San Diego-based pianist Danny Green says he’s been an obsessive music fan, spending intense periods focusing on styles as diverse as Cuba’s Buena Vista Social Club, his favorite Brazilian and classical composers, and a youth listening to Nirvana and playing in a ska band. It all comes together, however subtly, in every song he writes. […]
Catherine Russell: Mining The Depths Of The Jazz And Blues Tradition

Catherine Russell doesn’t care where or when a song gets made; if it’s got a lyric with a good story, she is all in. Russell has a knack for finding great old tunes to sing. This session featured a couple of selection from the Billie Holiday songbook (“Swing! Brother, Swing”, “You’re My Thrill”) and a […]
From Slavic Soul Party!, A Match Made In High-Concept Heaven

The latest album from the Brooklyn-based Balkan party band is a rearrangement of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s Far East Suite.
On Her Latest, Norah Jones Returns To Old Influences

Jones’ new album, Day Breaks, includes a song inspired by “Compared to What,” a jazz protest song from the late ’60s, the lyrics of which she says are “still relevant so many years later.”