Blogcritics Category: Music: Instrumental

Music Review: Avishai Cohen - Flood

Pico — Fri, 9 Jan 2009 01:39:23 EST

The second of Cohen's "The Big Rain" trilogy is an austere beauty of acoustic global fusion.
For the second time in a year, we're here looking at an Avishai Cohen album, but from two different musicians. Because, while both are jazz artists who hail from Israel, the one we examined earlier specializes in acoustic bass. The one we are looking at here is a trumpet player.Avishai Cohen --the trumpeter -- plays jazz like that bass guy, but his...

Best of 2008: Counting Crows, Oasis, Black Keys, Dave Carter, B.B. King, The Bittersweets, Mudcrutch, R.E.M., Coldplay, Gutter Twins, Glen Phillips

Josh Hathaway — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 18:39:57 EST

2008 was a great year for music.
It's become an annual rite of passage in the music business. Every year, the trade papers are filled with stories about how this year was worse than last year. If the music execs were hoping we'd get so tired of reading that story that we'd start to ignore it -- you know, 'the boy who cried wolf' routine -- it hasn't...

Music Review: Enclave - Enclave Diaspora

Big Geez — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 09:06:24 EST

Don't try to figure out the name -- just enjoy the music.
A few years back, multi-instrumentalist Hilary Noble brought his remarkable talents into a partnership with equally skilled pianist Rebecca Cline and formed Enclave, a group dedicated to their concept of an Afro-Latin/post-bop jazz fusion. The quartet's initial album, 2005's Enclave, found a receptive audience among jazz fans and critics...

Music Review: Erik Friedlander - Broken Arm Trio

Pico — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 23:24:45 EST

Friedlander shows us again why he's such a scary good whack jazz cellist.
"Erik Friedlander can do things with a cello that should have a reasonable listener fearing for her life."That quote came not from the Lester Bangs of whack jazz Mark Saleski, but from none other than Pitchforkmedia.com. There aren't that many cellists -- much less whack jazz cellists -- who get any kind of attention from a site more in tune with...

Music Review: Michael Higgins - The Moon And The Lady Dancing

Big Geez — Fri, 2 Jan 2009 14:57:57 EST

Start off your new year with some solid, traditional jazz.
My first review of the new year is - ironically enough - an album that seems to have a couple of different issue dates. Jazz guitarist Michael Higgins' effort, The Moon And The Lady Dancing, appears to have been available in some spots last Summer, but the album's official street date is January 1st, 2009. But we're here to talk about...

Retro Redux: Ringing In The New Year With Auld Music

Big Geez — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:41:29 EST

With this information, you can be the envy of other party-goers...or maybe not.
I have to confess that I haven't been to a New Year's Eve party for a long time, but I would be willing to bet that at least a few party-goers will still follow the tradition of singing "Auld Lang Syne" when midnight arrives. I would also guess that most of them will have no idea of the origin of the song, and by that point of the...

Best Songs of 2008: Raconteurs, Black Keys, Bittersweets, Dave Carter, Jon Foreman, Glen Phillips, B.B. King, Oasis, Ryan Adams, Phil Keaggy

Josh Hathaway — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 11:33:50 EST

Here are a few of the 2008 tracks that dominated my iPod...
With thanks to the late Layne Staley I try not to plan the funeral before the body has died but there's only one Tuesday left in 2008 and there's nothing I'm in a hurry to go out and buy. Three years down the road I may come across a 2008 album I missed and want to amend this list, but for now, for better and worse these are...

Retro Redux: Sometimes You Can Have Too Much Tequila

Big Geez — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:25:28 EST

You might want to take some advice from the guys who made Tequila famous.
Now that Christmas is in the rear-view mirror, a lot of folks will be looking towards New Year's Eve for their next celebration. If you're one of those who plan to host a party, you might want to heed the advice of an oldies-era instrumental group -- it's possible to have too much tequila. In the late 1950's pop music was in a state...

Music Review: Cynthia Hilts - Second Story Breeze

Big Geez — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:54:05 EST

A lot of talent showcased in a small package -- a description that fits both the artist and her new album.
If you're unfamiliar with New York-based jazz artist Cynthia Hilts, you might assume that she's just one of many conventional female vocalists active on the current music scene. But if you listen to her new album, Second Story Breeze, now out on the Blond Coyote label, you'll discover that she's something special. Hilts is a...

Music Review: Barnacled - Charles

Pico — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:48:22 EST

Barnacled cheerfully challenges musical conventions by throwing them all in a blender.
The topic of this review is yet another ESP-Disk release, and I've often wondered if ESP is an acronym for "not for the faint of heart" in Esperanto. I'm a lot more certain of this, though: Barnacled is a perfect fit for the label, which seems to relish challenging anyone who thinks they have an open mind when it comes to music....