I don’t know what the feel is called when the drummer hits a cross stick on every quarter-note, but I love it. To me it will always be the “Swept Away” feel from the masterful playing of Questlove on The Roots album “Do You Want More?!??” Heck, maybe that’s what leader Joan Hutton called out...Read More

It’s hard to keep up with Dylan Hicks. The man is no spring chicken and he’s still moving around our scene like a wide-eyed, enthusiastic rookie. Hicks is dropping a new album on August 12 called Avian Field Recordings with his group Small Screens and it’s another great set of tunes with inspired support from some of...Read More

Trumpeter Jake Baldwin is back with another great solo effort titled Vanishing Point. The album comes out in full in mid-August but we are excited to feature one of the tunes this week! Baldwin tapped the same supporting cast he used on his 2023 release Misc. Items, to explore a new set of beautifully rendered...Read More

I frankly didn’t expect to hear recorded music from the Riffin’ Trio. I knew the Riffin’ Trio held court monthly over at Dusty’s in Northeast Minneapolis and I figured it was a project where A-list players had some fun on the side with no recording technology insight. But I’m so glad the group ended up...Read More

Summer jams don’t come in one variety. There are the romantic/erotic summer jams that prompt you to pull that special somebody a little closer, sweat be blessed. There are the summer songs that function like a musical ice cube, you drop them into the mix on the hottest day imaginable, and you feel like mother...Read More

Our hot local single this week comes from saxophonist Matty Harris. Harris connected with Eric Julio Carranza (guitar), Rocky Schulze (bass) and Chris Hepola (drums) to perform Harris’s tune “Farmers Market.” The tune opens with a bass line provided by Schulze that immediately gets me excited for where the tune will go. I caught Ennio...Read More

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