From the first bass note within the driving drum beat you can tell something is different about the new record from Nikki Lane. The backbeat feels like a gutsy strut while the lead guitar feels like a revved up engine shifting gears. Denim & Diamonds comes out firing, spit shining the cowboy boots and tossing on a jean jacket. Produced by Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Denim & Diamonds has the Highway Queen embracing a more rock-oriented sound while still maintaining the heartfelt outlaw country sound she has developed across her previous three releases. read more

Ali Farka Touré trekked the world, bringing his beloved Malian music to the masses. Dubbed “the African John Lee Hooker,” one could hear strong connections between the two; both employed a bluesy style of play with gritty textures that elicit calm and fury in equal measure. Though he transcended in 2006, Ali’s musical legacy lives on through his son, Vieux aka “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” an accomplished guitarist and champion of Malian music in his own right. On Ali, his collaborative album with Khruangbin, Vieux pays homage to his father by recreating some of his most resonant work, putting new twists on it while maintaining the original’s integrity. The result is a rightful ode to a legend.

Philadelphia, PA based Alex Giannascoli's has been cranking out homemade recordings (about 10 albums depending on how you count) for the last 10 years. The last three came out on Domino and have really brought some attention for his folk & prog tinged brand of earnest art rock.  His desire to experiment with sound & song only add to his rich storytelling via poetry & prose.

On this day in 1926, John Coltrane entered this world. Born in North Carolina, Coltrane played with a bunch of folks in Philidelphia before he reached jazz fame with the Miles Davis Quintet playing sax on a bunch of classic titles on Prestege (Cookin', Workin', Relaxin'..) then Columbia (Round About Midnight, Kind of Blue). While he was a working member of the Miles band he cut this stone cold masterpiece as bandleader for Blue Note records. It features a bluesy/modal style that is similar to what was going on in Miles' group at the time. Coltrane would go on to recored his be-bop masterpiece (Giant Steps) as well as a massive body of post-bop work (including A Love Supreme) with his own classic quartet and continue his sonic journey to the avant-garde  (Ascension, Om, etc) with Pharaoh Sanders, Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane and others. HBD Trane. You are an American treasure.

Chicago-based percussionist, producer and composer Makaya McCraven recorded In These Times with contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators – including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill . The music was recorded in 5 different studios and 4 live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work at home. The 11 song suite features a highly personal but broadly communicable fusion of odd-meter compositions from his working songbook with orchestral, large ensemble arrangements and the edit-heavy “organic beat music” that he’s honed over a growing body of production-craft.

Joni Mitchell was at a turning point 50 years ago. After making four acclaimed albums with Reprise Records, including her 1971 masterpiece Blue, she left the label to join the brand-new Asylum Records in 1972. Over the next seven years, Mitchell would record some of the most acclaimed music of her career while changing her musical direction by adding more jazz elements into her songwriting. The evolution culminated in 1979 with Mingus, her collaboration with jazz titan Charles Mingus, and her studio last album for Asylum.

This set includes FOR THE ROSES (1972), COURT AND SPARK (1974), the double live album MILES OF AISLES (1974), and THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS (1975); All four were recently remastered by Bernie Grundman

Marisa Anderson is one of the most eminent guitarists working today. Her lucid, eloquent approach to guitar music and composition has established her as an unparalleled artist and an insightful, coveted collaborator. Anderson’s work draws on a mosaic of folk musics and lives in conversation with myriad musical traditions. As a master of her instrument, Anderson translates abstractions into undeniably moving music, tracing through traditional folk tunes, imagined Sci-Fi films, and foggy sanctuaries of sound. Still, Here is Anderson at her most direct, laying bare her practice of processing and understanding the world through music and distilling that practice into pieces as expressive as they are transfixing.

These four monsters of modern jazz used to play together in the 90s with The Joshua Redman Quartet (Brad Mehldau - piano, Christian McBride - bass and Brian Blade - drums before they all became in demand bandleaders individually. They reunited after twenty-six years for 2020’s RoundAgain; and now return with LongGone, featuring six original songs by Redman. This seems to be becoming a thing!