Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

I have known the power of Al Jarreau's voice my entire life... It brings back so many memories of my mother singing along to him as she cleaned around our house or taking a personal solo in the car while being stuck in traffic. So when the opportunity to review ...

Southern Exposure is an interesting project, one that took Dorothy Doring, a Minnesota jazz vocalist, to New Orleans to record an album of jazz standards with a number of local musicians. The project was produced and arranged by David Torkanowsky, a mainstay pianist who is an under ...

With jazz music set for a boom on the heels of Herbie Hancock’s Album of the Year win at the Grammys, artists like Joe Jewell could benefit greatly. One of the best things about the jazz genre is that it’s actually difficult to find a bad album (crazy, I know). ...

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I ordered Shauna Burns’ debut album The Moon and the Fire Circle. I’m a fan of Enya and the description of her album (and it’s cover art, I might add), made me think she would be of the same ilk. And ...

Everybody loses things, whether they are material or abstract. The Civilians, a theater company in New York, used this common thread to create the off-Broadway musical Gone Missing. Sure, these songs are all about loss but that doesn't get whiny or old. They actually vary quite a ...

Tonex, from all accounts, is a troubled soul. He has had a musical career full of personal ups and downs, which, while it has affected his business, has not affected his music, to the extent that he has been able to create it and release it. Tonex’s ...