Jonathan Kriesberg is one of the more interesting voices in contemporary Jazz Guitar. His compositions are well structured and thoughtful and he manages to blend traditional musical form with modern harmonies and melodic concepts. Kriesberg has a solid and fluid technical ability that is a pleasure to listen to. His tone is somewhat Methenyesque, but definitely is still his own unique sound.
Lou Volpe has an outstanding professional resume. He has appeared as a sideman with many great jazz and pop artists. A partial list includes Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker, Herbie Mann, Peggy Lee and the Manhattan Transfer. Volpe was a student of Sal Salvador and spent quite a bit of time in jam sessions with Les Paul.
Walter Kolosky the writer of Power, Passion and Beauty: The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra, brings us a listener’s guide that leads the reader through the different depths of John McLaughlin’s music. Kolosky’s Follow Your Heart – John McLaughlin Song By Song is written from the author’s subjective experience after listening to 42 of McLaughlin’s albums and analyzing each of the tunes.
One of the most iconic rock’ n’ roll bands in history, Motörhead, is out touring the US to celebrate the band’s 35th anniversary and the release their new studio album The Wörld is Yours. This latest release sold 7,000 copies in US in its first week to land at No. 94 on The Billboard 200 chart, and to-date has sold over 100,000 copies, an achievement Lemmy was proud to point out during an interview prior to the show, saying it was the bands best-selling CD yet.
When Times of Grace started, Adam Dutkiewicz and Jesse Leach had songs written but they didn’t know if they would record them. When they had recorded an album, they didn’t know if they would release it. And after they released their debut record, The Hymn Of A Broken Man (Special Edition)(CD/DVD), in 2010, they weren’t sure if they were going to tour behind it, which brings us to the Bottom Lounge last weekend in Chicago. Obviously, response has been enough for Times of Grace to do a club tour across the U.S. with guests War of Ages (Erie, PA) and Straight Line Stitch (Knoxville, TN).
One thing you learn really quickly in this business is to listen to the buzz. The buzz tells you what hot new band is worth tracking down when you’re surfing the net for your next download. It informs you what concerts you should drive two hours out of your way for. Telling you which ones are important enough to grab your tickets in advance and gather your friends at the local venue so that you can check them out on a Friday night.
Co-Producer Michael Bay optioned the bestselling novel I Am Number Four, authored by James Frey and Jobie Hughes, and assembled a smart and savvy screenwriting team comprised of Smallville’s Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Marti Noxon. With Disturbia Director D.J. Caruso at the helm, expectations loomed high for a bright, intelligent, science fiction thriller steeped in thoughtful character development, emotional resolve, and rich narrative. Well, maybe not so much.
I was a young boy when I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Experiencing Ed Sullivan introduce the Beatles, unlike other boys, I wasn’t interested in being in the band. I wanted to introduce great talent to the world.
Some things were invented for obvious reasons. With others, the motivation is less clear. Consider, for example, the electric guitar. When guitarists first crudely electrified their instruments in the 1920s, what were they trying to do? Why change something that had been successful for hundreds of years? Could they have envisioned that the instrument that inspired some of Vivaldi’s and Boccherini’s most beautiful compositions would one day be used by Motorhead and Blink-182?
Un Tiempo Fue Italica Famosa is the remarkable, debut recording by D.C. based classical-guitarist Matt Palmer. Consisting primarily of music by Spanish composers, such as fan favorites Rodrigo, Turina, and Tarrega, the album also features works by Giuliani, and a virtuosic rendition of the “Sonata Mongoliana” by contemporary composer Stepan Rak, among others. Palmer delivers an absolutely incredible performance on this album. His command of advanced techniques, a refined sound, and a high-level of artistic expression, make Un Tiempo Fue Italica Famosa a classical guitar album of the highest standard.
