be the type that digs a little deeper, the Afro-Cuban rumba tradition featuring thick, dense rhythms […]
Much has rightly been made of the drama surrounding and embedded into David Bowie’s ★, an album that not only addressed mortality but directly addressed his fans as well. Less has been said suggesting that it stood upon its release, as it does today, as one of Bowie’s finest records. Opinions vary, of course, and his back catalog is a […]
There’s a wholesomeness to the Sunset Canyoneers’ self-titled debut album, and I can’t quite tell if it works for or against the sun-worshipping California country music outfit. The album’s motif is purposefully and perfectly reminiscent of the Bakersfield Sound that came about in the mid-1950s, influencing a hippie country music scene that gave rise to the likes of The Byrds, […]