Category Archives: Music

Art Pepper’s Live at Fat Tuesdays

You don’t hear that much Art Pepper these days, even if you listen to a lot of jazz, as I do. When he does crop up it’s usually his 1950s work, when he was renowned for his smooth tone and … Continue reading

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Shujaat Husain Khan and Katayoun Goudarzi, Ruby

One of my favorite releases of 2013 was Spring, a beautiful and uplifting two-CD set by Katayoun Goudarzi and Shujaat Husain Khan. They have a new release out called Ruby, their fifth, and it’s definitely on my short list for … Continue reading

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Honey Dewdrops’s Tangled Country

The Honey Dewdrops are a working musical couple from Virginia who recently settled and made their fourth album in Baltimore. Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish wrote all 10 tracks on Tangled Country and the album as a whole has an … Continue reading

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Jesse Milnes and Emily Miller’s Deep End Sessions, Volume II

A married couple who make music together, Jesse Milnes and Emily Miller of West Virginia are steeped in old-time traditions. Both can play solid fiddle or guitar, and they specialize in Appalachian-style close harmonies. Talk about a winning combination! This disc … Continue reading

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Kristin Hersh’ Don’t Suck, Don’t Die — Giving Up Vic Chesnutt

Kristin Hersh has had a problematic relationship with music for most of her life. The co-founder of the influential post-punk band Throwing Muses and erstwhile folksinger has made music while dealing with diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but in … Continue reading

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Anat Cohen’s Luminosa

Anat Cohen’s Luminosa is one of the most talked-about jazz releases of the year and is my favorite disc of 2015. I only discovered the New York-based, Israeli-born reed player with her 2012 release Claroscuro but she’s been recording since … Continue reading

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Väsen’s Live på Gamla Bion

Väsen is one of my favorite instrumental folk groups. If you don’t know Väsen, this performance DVD is a superb introduction to these highly skilled and very personable Swedish musicians. Väsen is Mikael Marin on viola, Olov Johansson on nykelharpa, … Continue reading

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Kari Ikonen Trio’s Beauteous Tales and Offbeat Stories

I was fascinated by the Kari Ikonen Trio based on its contribution to Ozella’s 2014 compilation The Magic & the Mystery of the Piano Trio, and eagerly anticipated this year’s release of the trio’s second Ozella date. Beauteous Tales and … Continue reading

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Van Morrison’s The Essential Van Morrison

Millions of people in the English-speaking world pick up a guitar, sit down at the piano or take up some other instrument to sing and play songs of their own devising. Thousands of them are good enough to get people … Continue reading

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Terakaft’s Alone

Terakaft is a Tuareg “desert blues” band on the order of the better-known Tinariwen. That’s no coincidence, because rhythm guitarist Diara (Liya Ag Ablil) was one of Tinariwen’s founders. He’s now playing in Terakaft with another Tinariwen alumnus, his nephew, … Continue reading

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