March - 2021

Mar 29

MARE WAKEFIELD & NOMAD, No Remedy

The stories of artists making the most of their pandemic down-time and finding those proverbial silver linings creating special works they might otherwise not have are thankfully becoming a more familiar part of the indie music landscape. The takeaway is that creativity will always find its way around that rocky roadblock in the stream and find a way to inspire people when they need it most. No Remedy, the latest full length album by critically acclaimed Americana husband and

Jonathan Widran

Mar 23

STEVE GADD BAND At Blue Note Tokyo

December 18, 2019. There’s something surreal about looking at the date of the recording on the back cover of Steve Gadd Band at Blue Note Tokyo. In just a few short months, the world would change and incredible concerts that capture the legendary drummer’s driving aesthetic – I just love to groove. It’s all about just sharing something that feels good” – were ripped away from us. As we look forward to their return in 2021, we can be grateful for this single night, dynamics fi

Jonathan Widran

Mar 23

MATT PANAYIDES, Field Theory

The term “player’s album” is often a too easy go-to phrase to describe spirited, freewheeling interactions between musicians, but in the case of inventive, ultra-eclectic guitarist Matt Panayides’ sometimes melodic and swinging, often angular and offbeat and loaded with trippy avant-garde vibes (some of which are sonically and thematically impressions of another planet), it’s a spot on description. Some of the terms used in the promo materials use phrases only other musicians

Jonathan Widran

Mar 22

JUAN CARLOS QUINTERO, Caminando

One of the major challenges for veteran artists is adapting to the evolving way that music is consumed. In 2000, ten years into his solo recording career, guitarist/composer Juan Carlos Quintero formed Moondo Records as a distribution and licensing platform for himself and other world music artists. Now hip to the digital age, the Medillin, Colombia born, Berklee and Boston Conservatory of Music educated artist resurrected his original concept in 2019 as Moondo Music LLC to r

Jonathan Widran

Mar 22

ERIC GOLETZ, Into the Night...

For a guy who admits he dislikes the chaotic connotations of the term “fusion,” veteran East Coast trombonist and keyboardist Eric Goletz sure has a blast bringing a three decade dream of a genre-transcendent, boundary free ensemble jam to soulful yet supercharged fruition on his long-awaited debut album Into the Night… Cheerfully, there are numerous angles – and very few time limits - with which to convey the story of Goletz’s freewheeling rock, jazz and funk-fueled interact

Jonathan Widran

Mar 18

ATRIA, Moonbrain

Speaking candidly about the pointed messaging in many of his most enduring, influential songs, Curtis Mayfield once said, “Painless preaching is as good a term as any for what we do.” Travis Atria, late of the popular Gainesville, FL based psychedelic rock band Morningbell, immersed in the legendary soul man and musical activist’s life and philosophies while working on Traveling Soul (2016), the first biography of Mayfield that he wrote with son Todd Mayfield. Both sonically

NIKOLAY NEKRASOV & THE POETRY YOU'VE HUMMED WITHOUT KNOWING IT

Jonathan Widran

Mar 15

NIKOLAY NEKRASOV & THE POETRY YOU'VE HUMMED WITHOUT KNOWING IT

All music is poetry in one sense or another. Sometimes there’s only a hint of it in the foundation or inspiration for a given song. In other cases though, music truly emerges directly out of written poetry. It’s something we remarked on in a write-up on Sandra Booker on this very site, and it’s something we see in everyone from emerging indie artists to established stars. Whether or not this particular musical path from prose or poetry to recorded songs is definitively more

Jonathan Widran

Mar 13

DEPARTURE LOUNGE, Transmeridian

Like a warm and comforting, dreamily sensual yet wildly exhilarating visit from some cherished old friends, famed, quirky, trippy and cool as all get out UK alt rock quartet Departure Lounge follows their first slate of live shows in 17 years in Brighton and London in 2019 with Transmeridian (Violette Records), their long awaited first full length album since 2002’s Too Late To Die Young. Two decades may seem like a lifetime in pop music, but these brilliant visionaries – Tim

Jonathan Widran

Mar 12

SARAH MENDELSOHN, "Lifeline"

In my (naturally!) glowing review of Sarah Mendelsohn’s 2018 debut album If, I praised the diversity of the eclectic singer/songwriter’s musical palette (pop, rock, country, reggae/ska, rap, etc.) and wrote, “Taking hold of our hearts with her emotionally rangy voice, she paints her tales of joy, sorrow…” Her new single “Lifeline” features both emotions working in a seamless tapestry of push and pull, acknowledging the mutual mistakes made and wrong roads traveled in a now im

MICHAEL LINGTON, Alone Together: The Duets

Jonathan Widran

Mar 11

MICHAEL LINGTON, Alone Together: The Duets

Unable to hit the road over the past year due to pandemic-related lockdowns, over the past year, many smooth jazz artists have taken advantage of streaming technology to keep the music flowing for fans. Few have raised it to the high tech level of engagement of saxophonist Michael Lington, who quickly turned his home studio into one of the genre’s premiere virtual performance destinations, with a popular ongoing series of weekly shows on the StageIt platform. Week after week,

Jonathan Widran

Mar 9

REZA KHAN, Imaginary Road

A socially conscious force in global jazz fusion, Reza Khan has a long-established history of blazing fresh trails, pushing limits and finding unique ways to redefine what is possible in contemporary jazz. Working with some of the genre’s most revered sidemen, the Bangladesh born and raised, NYC based composer/guitarist has, since his 2009 debut Painted Diaries, taken a freewheeling approach to creating his dynamic, infectious yet unpredictable fusion of pop, jazz, soul and w

JONATHAN KANE AND DAVE SOLDIER, February Meets Soldier String Quartet

Jonathan Widran

Mar 9

JONATHAN KANE AND DAVE SOLDIER, February Meets Soldier String Quartet

Good thing Jonathan Kane (drums, guitar, bass) and Dave Soldier (violin, strings) let their fascinating, multi-faceted, trippy and avant-garde bluesy/rock walls of sound build slowly and contemplatively throughout their “out there” and endlessly fascinating dual project February Meets Soldier String Quartet. That gives listeners new to these eminently interesting musical Renaissance men time to immerse in their mile-long resumes which include being founder of 80’s NYC experim

THE JW VIBE

Music That Sticks To My Soul

MARE WAKEFIELD & NOMAD, No Remedy

STEVE GADD BAND At Blue Note Tokyo

MATT PANAYIDES, Field Theory

JUAN CARLOS QUINTERO, Caminando

ERIC GOLETZ, Into the Night...

ATRIA, Moonbrain

NIKOLAY NEKRASOV & THE POETRY YOU'VE HUMMED WITHOUT KNOWING IT

DEPARTURE LOUNGE, Transmeridian

SARAH MENDELSOHN, "Lifeline"

MICHAEL LINGTON, Alone Together: The Duets

REZA KHAN, Imaginary Road

JONATHAN KANE AND DAVE SOLDIER, February Meets Soldier String Quartet