More Than Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees

TOM MASON's third Yuletide album, UNDER A MISTLETOE SKY, offers a fine option with which to make Christmas merry and bright, in a year when we really need it to be so…
by David McGee
 

 
 

‘A Wonderfully Grand Way to Hear the Familiar Carols’

For choral music lovers, two beautiful Christmas albums from British sources: CHRISTMAS FROM WORCESTER BY THE WORCESTER CATHEDRAL CHOIR and CHRISTMAS FROM SELWYN, with the CHAPEL CHOIR OF SELWYN COLLEGE.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Man With All the Toys

Updated for Yuletide 2020, BRIAN SETZER's 2015 holiday gem, ROCKIN' RUDOLPH, shows off the master showman and ace guitarist at his best, along with his hard-working, gifted elves (the Orchestra), rocks and croons masterfully on...
by David McGee
 

 
 

A Bluer Shade of Christmas

An update of our 2019 review of four essential Christmas blues anthologies: Volumes 1-3 of BLUES, BLUES CHRISTMAS and Legacy Recordings' DEATH MIGHT BE YOUR SANTA CLAUS.--a bluer shade of Christmas, if you will.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Half-Lights and Misty Streetscapes

'HALF LIGHTS and MISTY STREETSCAPES': ROBERT HUGILL reviews two introspective, atmospheric, haunting gems: pianist-composer MELISSA PARMENTER's MESSAPICA and the intriguing ECHO COLLECTIVE's THE SEE WITHIN.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Shirley Chisholm: ‘Always a Doer’

In SHIRLEY CHISHOLM IS A VERB! author VERONICA CHAMBERS and illustrator RACHELLE BAKER remember the first black woman elected to Congress and the first woman to make a serious bid for the Presidency. JULES has the inside scoop.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Kathleen Edwards Returns, Triumphantly and With Animals

KATHLEEN EDWARDS returns from a lengthy, self-imposed sabbatical to reclaim the high singer-songwriter ground she conquered in 2003. Her new album, TOTAL FREEDOM, says much about where she's been, and memorably so. A dog, and b...
by David McGee
 

 
 

In Conversation: Larissa FastHorse, MacArthur Grant Fellow

In NATIVE AMERICA NEWS, an interview with playwright LARISSA FASTHORSE of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, who has been awarded a MacArthur Grant; and news of two Native groups honored with Ford Foundation grants as American Cultural...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Bound Together in the Spirit of Cultural Exchange

On DUSTY ROAD, KLEZMER-ISH explores music of immigrants from various cultural backgrounds who left their homelands in search of a different and better life.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Guitar Majesty

A set of delightfully evocative pieces for guitar duos composed by KEMAL BELEVI comprises a fine new album by DUO TANDEM, incisively reviewed by ROBERT HUGILL
by David McGee
 

 

 

Musical Wings to Transport the Soul

Considering the transportive effects of music, especially during a pandemic.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Manhu: Last Guardians of an Ancient Tradition

MANHU, a quintet from the Yunnan province in Southwest China, are guardians of an ancient but living musical tradition. In the scintillating VOICES OF THE SANI, they offer unique insight into the music of the vanishing Sani cul...
by David McGee