Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

When I saw that a woman was putting out an album of African music, I was psyched to be able to review it. Even these days, in Africa, women are not considered the primary carriers of their culture's stories which is often displayed through music. The Griot, an important member ...

The proper role of the producer of a recorded music project has been kicked around for decades. It boils down to a question of whether the producer’s proper job is to bring out the best sound possible in a musical artist, or to put the producer’s own ...

Working in the jazz genre is more often than not a labor of love. There is a joke about how many jazz musicians it takes to change a light bulb, the answer being three hundred: one to change the bulb and two hundred ninety-nine to explain how they would have ...

Kiran Ahluwalia's album Wanderlust is a relaxing and moving 45 minutes of Indian music that is modern with a touch of tradition. For those of you who aren't familiar with Indian music, do not fret. Ahluwalia's style is careful and sweet, very easy to get into. The lyrics to her ...

Need a boost? I have found the perfect album to use when training for a marathon. Somos los que Estamos, an album by the Chilean group Los Mono, is a jolt of energy and optimism. Listen to it and I guarantee you it will be joyfully running through your head ...

Melvin Smith plays the Soprano and Tenor sax...really well. His debut album, Portrait, is jazzy but also a combination of blues, funk, gospel and even Latin. This is an album of standards but not necessarily the kind you'd think. Based on what I read in the C.D. ...

This disc purports to be a concert recording of the JPMorgan Chase Latino Cultural Festival. A note, here: banks like to sponsor minority festivals of this type in exchange for naming rights in the hope that the next time there’s a riot their local branch won’t be the first thing ...