I stay overwhelmed by the amazing things that happen in our scene! I want to explain to you how one of the most storied vocal groups in jazz history started collaborating with one of the biggest voices in modern jazz and to do that we’ll have to travel back to the 1940s! The Four Freshmen...Read More

The celebrated bassist and composer Ted Olsen is back with a new set of originals titled Violette. Olsen is no stranger to releasing his own music and this album continues Olsen’s penchant for bringing lush, through-composed moments into conversation with improvisers. Throughout the album, Ted’s compositions and bass playing are buttressed by support from multiple string...Read More

The Zoo Too Trio is a new recording project from some very big names in the world of modern jazz. Before listening to their new disc, Poetry Legroom, I was most familiar with the work of pianist and keyboard player Michael Cain. Michael Cain is an accomplished pianist who has been popping up in liner-notes of...Read More

Hot New Local Single for Wednesday, May 21 In the Twin Cities we are blessed to have a thriving music scene that features great players at every stage of their career. One sign of a thriving scene can be measured in the ability for new players to arrive to town, land a couple gigs and...Read More

This week’s Hot New Local Single comes to us from the prolific Ned Kantar, who has been a main stay in the Twin Cities Music Scene for fifty years. It’s an arrangement of “Indiana” performed by the Budapest Scoring Big Band. The song was published in January, 1917 by Tin-Pan Alley songwriter James Hanley in collaboration with...Read More

The budding local group Room3 finally has an album out and it’s been a joy to see how warmly Bill’s Garden been received in the Twin Cities scene! Today we are focusing on the third single from the album, “Don’t Forget to Breathe.” The tune features a vocal performance from the soul vocalist, Jada Lynn....Read More

In the throes of winter, I received a couple new tracks from the budding new Twin Cities group, Society of Chemists. One of the standout tracks was “By Candlelight,” a three-minute tune that captures a great spectrum of emotions. The not-so-secret weapon of Society of Chemists is the writing of their saxophonist Stephanie Wieseler. My...Read More

Keep it simple stupid! It is one of those pieces of advice that is so easy to say and so hard to follow but I feel that Ray Barnard really channels that ethos across his output. The man prioritizes a good groove and when he has something nice to sing into the microphone he does...Read More

Sometimes it takes an outsider to really appreciate what is happening in a musical scene. Though he’s been here since 2005, Scott Agster still holds the thrill of the new kid as he tells the larger world what makes our Minneapolis music scene so special. There’s plenty to celebrate here in the Twin Cities, but...Read More

Pianist Abebi Stafford’s new record, Stolen By Lies, was primarily recorded in piano trio format, with Graydon Peterson on bass and Pete James Johnson on drums. Stafford’s original compositions are at their best when they are subtle. The tune “Kinderglow” is a great example of what makes Stafford’s understated writing so powerful. On the A...Read More