Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

When Albert Collins sings, he either looks like he’s making love or enduring a really bad ulcer.  His face scrunches up and he closes his eyes.  What spills out of his mouth are some of the best blues that any living musician is playing today.  He has a knack for ...

My wife and I were driving through South Louisiana several years ago when she asked me about signs that said “POSTED” which were hanging on intervals at trees. I advised her that the signs marked private property and told hunters not to trespass, hunt, or the like. ...

Starting off the album is a simple trio piece entitled A Wonderful Guy. The piano is lovely and quaint, but I’m not quite sure that’s a complement. There’s nothing overly impressive about the piece; it sits within its own limits. “I Hadn’t Anyone Till You” echoes that same simple charming ...

Jazz purists might roll their eyes a bit at some of the showmanship former Cirque de Soleil violinist Edgar Gabriel brings to his new, Stringfusion, project, but they’d be missing out on a nice album that does its ‘fusion’ moniker proud. Along the way, Gabriel and company borrow from world, ...

Fidgital's Departure opens with a very impressive track that really sets the tone for the rest of the album.  Make Up Friends starts off their seventh album on a high note.  Right away the brass adds a sensual tone, leaving an opening for the singer to folow the lead effectively ...

I’ll admit it. I was not thrilled with any of Fiona Joy Hawkins’s 10 “chilled” piano stylings. The lengthy opening track on her latest release, simply titled Ice--Piano Slightly Chilled, is a strange cross between pseudo Rock music and Trance with a digeridoo. Cloud Chill, the second Antarctic-like exploration of ...

“Superb,” “exquisite” and “delicious” are three words that only begin to describe Greg Chako’s ninth and latest release, Everybody’s Got A Name. Chako’s superb playing, exquisite interpretations and delicious melodies, combined with his impeccable ear for melody, lend an understated elegance to each of the album’s 11 tracks. He guides ...

Sketched in the background on the cover of Paul Carr’s latest release Musically Yours, is face of man by the name of Joe Henderson. Henderson (1937-2001) left an incredible amount of material and inspiration with jazz music over his career, appearing with such heavy hitters as Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, ...