When a composer’s decades long aesthetic is defined by intriguing, perfectly pegged phrases like “speed demon music” and “the aural equivalent of a pinball machine,” listeners fresh to the experience know they’re in for a surreal, genre-defying and sensory kaleidoscopic experience. So while Zack Browning’s latest soulfully epic whirlwind aural immersion is titled Rock Galaxy, it’s way beyond rock and far out into the universe, incorporating everything from prog rock and jazz

Henry David Thoreau’s time at Walden Pond (1845-47) was a deliberate social experiment in simple living that resulted in his masterwork Walden; or Life in the Woods. Living in a self-built cabin on land owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau sought to “front only the essential facts of life.” The transcendental writer’s text is a reflection upon living in natural surroundings – part declaration of independence, part voyage of spiritual discovery and to some degree a manual for

People often criticize AI in music because, in addition to the fear of displacing work for musicians, many say it can’t equal the emotional depth of works created by human beings. Another point is that it’s focused on formulaic content that lacks real world experience and the soul that makes genuine music so compelling. Those making that argument may just rethink these generalities – and understand the value of AI in specific contexts – when they wrap their intensely curious

Listeners reveling in the fascinating, chaotic revelry and glorious, imaginative insanity of Sean Noonan’s epic work The Drummer of Tedworth will glean a bit of his conceptual intention for the project in the opening choral section of the final (and 21st) piece “Give the Drummer a Chance,” before the London Symphony Orchestra goes to town with its boisterious, emphatic swells leading to a whimsical, somehow satisfying narrative conclusion. The chorus sings, “Let the drummer c

Currently celebrating an empowering decade as a multi-faceted, wildly creative force in contemporary instrumental music, multiple Global Music and Zone Music Reporter (ZMR) award winner Todd Mosby is a modern master of conceptual albums. From his Will Ackerman and Tom Eaton produced new age oriented “elements” trilogy (starting with Eagle Mountain  in 2016) through the Jeff Weber-helmed Land of Enchantment  (2023), which captured the magic, strength and beauty of New Mexico a

Anyone who heard veteran country great Michael Peterson’s lush, soul-stirring re-imagining of the Hollies’ 1969 classic “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” would have felt it – that it would hit the perfect chord at the right time, offering transcendent hope via a reminder that despite our differences, we are all human and should be loving and compassionate and discover a sense of brotherhood. When I wrote that Peterson “brings his passionate vocal flair to an epic, soaring and

From the time Willa Bassen wrote her first song at 14 and set the course for her life gigging at 17, life’s been a crazy-cool but mostly creatively fulfilling whirlwind for the multi-talented force of musical nature who’s found great success over the years as a composer, songwriter, vocalist, pianist/keyboardist, engineer, producer and studio owner. As co-owner and operator of Studio 900, a beautiful 24-track recording facility located off Union Square in NYC, she hosted sess

When Carl Clements isn’t teaching saxophone and improvisation at Amherst College, the multi-talented artist is traveling the world – U.S. Europe, Asia, Middle East, South and Southeast Asia – soaking up global cultures and sharing his gifts on tenor and soprano sax and exotic flutes, including the bansuri, an ancient side-blown bamboo flute originating from the Indian subcontinent, with roots tracing back over 2,000 years to Indian and Nepali folk tradition. This exotic wind

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022, the Van Gelder Studio is the most iconic recording studio in jazz history, giving rise to the “Van Gelder Sound” characterized by warmth, clarity and intimacy that defined the catalogs of Blue Note, Prestige and Impulse! while hosting legendary sessions for John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and countless other legends. While achieving a longtime dream, Dave Stryker’s first immersion into this sacred space, the

Kosovo born vocalist and songwriter Maja Jaku has made exquisitely intimate and charmingly swinging jazzy waves in her native Europe for years, touring with her trio, performing with the Austrian fusion band Attack, performing in musicals and releasing four acclaimed albums. On her intriguingly titled debut American collection Blessed and Bewitched , she shares those magnificent, deeply lived vocal passions and cool soulful strutting with U.S. audience for the first time, art

In addition to establishing himself as one of Southern California’s most versatile and prolific jazz composers and guitarists, Doug MacDonald uses his multi-faceted discography to serve as something of a regional tour guide over the past decade. While his 2021 album Live in Hawaii was the Philly native’s nod to growing up in the Aloha State, he’s otherwise been strumming, swinging, bopping and booming in locales familiar to SoCal jazz fans – including The Coachella Valley Tr

Fans of the dynamic, jazz/soul driven vocal interpreter Michael Moody’s unique phrasing, arrangements and tender intimacy have been waiting seven years – which seems much longer, due to the pandemic – for The Ecstasy of Love , his brilliant, emotionally compelling follow-up to his second standards album It Never Entered My Mind . While his first two projects had traditional jazz lineups featuring piano and drums, the key to the even more intense, vulnerably intimate romance a