Music
Donald Miller, Transgression!!! (Vin Du Selecte Qualitite)
Full disclosure: I’ve known Donald Miller for 20 years since he first moved to New Orleans and worked closely with him in countless performances with our group The Death Posture […]
Naked Orchestra, From Pandemonium to a View of Eidolons (Independent)
Large ensembles in creative music are largely a labor of love, a testament to the musicians’ respect for the bandleader, and a tangible manifestation of a music community. The Naked […]
Wings Make the Man
There’s a strain of African-American gospel music indigenous to Louisiana in which loud electric guitars and rough-throated vocals dominate, with stomping rhythms and declamatory repetitions that sound like a sanctified […]
Kali Z. Fasteau and Kidd Jordan, Live at Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland (Flying Note)
And to think—just 10 years ago there were hardly any Kidd Jordan CDs available. Now, since Jordan has been embraced by the New York, Chicago, and international free jazz communities, […]
Noah Howard, The Black Ark (Bo’Weavil Recordings)
Though he’s rarely mentioned by the promoters and guardians of New Orleans culture, free-jazz saxophonist Noah Howard was born and raised here, leaving as a young man for the more […]
Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy, Cornell 1964 (Blue Note)
The Charles Mingus group of 1964 was one of his best, with two of his strongest musical soulmates—longtime drummer Dannie Richmond and reed virtuoso Eric Dolphy—stoking the fires along with […]
The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro, Alabama, Singing Songs of Praise (CaseQuarter)
The CaseQuarter label out of Montgomery, Alabama burst on the scene in 2003 with God’s Got It by gospel singer/guitarist Rev. Charlie Jackson. The album collected astounding archival recordings by […]
Intensity or Surprise
Wilco’s latest album Sky Blue Sky is one of the most subtle recordings in the group’s history, a surprise to some after the more overt experimentalism of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot […]
Don Cherry Quintet, Live at Café Monmartre 1966 (ESP-disk)
The late Don Cherry is likely most well-known for his association with Ornette Coleman, forming the crucial front line with Ornette that turned the music world on its ear back […]
Rob Wagner, Hamid Drake and Nobu Ozaki with Kidd Jordan, the Dragon’s Den, June 4, 2007
The trio of saxophonist Wagner, bassist Ozaki, and world-renowned drummer Hamid Drake had played the previous night at the Blue Nile to celebrate the release of their new CD on […]
