Album Reviews

Moor Mother and billy woods’ ‘Brass’

The first song on BRASS (Backwoodz Studioz, 2020), “Furies”, was the beginning of something special. Although Moor Mother and billy…

5 years ago

Review: Brandee Younger & Dezron Douglas’ ‘Force Majeure’

Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed.) defines force majeure as “an event that can be neither anticipated nor controlled.” A party…

5 years ago

Review: Susan Alcorn’s ‘Pedernal’

Geography isn’t destiny, but it might explain some things about pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn and her new release, Pedernal…

5 years ago

Review: Keith Jarrett’s ‘Budapest Concert’

On January 24, 1975, Keith Jarrett sat, in pain, at the keys of a decrepit and horribly out-of-tune piano. The…

5 years ago

Review: EYOT’s ‘557799’

American musicians have been experimenting with Balkan-esque rhythms since at least 1959 when Dave Brubeck brought the 2 + 2…

5 years ago

Review: Emi Makabe’s ‘Anniversary’

The title cut of Emi Makabe's debut full-length release, Anniversary (Greenleaf Music, 2020), is a graceful, bittersweet waltz about the…

5 years ago

Review: Small Bills’ ‘Don’t Play It Straight’

Ten tracks into E L U C I D's Valley of Grace (Backwoodz Studioz, 2017), the rapper declared that "nothing's…

5 years ago

Review: ‘Luke Stewart Exposure Quintet’

Free Jazz/Avant-Garde is at its most expressive when it presents itself as a collective experience. A singular unit that exists…

5 years ago

Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra Arkestra’s ‘Swirling’ and M’Lumbo and Jane Ira Bloom’s ‘Celestial Mechanics’

Sun Ra was born on the planet Saturn sometime presumably in the early 20th Century. Some historians mistake him for…

5 years ago

Review: Bootsy Collins’ ‘The Power of the One’

Far too often when people succeed in their field, it becomes far too easy for them to cling to that…

5 years ago