Of the many concerts I saw in 2018, the one I talked most about – simply because it was so cool and trippy, and there was so much to say – was the one last October at The Wiltern called In Dreams: Roy Orbison In Concert: The Hologram Tour. I had simply never experienced anything like it – technology allowing a long-departed legend to come to life and entertain fans from multiple generations, complete with an audiovisual narrative presentation, a full band and small string sec

Closing in on 25 years since his Verve debut, the madly versatile trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Payton creates something remarkable in this age of limited musical attention spans and artists being encouraged to record shorter EPs – Relaxin’ With Nick, a lengthy double disc set of alternately soft-spoken/intimate and off the chain raucous live performances captured at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in NYC. Though certain pieces – or parts of them – like the first few

With the release of her intimate, tenderly inviting and exquisitely produced and arranged debut album A Moment of You, emerging Brazilian vocalist Daniela Soledade adds a wonderful fresh chapter to important legacy that harkens back to the birth and development of bossa nova. Her grandfather Paulo Soledade helped build the foundations of Brazilian music, composing with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Toquinho, Baden Powell and others in the pioneering phase of bossa

If you’ve got your ears peeled, eager to hear what the future of jazz sounds like, a phenomenal place to start focusing is Big Beat, a 19-piece, millennial led ensemble bent on dynamically fusing classic, bold, brassy, improvisational rich big band power with relentless grooving steeped in more contemporary R&B/soul, gospel and funk. Formed in 2015 by four young cats who all received their Master’s in Jazz Arranging from William Paterson University, the group’s first full len

Admit it – the minute you found out that John Denicola, the Oscar winning songwriting king of pop in 1987-88 for his still engaging, co-written Dirty Dancing hits, finally became a recording artist, you picked up The Why Because and just HAD to listen first to his spins on “Hungry Eyes” (a #4 pop smash for Eric Carmen) and the #1 Bill Medley-Jennifer Warnes hit “(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life.” Okay, that was me geeking out – but it’s a great way to start enjoying his eclecti

With a title that’s a clever twist on a familiar phrase and probably reflective of an overriding band aesthetic, Byre’s debut EP Here in Dead Lights is all at once, and alternately, trippy, fuzzy, languid, energetic, dreamy, hypnotic, hard rocking, synthy, poppy, rocky – and truly catchy. If that sounds a bit sonically schizo, it’s all in good, playful fun that pushes the limits of what qualifies as alt-indie (heavy emphasis on the alt) rock these days. From the jangling, swi

The name of Shelita Burke’s 2015 debut EP proved truly prophetic, as fans all over the world were Transfixed by the hard working, well-traveled multi-talented performer. The collection was the #14 best-selling singer-songwriter album on Amazon, and NPR Music – which played her song “Swim” regularly – named her “An Artist To Watch” at SXSW 2016. Since then, the globally touring indie sensation has only gotten bolder and more insightful in fusing her expertise with synth sounds

The legendary Billy Preston once asked us “Will It Go ‘Round in Circles?” In the deft hands of Miami based emerging alt R&B/hip-hop artist/producer Speakea5y, the answer is a resounding absolutely! Emerging as a powerful, socially conscious voice of the millennial generation, the artist uses his debut album Circles as a means to showcase his extraordinary musical artistry around an incisive message. Throughout the seven single world titled tracks (“Apollo,” “Mercury,” “Venus,

It’s rare that the “superhero” origin story of a band - or in the case of Atlanta based Lesibu Grand, a killer female vocalist- male bassist duo - pinpoints the exact date where creative lightning first struck, but there it is in their press materials: On June 28, 2017, multi-talented singer Tyler-Simone Molton serendipitously bumped into veteran Atlanta rock and funk bassist John Renaud at the Pains of Being Pure at Heart show at The Earl In East Atlanta. They had been acqua

Dang! Wow! Boom! What a blast! Earworm alert! Oklahoma City pop-rockers One Two Ten’s delightfully rambunctious, harmonically crystalline and lyrically all at once dark, incisive, whimsical and playful “Heathers” is the reason rock journalists invented the term “instantly infectious.” It starts out all Beach Boy-esque then crackles along slowly before blasting through with a fire that fuses summer escapism (The Go-Go’s “Vacation” comes to mind) with propulsive grooves and bli

Riding high on the critical acclaim showered on his latest album Good Trouble and its anthem-like lead single “Lifeline,” golden voiced pop/soul singer-songwriter Mutlu joins forces with fellow Philadelphian, the legendary John Oates, to celebrate the Spirit of Brotherly Love and fresh and hipster yet old school, romantic love on the unabashedly optimistic “Nothing In This Whole Wide World.” Though 31 years apart in age – Hall & Oates had enjoyed a long string of era-defining

Any raw, down home and infinitely hipster-cool Americana artist bold enough to put singing “Disney songs into a turkey baster” as an early musical memory is bound to grab my attention. If he’s transcended tragedy (the loss of his mother and stepfather in a plane crash) and can still spin humor amid the heartache in his infectious mix of slow burning ballads and rambunctious romps that get us (as one of his titles makes clear) “Feeling Good,” he’s worth ongoing emotional inves