This week’s Hot New Local Single “A Tune for Towner” from the new Joel Shapira solo guitar recording Unscripted. The namesake for the tune is multi-instrumentalist Ralph Towner. Towner, who is now 85, became well-known for his work with the Paul Winter Consort, his appearance on the Weather Report record I Sing the Body Electric, and especially for his role...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

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

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

A handful of weeks ago we were highlighting the title track to Hannah Harder’s debut album as a leader The Greatest of These is Love. As I’ve continued to listen to the release, I wanted to write up the tune “I Don’t Know Yet,” another gem. In an interview with Jazz88’s Sam Keenan, Harder explained...Read More

Sean writes: I was overjoyed to get some new music from the fusion friendly group Society of Chemists in my inbox. The members of Society of Chemists are criminally busy with other projects, but they find the time to keep this one going because the band has such tangible passion for the self-described “chamber jazz...Read More

Mike Munson is a Winona-based guitarist and vocalist deeply rooted in the blues. Recently Munson has been charting a new course in his career and put together a trio featuring Twin Cities mainstays featuring Nick Salisbury on bass and Lars-Erik Larson on drums. When I got my hands on the instrumental “Night Flying Birds” it...Read More

This week’s Hot New Local Single is “Battle Ready,” a collab from Black Market Brass and Obi Original. Sean reflects on the single: I remember with great joy a night about twelve years ago where my idea of what was possible in Twin Cities music was recalibrated by seeing Black Market Brass on stage at...Read More