By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 11/12/2009

Still More Jazz Icons

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 09/29/2009

For five days at the end of August, 1970, some 600,000 people descended on the tiny Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 08/24/2009

I’ll be the first to admit that although I’ve always been a fan of Jeff Beck’s guitar playing, I have not faithfully kept up...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 08/24/2009

On the surface, Chris Isaak hasn’t progressed a helluva lot since he first burst on the scene 20-plus years ago, with his Elvis good...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 08/04/2009

The commercial release of this May 2007 concert at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.—originally shown on PBS—is a cause for rejoicing for all...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 07/14/2009

I swear, someday they’re going to run out of new Woodstock stuff to put out…but not yet! Just in time for the 40th anniversary...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 07/07/2009

Back in the mid- to late ’70s, one of my favorite singer-songwriters was Indiana-born and Northern California–raised Dirk Hamilton. He had assimilated bits of...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 06/23/2009

B.B. King was 68 when this wonderful show was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival. That sounds like a lot, but considering he’s still...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 06/02/2009

Chick Corea and John McLaughlin first played together in 1969 on Miles Davis’ seminal jazz-rock albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, before...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 05/26/2009

Lennon and Ono at Their Strangest

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 05/18/2009

American Idiot felt like such an audacious over-achievement from what had heretofore been a strong but not particularly original post-punk band, is it any...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 05/12/2009

Boasting members of such popular bands as Maroon 5, Gomez and Phantom Planet, the loose aggregation known as Operation Aloha qualifies as a modern...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 05/04/2009

Wow, where does the time go? It’s hard to believe that the great Texas/Americana singer-songwriter-bandleader Doug Sahm has been dead for 10 years now....

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 05/01/2009

Really, with a player as great as tenor and soprano sax giant Wayne Shorter, you could carve out a few songs from just about...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 05/01/2009

This excellent double-CD finds a collection of first-rate contemporary Chicago players, some with roots going back to artists active in the peak years of...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 05/01/2009

What a delightful surprise this album is! Toussaint, of course, is well known as a songwriter, producer and arranger, but he’s also made his...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 04/27/2009

This fine two-DVD set from the fall of 2008 includes a feature-length documentary about Smashing Pumpkins’ two comeback residencies in the early summer of...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 04/27/2009

And now for something completely different. On February 8, 2007, the Alberta (Canada) Ballet Company debuted a wonderful 50-minute dance program set entirely to...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 03/24/2009

This fine two-DVD set from the fall of 2008 includes a feature-length documentary about Smashing Pumpkins’ two comeback residencies in the early summer of...

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 03/24/2009

Various Artists: From the Basement (Eagle Vision)

By Blair Jackson ⋅ Published: 02/24/2009

A Technicolor Dream (Eagle Vision) Three months after San Francisco’s hippie counterculture staged its giant coming-out party in Golden Gate Park at the “Human...