It was a brilliant week at WFUV radio where a pair of Juniors – both amazing guitar players – stopped by for conversations with me and to lay down live versions of songs found on recently released albums. Follow the links to hear the chats and enjoy video of the […]
Interview
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I don’t want to put a jinx on her but after spending some time with Melanie Martinez, I’m convinced she’s got an extremely promising future as a recording artist. The 20 year old out of Baldwin, Long Island clearly has a creative vision for her music and whether it’s co-writing […]
When I spoke with Jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove the other day, I asked him about R&B phenom D’Angelo. Here’s what he said about the man and working on D’Angelo’s Black Messiah. D’Angelo is playing Carnegie Hall on October 1, 2015 with other artists “Celebrating the Music of Bill Withers”.
There’s no trumpet (and flugelhorn) player I”d rather listen to than Roy Hargrove. He burns equally bright whether applying his pure lustrous tone to tough hard bop or to smoldering ballads. I spoke with the artist on a sunny late afternoon here in the city over the long Labor Day […]
An amazing group of Disc Jockeys spins under the Mobile Mondays! flag at The Bowery Electric. They all have their own unique style under a unifying aesthetic of playing 45 RPM records with great passion and knowledge. I had the pleasure of catching a hang with a pair of the […]
The new James Maddock album is called The Green. The British-born singer-songwriter who has called the Lower East Side of Manhattan home for the past 12 years has penned another appealing collection of songs. He treated the fortunate group who squeezed into Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 to a good handful […]
Fifth Harmony are on a roll! Their single Worth It was recently certified double platinum, they celebrated the release of their new video for I’m In Love With A Monster by premiering it in Times Square, and they sold out The Beacon Theatre. In addition to the look at the fab […]
Those who have seen The J. Geils Band perform in concert know the kind of energy, power, and passion that they bring every time they congregate. With Magic Dick blowing sublime harp, DK (Dr Funk) Daniel Klein rumbling and tumbling on bass, Seth Justman barrelhousing on keys, and the incomparable […]
Howard Jones combined adept, crafty skills on synthesizers and keyboards and (an area where many of his contemporaries who were lumped in a general category of synth-pop were lacking) strong songwriting to create a memorable catalog of hits. He brought those hits, 15 in the top 40 including 6 in […]
Yesterday I participated in the final broadcast of The Alternate Side radio station. It was emotional! After Russ Boris, Alisa Ali and I played New Order and Joy Division back to back, I recalled the once in a lifetime pairing of Iggy Pop and New Order performing a couple of […]
We are lucky to have Warren Haynes as local talent. The Asheville, NC bred artist moved to the East Village decades ago and is now ‘burbing it up in Westchester. He tapped New Jersey’s Railroad Earth to flesh out a group of songs that he had written over many years including one penned […]
Australian rockers DMA’s, who recently released their self-titled EP in the States, are regulafellas. The guys in this exciting rock band still have day jobs back in Sydney and are tormented tenants too; they told me how they plan to trash their house above a hairdresser’s salon before they move […]
Justin Townes Earle was part of AmericanaFest NYC at Lincoln Center earlier this month. The singer-songwriter has added significantly to his impressive body of work recently with Single Mothers followed closely by Absent Fathers that was recorded in the same sessions. Here’s a taste of the performance and our conversation which featured […]
Before their show in Brooklyn at Barclays Arena, TOTO were given commemorative plaques to recognize an eyebrow-raising 40 million albums sold. The achievement is another feather in the cap of the veteran rock ensemble best known for their three top 5 hits Africa, Rosanna, and Hold The Line. Fans of […]
Amazing night Outdoors At Lincoln Center on Saturday 8/8/2015 as an all-star band (Smokey Hormel, David Garza, Benmont Tench, Al Kooper, etc) played Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited for the second annual AmericanaFest NYC. Watkins Family Hour, the long running side band of Nickel Creek’s siblings Sean and Sara Watkins […]
If you’re a Sharon Jones fan, you know Saun & Starr as her backing singers The Dapettes. Now, it’s time to know them at the front of the stage! Their new album on Daptone Records Look Closer is out and the dynamite duo celebrated with a show at Lincoln Center…
Country star Luke Bryan delighted the crowd at FarmBorough Festival earlier this summer. Now the Georgia native is coming back to New York City, where he was asked for directions during his last visit, to celebrate the release of his new album Kill The Lights…
New York City’s own John Pizzarelli is, like a lot of us, a lifelong Beatles fan. You can imagine the thrill it was for the jazz guitarist/vocalist to record with Paul McCartney on the latter’s Kisses On The Bottom a few years ago. Macca had liked the John Pizzarelli Meets The […]
Dr. John gave us a scare by canceling his show in Central Park on 8-2-2014 for health reasons. However, the New Orleans music legend was in good spirits when we chatted a couple of weeks after that on the release of his new album: Ske Dat De Dat – The Spirit […]
Moving to Los Angeles would be an intense experience for almost anyone but for Laura Marling, who grew up on the English countryside, it precipitated what the folk-rock singer-songwriter – half jokingly – called an existential crisis. Here she talks about that city which was an inspiration for her latest release […]
The Loveless brothers Eoin (pronounced Owen, pictured above) and Rory, better known as the hard-rocking English band Drenge, have a name that sparks associations with grunge. That parallel isn’t necessarily incorrect since fans of Soundgarden’s sonics might appreciate the sludgy goodness that this duo have crafted on their second album, […]
Four heavy jazz artists: Gary Bartz, Buster Williams, Larry Willis, and Al Foster have come together as Heads of State. The new album, Search for Peace, is out and they’ll be celebrating its release with shows this weekend at Manhattan’s Smoke Jazz Club. I spoke with Gary Bartz at the […]
Long time Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes has released an album unlike any in his tremendous career. Ashes & Dust was made with Railroad Earth at The Barber Shop Studios in Hopatcong, New Jersey. Haynesy explained that he’d been collecting songs for years that were the kind of thing that […]
Welsh rockers Super Furry Animals were a tasty take and Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks didn’t disappoint as the 5th annual Village Voice 4 Knots Festival made the transition to a ticketed event and enjoyed its new digs on Pier 84 on Hudson River Park after 4 years at South Street Seaport, […]
Micky Dolenz recorded an album to be released in September 2015 over three shows at Manhattan supper club 54 Below last week. The Monkee and childhood television actor, who has a brilliant run on stage as well, draws upon all of it in his show A Little Bit Broadway, A Little Bit Rock […]