Something Else Reviews

Although I love going to concerts, I am generally not a big fan of live albums. In most cases, these collections simply can’t capture the electricity of an onstage environment. But there are exceptions, with Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out by the Rolling Stones, the Who’s Live at Leeds, Deep Purple’s Made In Japan, the J. Geils Band’s Blow Your Face Out and Foghat’s Live standing as personal favorites. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s One More From The Road also holds a special place in my heart. Released on Sept.

The Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series celebrates the second release of a jazz legend. Woody Shaw was already looking beyond the boundaries of hard bop when he recorded Song of Songs. His second album as a leader is compact with four extended compositions, but its musical reach is enormous. Shaw’s writing balances intricate harmony, spiritual searching and emotional candor without sacrificing the rhythmic propulsion at the heart of jazz.

Portland Oregon’s Rich Halley has long been a masterful tenor saxophonist, able to play with fire but equally superb at blowing with sweet soul. He and his Rich Halley 4 quartet blur the line between modern jazz and avant-garde, finding a way to make it inviting along the way. A Distant Land is the eighth album by the Rich Halley 4, a combo that’s stayed pretty stable over this time with Halley, Michael Vlatkovich (trombone) and Halley’s son Carson on drums.

Rich Halley 4 – ‘A Distant Land’ (2026) There’s a spirit of joy that runs through all of the Rich Halley 4’s ‘A Distant Land.’ Rich Halley 4 – ‘Dusk And Dawn’ (2024) For ‘Dusk and Dawn,’ the Rich Halley 4 deliver attitude and panache missing from much of jazz while respecting everything about the idiom that made it great.

Ross Boissoneau’s roundup of recent jazz-related albums includes the Ali Ryerson Quartet, Rich Willey, Janis Siegel, Stickman, Schapiro 17 and others. (Click through the main titles for purchase information.) RICH WILLEY – ‘LAID BACK VOL. 1’: The cover shows people dancing on a tropical beach, and that accurately sums up the mood of much of this recording. The six horns of trumpet and tuba player Willey’s little big band complement the proceedings rather than serving as the focus of the music.

I have owned four copies of Rush’s Roll the Bones since it was released in September 1991. That is to say, three versions of it four times. The first time was the day it was released, bought shortly after a college class got out. I drove quickly to a friend’s place, where she put up with me giving it a quick listen. And then, just a couple songs into it, the power went out. Time ticked by as we waited for some sign that everything would spring back to life, but no such luck would come my way.

Peace and Justice is a title that in usual circumstances means reaching out to confront war and injustice. Instead, the war and injustice reached out and upended and transformed the very project that ended up with this title. The positive aspect of this is, some great art was made along the way. That’s due to the drummer John Hollenbeck.

The early-1970s witnessed the rise of progressive rock. Defined by super fancy musicianship comprised of complex and elaborate arrangements, the genre knew no bounds. Born from the ashes of psychedelic music, progressive rock was further personified by its melting pot of styles, as well as its loopy lyrical content, ranging anywhere from naval-gazing meditations to the adventures of mythological creatures to science fiction themes to acid-induced visions.

feature photo: IJ Biermann Satoko Fujii regards every venture as an experiment: How can she try something that she hadn’t tried before? Maybe even something that no one has tried before? In her role as a composer and conductor of jazz orchestras around the globe, her zeal for experimentation seems amped up even more than the smaller ensembles where she also plays piano.

feature photo: Veronique Hoegger The veteran pianist of adventurous jazz Sylvie Courvoisier made her latest move a couple of years ago forming a quartet that’s certain to generate a lot of buzz.