2002 Band

After pursuing a Rolling Stones-styled blend of rock and country elements on their first two albums, Nazareth segued into a harder rocking style with 1973's Razamanaz. The resulting album has a lot of energy and drive and much of this can be credited to Roger Glover's production, which tempers the group's tendency to experiment with different musical styles by imposing an overall sound that play's up the group's hard rock edge. The end result is an album that rocks consistently throughout but works in intriguing musical elements to keep things interesting.

Sometimes the bloodlines show up and at other times they explode with a fanfare that shows itself to the world. Lil' Ed Williams traces his heritage back to his uncle, one of the Chicago blues legends, slide guitar master J.B. Hutto. He was tutored by his uncle, and the West Side Chicago blues scene that nurtured him, and readily gives J.B. much of the credit for his prowess. He captures some of that same raw street energy that was his uncle's trademark on many of the tracks on this, his fifth Alligator release. Listen to "The Creeper" to get an idea of the savage fury that he can channel through his slide guitar work. This disc manifests that feel for the blues that can't be taught, but must be both lived and seen from the inside…

The Ultimate Collection spans the group's career in two discs, including the hits, B-sides, and key album tracks.
Although generally not as highly regarded by the critics as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, or the Who, the Kinks may well have influenced far more musicians. The three-chord sledgehammer proto-metal burst of teenage lust called "You Really Got Me," the Kinks' third single and first hit, touched off a garage band explosion, which in turn influenced the rise of punk a decade later. Blessed with an astute songwriter in Ray Davies, the Kinks followed the template of "You Really Got Me" for a couple years, racking up hits with "All Day and All of the Night," "Tired of Waiting for You," and "Till the End of the Day." But Davies had more than one card in his pocket, and he blossomed into a sharp social satirist ("Dedicated Follower of Fashion")…

The Bob Mintzer Big Band has been a part-time affair for the past 18 years, but somehow the orchestra always manages to sound like a regularly working band. The premise behind Gently was to have the Mintzer Big Band playing at a lower volume, with lyrical arrangements by the leader, along with a greater use of muted brass and flutes. However the orchestra still romps in places and the tempos vary. The big band (which boasts impressive musicianship) features solos from Mintzer on tenor, trumpeters Scott Wendholt, and Michael Mossman, trombonist Michael Davis, pianist Phil Markowitz, altoist Pete Yellin and others, with drummer Peter Erskine driving the ensembles.

Based in Luleå, Sweden, a town roughly 160 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle, the Norrbotten Big Band (NBB) is living proof that jazz is truly a universal music with a remarkable ability to transcend geographical boundaries and cultural differences in its diffusion and appeal.
In this unlikely setting, a vast Nordic region where the nomadic Sami people have been tending their reindeer herds for centuries, the NBB - which since 1996 has been under the artistic direction of the imaginative American trumpeter and composer Tim Hagans - has established itself as Sweden’s representative within the ranks of European ensembles like Germany’s WDR Big Band that have adapted the classic American jazz big band tradition of the Swing and Post-War eras…

"The road was our school. It gave us a sense of survival; it taught us everything we know and out of respect, we don't want to drive it into the ground…or maybe it's just superstition but the road has taken a lot of the great ones. It's a goddam impossible way of life" - Robbie Robertson, from the movie The Last Waltz, quoted in the box set…

Powering thru two discs' worth of songs from both lineups of the Rollins Band, The Only Way to Know for Sure is a tight, focused live record that easily overshadows not only Rollins Band's early live output, but also the last two studio records. The live version of songs from Get Some Go Again and Nice are more powerful and meaty than their somewhat clean studio versions, and the new Rollins Band puts a little more muscle into some old material like "Low So" and "Disconnect." Obviously, one would assume that since these guys spend a whole lotta damn time on the road, that a live record would be great, not to mention a good starting point to get an overview of some of this band's (as well as the original lineup's) best material.