Bobby Few - Lights and Shadows (Boxholder, 2007 Pianist Bobby Few came out of the fertile Cleveland jazz scene which was wide open with swing, bop and free (and would send Albert Ayler into the jazz world.) After following Ayler to New York in the mid-1960's, Few decamped to Europe for many years, playing with soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy...

Big Road Blues discusses their most recent radio program: "The most recent song on todays show is Junior Wells Trouble Dont Last Always cut circa 1969/1970. The song comes from Southside Blues Jam which is easily one of Wells best records from this era featuring longtime partner Buddy Guy along with Otis Spann. Spanns rumbling, two-fisted piano...

Albert King - Let's Have a Natural Ball (Modern Blues, 1989 This is a collection of singles King cut in the late 50's, well before his rise to soul-blues legendhood with the Stax label. On this disc, he plays some stinging guitar led electric blues and sings in a deep, strong voice. Tight, economical guitar playing and punchy horn riffs over...

...music here was recorded live and is fast paced and frenetic, but always in control. It seems to be a very focused form of free-bop rather than more abstract free improvisation, and it is quite accessible. The band functions very well as a full unit, and there is also much solo space available. Parker especially takes advantage of this,...

...musical exploration path he set out upon with a very successful series of recordings for Blue Note records. Joining him on this recording are Sara Serpa on vocals, Adam Birnbaum on piano, Nir Felder on guitar, Joseph Lepore on bass on and Hamir Atwal on drums. The title of the album and of the individual compositions seem to suggest a...

Mac Walton has a nice review of a recent Son Seals DVD: "One distinguishing feature of Seals is that is often overlooked is that he was great at both rhythm and lead guitar. Another interesting facet of Seals is that he was a very good songwriter. He didn't just write about women who left him or who still hasn't come home at 3 O'clock in the...

...music to really interesting conclusions. Much like Fela's music, the focus of the lyrics here (at least the ones in English) are the political struggle of the people of Africa. Quite a bit of the music here sounds like a mash-up of James Brown's funky 70's sides with classic Nigerian highlife music. While there are some very good solos,...

...music by vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. Originally categorized as an avant garditst because of his association with the likes of Andrew Hill, Eric Dolphy and Sam Rivers, Hutcherson in fact defied categorization. While he loved the exploration of the avant garde, as seen here, he was also interested in abstract orchestral shadings and funky...

...music. In that manner, it is a fine introduction to Reed's music. He was one of the most popular bluesman of his day, regularly appearing on the R&B charts, and crossing over into the pop charts as well. Much of this was due to the unpretentious, down home nature of much of Reed's work. His music used very simple blues forms, which endeared...

...musicians were eagerly accepted into the progressive jazz community that was beginning to flourish, and McGregor began to lead his own small groups and form his big band, The Brotherhood of Breath . On this previously unreleased album, he is joined by regular collaborators like Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone and Louis...