Here’s a so called “fun fact” about veteran world class percussionist, distinguished educator and musical visionary Patti Cudd. In addition to her commitment to avant-garde 21st Century music and revolutionary integration of percussion with real time electronic processing, she’s trained in the martial arts for nearly three decades and holds a 3rd degree black sash in Chuan Lu Kung Fu. Always pushing herself and the proverbial envelope in so many ways, she often eschews tradit

One of the great sonic wonders that singer/songwriter Gina Kronstadt brings to her latest album THE KRONSTADT COLLECTIVE is her willingness to take chances and the freedom to mix up various styles on a single track, as she does with the fascinating opening piece and title track “Feel Something.” It’s a slice of musical surrealism inspired by the docuseries The Warhol Diaries, which touched on Andy Warhol’s album artwork for jazz luminaries like Monk, Count Basie and Kenny Bur

In 2008, nine years after establishing his unique classical and jazz hybrid style with re-imaginings of arias by the likes of Puccini, Bellini and Verdi, pianist/composer Jay D’Amico returned to Italy – both physically and perhaps more significantly, musically – for Tuscan Prelude , a collection of originals that launched the Jazz Under Glass branding aesthetic that has subsequently driven and defined all of his recordings, including Nocturne  (2010), Melodia (2024) and most

Over the last 25+ years, veteran New York pianist/composer Jay D’Amico has set a fascinating standard that sets him apart from all other jazz-based recording artists, finding ways to artfully and engagingly fuse the two great loves of his musical life - European classical arias and American improvisational jazz. Whether performing with a trio, duo with bass or larger jazz ensemble, he’s rooted those passions in a fascinating, heritage-based curation and exploration of Italian

Thinking back to the sensory and soul transforming experience of immersing in veteran pianist Jay D’Amico’s Ginevra: a portrait of little girl blue , I realize that I was perhaps more focused on his fascination for all things Da Vinci and why he chose to expound musically on his emotional connection to the iconic painter’s “other” masterwork than on the mastery and dynamics of his newly formed trio (his brother, bassist Greg D’Amico and drummer Michael Fox) and how the album

Deep into 2002’s fourth decade of recording, the release of another sonically intricate, melodically and rhythmically transcendent and soul-transformative album like their latest, The Wishing Well , is another opportunity to tap into the behind-the-scenes magic behind the ongoing dynamic musical flow of the husband-and-wife team of Pamela and Randy Copus and their daughter Sarah – a trio Michael Diamond of Music and Media Focus once called “the first family of new age music.”

A beloved institution on the Hawaiian club scene currently celebrating a remarkable 50 years of performing on the islands, Maggie Herron’s life and career are powerful testimonies to the healing power of music, a deeply heartfelt and intensely challenging journey now culminating in the release of her transcendent, stylistically eclectic ninth album, the perfectly titled Yesterday’s Lives . In the wake of great tragedy and loss, music, so it’s said, can act as a powerful tool

After another emotionally topsy turvy year, veteran sax powerhouse Paula Atherton finds a golden, exhilarating way to celebrate her remarkable 25-year recording career while gifting smooth jazz fans with the perfect, hard-pumping soundtrack to a fresh, optimistic mindset to start 2026. Co-written with and produced by frequent collaborator – and onetime Kalimba Records labelmate – Greg Manning (with guitar and additional production by Lou Gimenez, “Make It Happen” is an edgy,

Over the course of his multi-decade recording career, Denman Maroney has mastered expanded the sonic possibilities of his chosen instrument with his invention of his “hyperpiano” technique, a method of playing both from the keyboard and from inside the cabinet simultaneously. Aiming to produce sounds beyond normal keyboard playing, he creates otherworldly orchestral-style textures, drones and percussive effects by sliding, bowing, stopping, plucking or hitting the strings wit

The clever and thought-provoking titles of Queens NY based modern chamber music ensemble Percussia’s first two albums – Plucked and Struck (2024) and their latest, Murmuration – perfectly reflect and symbolize the intricate and captivating signature sound the five-piece unit creates with their unique fusion of percussion (by group founder Ingrid Gordon and Frank Cassara), harp (Susan Jolles), flute (Margaret Lancaster) and viola and fadolin (Ljova). Bridging classical tradi

A masterwork artfully weaving emotionally compelling, sparsely arranged subtlety and epic, empowering expression, Amy Levy: Songs of Love is a contemporary song cycle that brings together the diverse talents of three unique, creatively expressive personalities across three centuries – acclaimed composer and mountain dulcimer (among a myriad of traditional folk instruments) Alex Lubet, veteran Minnesota based mezzo soprano Victoria Vargas and 19th Century poet Amy Levy (1861-

Over the past three decades, a handful of prominent contemporary classical artists have used their art in service of unique retellings of the phoenix mythology, drawing upon the creature’s heartrending death/rebirth symbolism and exploring themes of renewal and resilience – most notably, Thea Musgrave’s Phoenix Rising (1997), Stellah Sung’s The Phoenix Rising (2008) and Fénix  by Juan María Solare (2013). With the release of her perfectly titled third work Transcendent Phoe