One-third of everybody’s favorite avant-groovemëisters Medeski, Martin & Wood is on holiday, but John Medeski and Billy Martin are still hard at work. They’ve been together for nearly 20 years, and. for their debut duo session, Martin is at the drum kit while Medeski sticks to the Hammond B-3 organ…
Guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer is a strange duck. Though he started out in jazz organ combos, Ulmer made his rep with avant-jazz icon Ornette Coleman in the latter’s ebullient “harmolodic” period. But in the mid-1980s, Ulmer began upping the ubiquitous blues elements of his playing — and singing — until…
Boston-based music group Willard Grant Conspiracy sure knows how to make a music critic’s job tough. Whereas most bands can be blithely described with a few words, WGC practically requires a new genre tag. Stylistically, it’s got strong folk-rock and rootsy overtones but isn’t exactly Americana. Instead, WGC couches the…
Sharon Stone makes another movie, bands of the 1978-1982 epoch reunite, technology advances, trans fats are banned — yet the Fall perseveres, with Mark E. Smith the sole remaining founding member. Tart-tongued leader Smith still rants like he’s got the world’s number, though portions of Reformation find phone-it-in weariness creeping…
Anyone hoping that singer David Kilgour’s latest disc, The Far Now, would be a return to the streamlined, guitar-driven rush of his former New Zealand punk outfit the Clean will quickly be disappointed. Instead, for this, his sixth album, he’s offering down-to-Earth, contemplative jangle-rock with melodies and moods strong enough…
These days, lots of subgenres are cropping up in the metal sphere, some with influences from free jazz, progressive/experimental rock, electronica, and hardcore punk. Cleveland’s Chimaira is a blend of all of these inspirations, and its performances reflect that. While the relentless guitars shred and grind in the manner of…
Because jazz sitarist/guitarist Rez Abbasi was born in Pakistan, studied in India, grew up in Los Angeles, and paid his dues in NYC, it’s safe to say he’s the prime example of what it takes to have a genuinely global sound. Trying to hang a rudimentary genre handle on Abbasi…
Oy, yet another single-named electronica guy? And why exactly should you care? Chiefly because the Minneapolis-based Martin Dosh, also part-time member of Fog and Lateduster, is a multi-instrumentalist who approaches sampling and electronics as a composer rather than as a conceptualist or DJ. Dosh doesn’t merely slice and dice others’…
When one thinks of significant “duo” performers in American pop culture, who comes to mind? Sam and Dave, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Simon and Garfunkel… um, ahem. Add to that list the Bird and the Bee, a California twosome of Greg Kurstin (all instruments except horns) and Inara George…
Although he never achieved the same fame as his peers — a group that includes Augustus Pablo and Tommy McCook — the late Jackie Mittoo (1948-1990) was a major player in the history of reggae, rock steady, and ska. Mittoo was an ace on the keyboards, a charter member of…
In the early and mid-1960s, while jazz innovators like John Coltrane were, well, innovating, another phenomenon — tagged soul-jazz — happened simultaneously. Soul-jazz groups generally featured an organist playing the robust Hammond B-3, a drummer, a saxophonist, and/or an electric guitarist. Birthed in hard bop’s 1950s cauldron, soul-jazz shunned its…
In retrospect, it’s easy realizing Carlos Santana is one of the most influential guitarists of the post-Woodstock era. With the band bearing his name, Santana emerged from the same fertile Bay Area hippie-rock scene as the Grateful Dead. His singular blending of psychedelic rock, blues, cutting-edge jazz (à la Coltrane,…
Every few years, rock and its malcontent subgenres start to suck — everyone knows that, or will soon enough. Thankfully, singer/guitarist Ted Leo maintains the oft-abused verities of punk — doing things his own way; expressing ideas in a supercharged, witty, engaging, and no-waxy-yellow-buildup manner; and combining seemingly unlikely influences…
In the mid-1980s, Dwight Yoakum emerged and reminded us that the Bakersfield sound was the driving subgenre of country personified by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. 2006 has Texan Sunny Sweeney to remind us of the gusto of Lone Star honky tonk. In less enlightened times, smug city folk would’ve…
Why are there so few drummer-led rock ‘n’ roll bands? After all, the drummer is not only the “timekeeper” but — excuse the automotive reference — the sparkplug that crackle-starts the pistons of a song. Marc Bell, better-known as Marky Ramone, kept the beat for his namesake group for more…
The 12 tunes on Oy Vey! Ole! are joyous junctures; it’s a place where Afro-Cuban rhythms, traditional klezmer/Hebraic melodies, pop immediacy and economy, and jazz-enriched élan coalesce into convergences of cool. Ninety-something pianist Irving Fields wrote songs performed by Dinah Shore, Xavier Cugat, and Sarah Vaughan and had a hit…
Along with B.B. King, George “Buddy” Guy is perhaps the quintessential modern blues singer/guitarist. Born in 1936, Guy came from the original wave of Chicago blues players that made a major impact on rock ‘n’ roll, establishing himself with Howlin’ Wolf, Koko Taylor, and Muddy Waters before going solo —…
What hath goth wrought? More to the point, who wrought goth rock? Make no mistake: The genre sprang from both sides of the Atlantic. But on our own side, 45 Grave undertook the intermingling horror and punk of Berry, Bowie, and Bela Lugosi. Rewind to early 1980s, Los Angeles. Don…
Keyboard-whiz Jamie Saft is among the current wave of jazz players who are every bit as influenced by Pink Floyd and Public Enemy as by Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock. Trouble finds Saft tipping his proverbial hat to Bob Dylan, distinctively interpreting selections from the bard’s copious catalog. With the…
Bob Dylan once referred to Smokey Robinson as “America’s greatest living poet.” Though many often countered that Jim Morrison was the rightful owner of that title, the argument hasn’t been made since Morrison croaked in 1971. And so Dylan was right — Robinson was one of the reasons Motown enjoyed…
San Francisco’s über-punk trio Coachwhips is no more, but it knew enough to cap its career with the proverbial bang. Coachwhips approaches rock ‘n’ roll without any false notions of “sophistication” or “professionalism.” If you’ve ever liked the Cramps or the Fall but thought they were just too slick or…
In its own unaffected way, Detroit foursome Slumber Party recalls the early, more eclectic daze of late-1970s punk rock and new wave’s first flowering. Whereas most bands in the ’00 era can be summarized in word fragments (emo, grindcore) or nebulous nouns (noise), Slumber Party freely appropriates aspects of assorted…
