The Wood Brothers’ debut album is a tense and hushed affair full of weighted lyrics peppered with words like truth, faith, spirit, and soul and more angels than you can shake a stick at, and each song seems tipped right at the edge of indecision and confusion. These are…

The Little Willies took six years to deliver a second album, but For the Good Times sounds like it could have been cut the same afternoon as their 2006 debut. This is by no means a bad thing. The primary pleasure of The Little Willies, the uptown country cabaret…

The Port of Harlem Jazzmen were a tremendous all-star ensemble that recorded for Alfred Lion’s label in 1939 and 1940. The earliest sessions featured trumpeter Frankie Newton and trombonist J.C. Higginbotham as the horn stars; virtuoso soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet joined the group for its second recording session in 1939 and remained on board…

Combining the talents of tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, guitarist John Scofield, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Al Foster, there is an uncredited fifth member on jazz supergroup Scolohofo’s debut recording, Oh! — Miles Davis. Every one of these musicians, except for Lovano, gained their first real success with the…

On her Blue Note debut (and eighth recording overall), vocalist Jackie Allen stretches her already crossover approach to where the seams show. Thank God. She is a fine jazz singer and has a way with ballads and standards that is her own to be sure — and she records…

This follow up to an earlier CD (Alone Together) with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden took place exactly one year later at the same venue, L.A.’s Jazz Bakery. Like the first release, the trio takes their time exploring each tune, whether it’s the leader’s opening blues or a favorite…

Alone Together, Lee Konitz’s first recording for Blue Note, is a special event. The saxophonist teamed up with legendary bassist Charlie Haden and young lion pianist Brad Mehldau, and the trio’s interaction on this set of relaxed bop is astonishing. On paper, the music on Alone Together — a collection of standards — should just be…

Jazz songwriter and pianist Patricia Barber’s 2006 album Mythologies, a song cycle based on Ovid’s Metamorphosis, is a sprawling work of poetic and musical adventure. Upon its release, it garnered universal acclaim from critics and responsive concert audiences across the United States and Europe. After this rigorous undertaking, Barber…

Is it still art when you can fingerpop to it? Finally, it’s arrived. In 2003 jazz songwriter, pianist, and bandleader Patricia Barber received a Guggenheim fellowship to create a song cycle based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Barber is that rare kind of jazz artist — she appeals to non-jazz fans….

Chicago native and classically trained pianist Patricia Barber’s sixth album is a collection of downtempo standards, perfect for a rainy day. Taking on classics like “Autumn Leaves,” “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” or even “Alfie” is always a risk, but her confident vocals and interpretations…