Considering the transcendent, progressive, rhythmically eclectic and wild sonic surprises Dieter Spears has electrified our ears with in recent years, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that he blesses us this Halloween with the ultimate spooky treat – Le Carnavale Du Macabre , artfully designed as the standalone soundtrack to DeathHaus , a compelling, edge of your seat horror film he is currently seeking financing for. Beyond its massive expanse of haunting, mystery filled ch

Before addressing the richer emotional depths and heartfelt storytelling bravura of Deborah Shulman’s soul-stirring latest album We Had A Moment , it must be said – her elegant, easy grooving hipster mash-up of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” and “On Broadway,” created with a trio led by her longtime pianist/arranger Jeff Colella, is perhaps the coolest and most gripping homage to NYC in recent contemporary jazz memory. Presented as a reflection of the longing she alway

Considering that one of the characteristics of Indian ragas is offering a musical framework within which to improvise, the American art form of jazz should be considered something of a cultural sister genre. But it took a visionary like South Indian born pianist/composer Charu Suri to bring the logical fusion of these two art forms – one dating back thousands of years, the other just over a century – to emphatic fruition as a contemporary hybrid style all its own. Starting wi

Jumping at the chance to review keyboardist/composer Richard Theisen’s 2024 Wayfarer Records debut Oceanova, I was at first captivated by his evolution from Grammy winning pop songwriter (for synth-pop duo The System’s Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack tune “Rock ‘N Roll Me Again”) to popular pianist, singer and entertainer, TV and film library composer and finally, bona fide visionary new age ambient artist. What captivated me next was his David Arkenstone-like ability to create

With the celebration re-release of “Sexy Cindy (Music Video),” Dr. Dave’s infectious 2018 hit single finally receives its proper due – with a vocal-enhanced version that’s been up on YouTube for years but because of strict format policies was never heard by fans listening to the song when it was all over smooth jazz radio.   In 2018, the veteran guitarist, composer and longtime genre hit maker, riffing off the title of one of his earlier solo albums, paid homage to his ensemb

As a general if largely unspoken rule, passionate, heartfelt collections of personal love songs are usually created by artists in pop, R&B, country, rock, jazz – pretty much any other genre besides electronic ambient/new age. If a recording in this realm is driven by the concept of love, it’s usually of a universal kind, aspiring to bring people’s common humanity together, or connected to the lofty goal of channeling the Divine Love of the Universe. Leave it to Dieter Spears,

By any measure of whatever folks consider success in the music industry, Pat Melfi has enjoyed an extraordinarily impactful career in multiple capacities behind the scenes, from VP for MCA Records/Alexas Music Productions and Tour Management (where he was a five time award winning Promoter of the Year) to his role over the years as personal manager for multiple Grammy winners Rebecca Lynn Howard, Juice Newton, multi-platinum artist Champaign, and currently, country singer Mic

Long before the 2020 release of her hypnotic, visceral jazz-soul re-imagining of Nina Simone’s 1966 song “Blackbird” coincided with the Black Lives Matter movement and led her to redefine her identity as Lady Blackbird, Marley Munroe was such a prodigious talent as an adolescent that she signed with a Nashville based Christian label at 12 and began to work with CCM rap/rock stars DC Talk. Though raised in church, by her mid-teens, no longer wanting to be musically limited or

Closing in on three decades since Michael Peterson first graced us with his self-titled debut album and its indelible #1 country hit – and fourth most popular wedding country song of all time – “From Here To Eternity,” the multi-faceted singer songwriter, backed by gospel legends The Imperials,  brings his passionate vocal flair to an epic, soaring and emphatically inspirational version of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” Best known for The Hollies’ classic 1969 version (a

When’s the last time the title of a cheerful, uplifting hard driving pop/rock album drove you to Google to figure out its inspiration? That happens with Major Spark’s triumphant, energetic  seriously high spirited second album Walk Among the Poppies , whose title track is based on the unusual Australian expression “cut down the tall poppies,” a reference to a cultural phenomenon where people who are successful, ambitious or stand out are criticized, resented or belittled by e

Anyone previously unfamiliar with the extraordinarily inventive veteran Brazilian genre-busting, composer and multi-keyboardist Miguel Kertsman will know they’re in for a prodigious, mind and consciousness-expanding experience on his magnum opus Paradoxes the minute they see quotes from Rolling Stone in his promo materials. “Overall, this music remains indescribable and defies categorization,” their review reads. Berklee Today once called him “the multi-dimensional composer.

While the covers of all three editions of multi-instrumentalist Larry Douglas’ extraordinary, wildly eclectic EP Music Speaks for Me shows the veteran San Francisco based artist sitting at a grand piano, it’s delightful to realize as the intoxicating hip hop-jazz fusion tunes unfold that while he has some incredible pianists working with him (most notably, Clifford Lamb on the gorgeous piano trumpet ballad “They Call Me Zadie Mae”), Douglas is constantly surprising us with a