Medeski Martin & Woods' Radiolarians II suggests that each of the three musicians are taking turns setting the tone for the respective installment of the series. John Medeski takes precedence here, but not to the detriment of his partners or the music they create together.
The Clifford Ball is as good a summation as anything else officially available of the instrumental and vocal prowess at the heart of the Phish persona. The seven-DVD set of catches the band on the outer fringes of its innocence, consorting on stage with Ben and Jerry as headlines of ‘The Burlington Free Press’ emblazon the story of the August weekend in a tongue and cheek style that mirrors the quartet’s own sense of humor.
Gonzalo Rubalcaba/Avatar (Blue Note) ***1/2: The Cuban pianist has ventured into a variety of stylistic realms both contemporary and traditional during the course of his career, but he sounds as
As John Scofield’s career has evolved, he has turned into almost as much of a musicologist as a musician. The transformation has occurred, however, without slighting the latter most and significant role: “Sco” remains one of contemporary jazz’s most distinctive guitar players.
It's little wonder that M Ward has collected so many favorable associations (Bright Eyes, MMJ’s Jim James) and even more au courant accolades. As displayed on his new album Hold Time, he writes sings and plays as if inhabiting his own peculiar universe.
It’s a tribute to U2’s bond as a band that they manage to sidestep their celebrity status and non-musical public persona, at least when they’re in the studio. On the child-like balladry of “White As Snow,” and virtually all the rest of No Line on the Horizon, these four Irishmen sound as human as the rest of us.
Joshua Redman returned to the acoustic realm of modern jazz in 2007 with Back East where his playing carried a definite sense of breaking free from preconceptions, self-imposed and otherwise. The saxophonist’s new album Compass extends that sensation of abandon in no uncertain terms.
Tommy Keene is one of America's two great practitioners of power pop along with Matthew Sweet. Yet while the latter, as befits his name, anticipates the best is yet to come, there's an ironic contrast with Keene’s moniker: his tunes carry an ever so slight but nevertheless palpable air of melancholy.
Through an endless string of personnel shifts in the early to mid-Seventies, the Welsh band Man grafted progressive elements onto their earthy pub-rock roots that, combined with their penchant for extended improvisation, inspired rabid devotion in their fans.
The Collector’s Edition of Warren Zevon's debut album has all the pristine clarity of most 70's California rock. But the shadowy blue tones of the front-cover photograph suggest how deceptively arresting the music is inside.
