Makaya McCraven : Off The Record

For me, jazz drummer/composer/bandleader Makaya McCraven is one of the most exciting jazz artists(or any genre for that matter) making music today. Starting with his breakthrough record In The Moment from 2015, McCraven pushed jazz forward by recording improvisational live shows, then taking those recordings and cutting/pasting them into studio works. Essentially taking the raw […]

Ann Arbor…Live Music…Long Way Home

Nothing better than a three-day weekend. Well, except a 4-day weekend but I’m not getting stingy here. A three-day weekend was just what the doctor ordered. What doc? Umm…Doctor Detroit? My wife and I took Friday off and headed up north three hours to the great Michigan college town known as Ann Arbor, or “the […]

Nate Mercereau, Josh Johnson, Carlos Niño : Openness Trio

The sound of Openness Trio is the sound of futurism, experimentation, and of a band re-writing what a jazz trio can be. Guitarist/producer Nate Mercereau, saxophonist Josh Johnson, and percussionist Carlos Niño are no strangers to the worlds of jazz and experimentalism. They are among a small but powerful group of “new” jazz players that […]

Instrumental

Music has always been my escape. It’s been a soundtrack to life, both in good and bad times. It’s helped define for me who I am and what I want to spend my free time within. It was the thing that gave me purpose, and something to help me connect to others when my introverted […]

Gerald Clayton : Ones & Twos

L.A.-based jazz pianist and composer Gerald Clayton has had quite the music career at just 41-years old. He’s released five solo albums between 2009 and 2022. He’s collaborated with everyone from John Scofield to Kendrick Scott to Diana Krall to Roy Hargrove. He’s also the son of famous jazz bassist John Clayton. His style is […]

Andre 3000 : 7 Piano Sketches

I think if you’re still waiting around for Andre 3000 to drop a new hip hop album, or crazier yet return to OutKast, you’re wishing upon a fading star. I think Andre 3000 would rather do anything else BUT rap. He dropped an out of left field ambient/jazz/experimental flute album two years ago. Regardless what […]

Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes : Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes

Every once in a while you come across an album that feels entirely new. There’s nothing to compare it to, as nothing that came before was built quite like it. You can label it rock, pop, jazz, etc…but the label is merely a means for cataloging in the record store, or in your own collection. […]

Alabaster DePlume : A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole

Alabaster DePlume is described as “an English jazz musician, saxophonist, spoken word poet, composer, and activist.” When I read something like that I instantly forget the musician and saxophonist part and concentrate on “poet”, “activist” and think I’m not going to like it. Like the music part of that equation is just a side note for an […]

Nels Cline : Consentrik Quartet

Nels Cline is a musician’s musician. Prior to becoming Wilco’s lead guitarist/noise maker in 2004, Cline had been more known in the underground music scene of California. Playing with everyone from Mike Watt, Thurston Moore, Mary Lou Lord; to Rickie Lee Jones, John Zorn, and Blue Man Group. His lightning fast solos only matched by […]

Monday Check-In, 3/10/25 : Spring Preview, New(Old) Jazz, Under The Weather

Hello all. Monday has returned in record-breaking speed. Maybe the fastest Monday turnaround yet. I’m trying to decide if Monday arrived quicker back in school, or as an adult. I’m leaning towards adult. When you were in elementary school, or even middle and high school there were some weekends where it seemed to drag on […]