A friend of mine, who is also a writer, tends to get a lot of his inspiration from listening to any variety of different musical sounds. He recently suggested that I take a listen to the 2005 collaborative recording by jazz music great, Herbie Hancock and some of current music’s greatest artists. Herbie Hancock is a jazz pianist who has had a successful career spanning from the 1960s to the current day. His career included time as a member of Miles Davis’ “second great quint... Read Full Story

33-year-old R&B singer, India.Aria, has the right idea. Her third studio recording, Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship, released in 2006, is a trip through one woman’s self-healing and recognition. From the very opening intro track, “Loving”, the singer creates the mood by singing her version of the opening stanza from Reinhold Niebuhr’s, “Serenity Prayer”, ending it with a special prayer to give her the strength to “love with an open hear... Read Full Story

I must be honest and say that I am not a Bruce Springsteen fan. Save for a very few songs (”Tunnel Of Love”, “One Step Up”), I never really enjoyed the gravel-like voice of the Jersey rocker. But after reading the Jimmy Guterman book, The 100 Best Rock and Roll Records Of All Time, and noticing that Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album was ranked at number 14, I decided to give Bruce’s music another listen. The first things I noticed about Springsteen’s... Read Full Story

I recently finished an eye-opening book entitled, Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, And An Early Cry For Civil Rights by David Margolick. This book touched me in such a way that I knew I had to write something about it. I just wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to say, but something needed to be said. “Strange Fruit” is a haunting song that became closely linked with singer Billie Holiday specifically thanks to her inimitable interpretation of the Abel Meeropol-pen... Read Full Story

I will never forget witnessing the performance by Aretha Franklin at the 1998 Grammy Awards when the Queen stepped in for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti to sing his infamous aria, “Nessun Dorma” from the opera Turandot. I remember watching Ms. Franklin walk onto the stage that night and I thought, “How is she going to pull this off? She’s not an opera singer!”. With less than 24 hours to prepare for her “fill-in”, Aretha blew the roof off with a heart wr... Read Full Story

I am always encouraged and pleased to see a fellow musician using their status, especially when it is celebrity,  to help make change - positive change - of any kind in our world. That is exactly what Annie Lennox is trying to do with a powerful song (”SING”) from her most recent release, Songs Of Mass Destruction. Not surprisingly, with its range of serious lyric subject matter, Songs Of Mass Destruction, (released in 2007), is a dark album. With songs like “Dark Road”... Read Full Story

I know, I know. “Same Old Lang Syne” is not necessarily a New Year’s song, but we have come to associate it more with this time of year, largely due to its title. The late great Dan Fogelberg actually mentions Christmas Eve, so the song IS set around this time of year and does tell of reflection which many of us do when a new year approaches. We are usually full of regrets of what we didn’t do, say, etc., and full of promises for a better new year. Every time I hear si... Read Full Story

I was asked by a reader of my blog if I had ever “analyzed” The Who’s movie, Tommy. Indeed, I had not. I had viewed parts of the 1975 rock opera over the years and had vaguely remembered Ann Margaret playing mother to deaf and blind mute, Tommy (played by The Who’s lead singer, Roger Daltrey). And who would ever forget legs-on-fire, Tina Turner playing the Acid Queen? But it had been a while since I had watched the 111 minute cult flick from start to finish, so that is... Read Full Story

I recall reading an interview some time ago about a group of percussionists that call themselves the Global Drum Project. This article was in the January/February 2008 issue of Global Rhythm magazine (an excellent magazine for World Music enthusiasts!). As I am always interested in both World Music as well as percussion, I wanted to hear the music that these musicians, led by Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, and Indian musician Zakir Hussain, were creating. The 2007 release, Global Drum ... Read Full Story

There is so much to think about when the holiday season is upon us. We think about the gifts that we wish to buy for others. There are cookies and other goodies to be made. We think about seeing family that we might not normally see throughout the year. We miss people from our past who are gone now, who helped to form some of our strongest and dearest holiday memories. These are just some of the many things that consume us at this time of year. One of the things that I think about at Christma... Read Full Story