Category Archives: Music

What’s New for the 26th of January: Music from the Chieftains and the Bothy Band, German chocolate redux, a guide to mysteries and much more

She looks like the wizened old crone in that painting Jilly did for Geordie when he got into this kick of learning fiddle tunes with the word ‘hag’ in the title: ‘the Hag in the Kiln,’ ‘Old Hag You Have … Continue reading

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Machtelinckx/Badenhorst/Cools/Gouband’s Porous Structures

Porous structures was the third part of a 2019 triptych for Belgian multi-instrumentalist and avant garde composer Ruben Machtelinckx. First came the debut album of Poor Isa, his duo with his countryman Frederik Leroux, who also plays guitar, banjo and … Continue reading

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Son Little’s aloha

“We don’t have to suffer, you and I … we don’t have to wait in the shadows for the sunshine.” Thus goes the hooky chorus of “suffer,” a standout track on Son Little’s new aloha. The song was inspired by … Continue reading

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Squirrel Flower’s I Was Born Swimming

Squirrel Flower is the stage name of the Boston-based singer-songwriter Ella O’Connor Williams, making her recording debut with the beautifully realized I Was Born Swimming. She has a singing voice that conveys heartache and steely determination in equal measures, an … Continue reading

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Yonathan Avishai’s Joys and Solitudes

For such an economical package — at eight tracks and just 55 minutes, it’s practically an EP by today’s jazz CD standards — Yonathan Avishai’s Joys and Solitudes is brimming with musical riches. On the strength of this album, the … Continue reading

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David Dondero’s The Filter Bubble Blues

The Cuyahoga River was the subject of scathing satire in the 1970s, when it was so polluted it actually caught fire where it passed through Cleveland, Ohio. That hasn’t happened again, yet. But David Dondero imagines it won’t be long … Continue reading

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Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East

Brooklyn-based jazz drummer Sunny Jain dives deep into what it means to be an immigrant, a first-generation American of South Asian descent, and a member of the global community of marginalized people in Wild Wild East. It’s as wild a … Continue reading

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Tautumeitas’s Songs from Auleja

This stirring album presents a studio version of music sung by the Tautumeitas ensemble at a concert that was founding member Asnate Rancāne’s project for a bachelor’s degree at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. Fortunately, it’s a lot … Continue reading

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Avishai Cohen and Yonathan Avishai’s Playing The Room

The overall impression I got of New York-based Israeli-born trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s playing when I saw him in Portland, Ore., a few years ago was of control. The young man is capable of many levels of nuance, but he seems … Continue reading

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Joe Russo’s phér•bŏney

This debut solo album by drummer Joe Russo was released digitally in the summer of 2019, but I’m just catching up with it in time for its release on vinyl. phér•bŏney is the most eclectic set of tunes I’ve reviewed … Continue reading

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