For sheer engagement, live jazz nearly always trumps studio recordings. Yet too often in-concert discs suffer from self-consciousness or pretension. Neither mars Joe Zawinul’s triumphant “Brown Street,” recorded live at his Birdland club in Vienna with his crack quartet augmented by the WDR Big Band. Zawinul re-examines electric jazz-rock classics from his seminal fusion […]
Instrumentalist act Do Make Say Think explores a broad range of sonic territory on its fifth full-length recording. The set opens with sparse drumming and a mellow jazz tempo of “Bound to Be That Way” before moving into the nine-minute “A With Living,” which crescendos into a wash of horns and layered vocals. The […]
Christina Aguilera’s original concept for the CD “Back to Basics” was a jazzy Andrews Sisters resuscitation, but she ultimately released a double disc brewing contempo with her retro shoutout. Grammy Award-winning first single “Ain’t No Other Man” was a savvy blend of the styles, while ballad second release “Hurt” was timeless pop. Third in line, […]
Thanks to the surprise runaway success of KT Tunstall’s debut, “Black Horse & the Cherry Tree” — originally launched as a setup for “real” hit “Suddenly I See” — Virgin found itself in the enviable position of starting the new year with a platinum Grammy Award-nominated artist. Third single “Other Side of the World” is […]
Beat heiress Danielle Bollinger established a solid reputation as a signature dance siren with “Kiss the Sky” and “When the Broken Hearted Love Again.” Third release “You’ll Always Have Me” is not as instant, but Junior Vasquez’s radio mix adds urgency to the original that will drive a beeline to the dance floor. Mike Rizzo’s […]
Eddie Money is the latest artist to bound onto the bygone bandwagon on “Wanna Go Back,” a collection of ’60s classics — his first album of the decade. His cover of the standard “You Don’t Know Me” — which charted for Jerry Vale, Ray Charles and Elvis Presley, among others — is earning play on […]
Now that the airwaves are rife with pop-rock bands, the stage is set for Florida’s Anberlin to make a dramatic entrance with upcoming album “Cities.” Single “Godspeed,” as its name suggests, is a fevered, headlong rush that glories in spiraling production and exhilarating chorus. Imagine spinning in delirious circles under a vast, clear sky, reveling […]
It took a dogged 18 weeks for “American Idol” fourth-season fugitive Mario Vazquez’s debut, “Gallery,” to reach its No. 6 destination on mainstream top 40 radio, confirming that the soulful singer had legs beyond his (limited) standing with America’s top-rated TV show. Second single “One Shot” is reminiscent of the previous effort, but this time […]
Modeling one of the most dazzling smiles in music biz history — Crest White Strips, sign this man up — is an intriguing enough entry point for country newcomer Luke Bryan, but that would be shallow now, wouldn’t it? Behind the pretty mug is his debut, “All My Friends Say,” a consummate twang anthem about […]
How can you spend your summer vacation, if you’re 12 to 15: Go to “American Idol” camp.
Idol Camp, a performing arts summer camp for kids who crave more than kayaking and hiking, is opening in Massachusetts, it was announced Thursday by series creator 19 Entertainment and co-producer FremantleMedia.
The camp’s limited enrollment isn’t audition-based and won’t […]
Yoko Ono doesn’t see many parallels between today’s celebrity war protesters and her late husband John Lennon’s activism against the Vietnam War — but says that’s because the times today are so different.
“I think there are many people who want world peace and want to address it by peaceful means,” Ono told The Associated […]
A movie about Milli Vanilli is in the pipeline, according to reports emerging from Hollywood.
The film will detail the rise and fall of the late-’80s duo, who became international stars only to be exposed as pop frauds.
Jeff Nathanson, writer of Catch Me If You Can, is understood to be behind the biopic, which has the […]
Erasure may have logged only three stateside hits over 20 years, but that has never slowed its ability to fill venues with steadfastly maniacal fans. Last year’s acoustic tour proved once and for all that it is more than synths and camp that have made Vince Clarke and Andy Bell an enduring force, with […]
Jill Cunniff, former lead singer of alt-rock group Luscious Jackson, returns after six years and two kids with a delightfully breezy and refreshingly hopeful chill-out solo disc. Cunniff’s honeyed vocals, distinctive wah-heavy guitar and retro-fabulous canned beats on tracks like “NYC Boy” evoke New York circa 1994, when Luscious Jackson’s debut full-length was released […]
