I’ve been a fan of Hiroshima for a long time. I love contemporary jazz. I love Japanese arts, culture, and society. It’s been a natural fit. I’ve been recommending The Best of Hiroshima compilation for a long time. It’s been the best compilation of their music from their earlier recordings. It’s also been their only [...]

Thunder. Rhythmic, melodic, rock you out, funk you up. Thunder! Back in the spring when I interviewed Marcus Miller, I asked him what was in the pipeline. He mentioned that there was a bass trio recording that he Stanley and Victor were working on – and oh what a recording it’s turned out to be. [...]

Hammond B-3 master Melvin Rhyne garnered himself a place in jazz history for his work with the legendary Wes Montgomery. Thus it was with caution that saxophonist Rob Dixon approached him about creating and recording a modernized approach to the jazz organ quartet. This Reinvention was to take place with the help of drummer Kenny [...]

One of your summer listening highlights this year will likely be the new recording from Ken Navarro, The Grace of Summer Light. I’ve heard the majority of the now 18 recordings of the guitarist and he continues to impress. This latest release continues to demonstrate Navarro’s growth as a composer. In fact, I’ll have to [...]

The Yellowjackets – where do I start? How about at the beginning, when they were the back-up band for Robben Ford? Much has been written and chronicled about this early chapter of their history, especially in light of their 2006 anniversary release, Twenty-Five. I bring all this up because of the inevitable comparison that will [...]

Acid jazz was the hip new style taking the States by storm in the 90s. While much of it was created by producers and deejays from abroad, two west coast musicians decided to tackle the genre themselves by fusing jazz melodies with hip hop stylings on the release Solar System (1996). The musicians responsible for [...]

Amazing! There have been a number of Miles Davis tribute recordings released over the years, covering various periods of his storied career; both with and without alumni of his numerous bands and configurations. I’m pretty sure that I own most of them but this one, organized and led by producer Bob Belden, covering songs from [...]

Victor Wooten is a musician with a penchant for creativity and this is clearly heard on his latest release, Palmystery. The disc captures this versatile artist in his element as he succinctly takes listeners on a genre-bending tale during which themes of mysticism and spirituality are explored. This premise is shared in Wooten’s concurrently released [...]

Wow! What a discovery! I was at the Berks Jazz Festival last week. Unfortunately, I was only able to spend two of the festival’s ten days taking in music. Simultaneously I realized that Peak has released the debut of 26-year-old saxophonist Jessy J, who also was to appear at Berks as part of the Guitars [...]

It’s hard to believe that Kenny G is 51 years old but, after releasing 26 albums for Arista, he is starting a new relationship with Concord Records. Concord, by the way, is about the only record company supporting jazz in a big way these days (thank God for an independent label!). I haven’t really listened [...]