I have already complained about Sony for releasing so much posthumous Miles Davis material, but it is really a joke: because what they have been giving us isn’t gratuitous, but rather restored and wonderfully packaged discoveries or items previously only found on low-quality bootlegs. That was true of the 1967 Bootleg Volume 1, which made [...]
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eMusic Merges With eBook Distributor K-NFB to Form Media Content ‘One Stop Shop’
It was only a matter of time – most sites not named iTunes/Pandora/Amazon/Spotify have either closed or been bought out over the past few years … and frankly since it seemed that eMusic was unable to increase subscription volumes no matter what they did, I assumed they would eventually fold. Instead, today we learn that [...]
Fretlights Offers World’s Easiest Guitar to Play
For many people, playing a musical instrument is an unrealized wish. They wished they had taken something up in their youth, but fear it is now too late. But that is just not true – not only can you still pursue traditional lessons as an adult, there are specific methods for learning methods that maximize [...]
Billboard Joins the 21st Century by Tracking YouTube View Data
While the top videos on MTV and YouTube (recently at least) have generally also been on the pop charts, the amount of popularity from video outlets hasn’t always translated into chart position. So it is great news for breakout video artists this week as Billboard joins the 21st century and starts tracking YouTube view data [...]
Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House Strong Place Review
OK, so I am a sucker for any new release featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson. Already a fan of Ingrid Laubrock from 2012′s Camino Cielo Echo from the Tom Rainey trio (yes, also with Mary Halvorson), this was an instant-buy for me. And while the band members were all familiar to me, this was clearly Laubrock’s [...]
iLectric Piano Review – Get Classic Electric Keyboards
It doesn’t take an astute listener to realize that ‘retro is in’. At the recent NAMM show, we saw names such as Korg, Moog and Prophet right out of the late 70s, and all of them were producing analog synths. But before the synth became the keyboard mainstay, loads of classic recordings were made with [...]
iTunes Music Store Has Sold 25 Billion Songs in 10 Years
The thought that the iTunes Music Store Has Sold 25 Billion Songs in 10 Years is stunning. For many it is hard to remember the music industry landscape as iTunes started selling music a decade ago. The CD had peaked in popularity at the start of the new millennium, topping off an amazing decade of [...]
Fleetwood Mac Rumours 35th Anniversary Edition Review
When it comes to the iconic albums of the 1970s, people think of names like Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Kraftwerk, and more. But in the late 70s, there was one album that was everywhere to the point that it seemed like a greatest hits collection: the legendary Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. With estimated sales of [...]
Jon Wirtz Announces New Album ‘Tourist’ Launching in April
When Jon Wirtz released his debut album ‘Sea Level’ in 2010 I thoroughly enjoyed it, drawing comparisons to such reknowned pianists as Keith Jarrett, Vijay Iyer and Matthew Shipp. The album was a solo piano recording, which is a daring move for a solo debut. Wirtz showed a maturity in terms of expression, interpretation and [...]
Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2012 and More – a Music Diary Feature
It is finally time for my Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2012! The end of each year we get bombarded by ‘top 10′ lists for just about everything, but for me it is too soon. Personally, I like to be sure all releases are out, and take some time over the holidays to reflect and [...]
Joe Lovano Us Five ‘Cross Culture’ Music Review
I have a huge library of jazz music stretching back nearly a century, and including representation from nearly every major (and most minor) figures of the art form. But like any other genre fan, there are artists I am ‘supposed’ to like that I have never connected with. I am also a rock music fan [...]
Prophet 12 Synthesizer by Dave Smith Introduced at NAMM 2013
One of the first synths I did serious work on was the Prophet 5. That synth was introduced by Sequential Circuits in 1978 as one of the first polyphonic instruments, but the reason it is still popular is the amazing sounds. The Prophet 5 was the brain-child of Sequential Circuits founder Dave Smith. If that [...]
VOX Announces the Mini5-Rhythm Amplifier at NAMM 2013
Last year I got myself a 20 watt Roland Cube guitar amp. For years I had just played through my studio system and relied on effects to shape my sound, and had forgotten how great an amp can sound. More than that, I was amazed at the leaps in technology that allowed a small and [...]
Check Out Three Excellent Rare John Coltrane Live Performances
One of the amazing things for me about YouTube and Facebook is how folks on Facebook will recommend a YouTube video or site with an embedded video that leads you to something even greater. That happened this morning, as a Facebook friend recommended checking out a stellar John Coltrane version of ‘My Favorite Things’, which [...]
Korg Introduces 9 New Products at NAMM 2013, Including KingKORG and MS-20 Mini
At the NAMM 2013 show, Korg announced nine (!) new products that all look great – I recommend you head to Korg to get all of the details. But I wanted to highlight two that look super-cool: the MS-20 Mini and KingKORG. The MS-20 Mini is the reimagining of the classic monophonic synth that we [...]
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