Calista Melissa

On her fifth album, Melissa Etheridge mixed her primary musical influences–a lot of Bruce Springsteen, some Led Zeppelin, a little U2–with a set of directed love lyrics–a lot of "you," some "I," a little "they"–that seemed to revolve around a romantic triangle. Etheridge's emotional concerns were specifically same sex-oriented, not so much because she flaunted her lesbianism as because of the way she thought about sex and relationships. Her lyrics were full of references to exchanges of identities between lovers: "I really like you, baby / I want to be you"; "Please let me into your eyes"; and "Spend the night inside of my skin" in a song called, "I Could Have Been You."

Melissa Aldana’s 2nd Blue Note album Echoes Of The Inner Prophet is a musical voyage to explore the depth of the spiritual journey. Co-produced by Aldana and Lage Lund, the album features the tenor saxophonist with Lund on guitar, Fabian Almazan on piano, Pablo Menares on bass, and Kush Abadey on drums.The 8-track set of original compositions includes 6 new pieces by Aldana that seek profound truths through introspection, intuition, and self-reflection including the opening title track which is dedicated to Wayne Shorter.

“The finest all-Sondheim album ever recorded,” was The Wall Street Journal’s verdict on Melissa Errico’s ecstatic, inward-turning Sondheim Sublime (released in 2018). Now, her new tribute to Broadway’s greatest songwriter, Sondheim In The City, changes tone to offer us a more outward-driven, kaleidoscopic street fair of New York scenes and moments – summoning back to life the poetic vision of a man who once confessed that his entire creative life had been spent in a twenty-block radius of Manhattan.

Melissa formed in Sydney in 1969 under the name Molten Hue. The original lineup was Robert Gunn (flute, vocals), Rick Barrett (guitar) Ken Frazier (bass) and Warren "Wal" Sparkes (drums), but Irish-born bassist Joe Creighton (who had previously been a member of UK band The A-Side) replaced Frazier not long after the band was formed. Melissa started out playing a psychedelia and acid-rock, and they were one of the first Australian bands to play rock in the style of American West Coast acts like Jefferson Airplance, Country Joe & The Fish or The Steve Miller Band.
The group's only album, Midnight Trampoline was recorded over a period of nine months during 1971 and was eventually released in October on the independent Banner label. Several tracks were composed by Creighton and/or Barnett, and there's an interesting arrangement of the traditional song "Cuckoo"…

“The finest all-Sondheim album ever recorded,” was The Wall Street Journal’s verdict on Melissa Errico’s ecstatic, inward-turning Sondheim Sublime (released in 2018). Now, her new tribute to Broadway’s greatest songwriter, Sondheim In The City, changes tone to offer us a more outward-driven, kaleidoscopic street fair of New York scenes and moments – summoning back to life the poetic vision of a man who once confessed that his entire creative life had been spent in a twenty-block radius of Manhattan.

Melissa Etheridge wasn't out of the closet when she released Yes I Am in 1993, yet it's hard not to notice the defiant acclamation in the album's title. This barely concealed sense of sexual identity seeps out from the lyrics, and it informs the music as well, which is perhaps the most confident she has ever been. It's also the most professional she's ever been (perhaps not a coincidence), as she belts out these unapologetically anthemic numbers with a sense of finesse that's suited to lifestyle newspaper pages, not rock & roll, thereby setting herself up for her bout with celebrity during the second half of the '90s. Yes I Am wouldn't have been as convincing if it wasn't so slick, though; her Springsteen-isms and Janis tributes are tempered by songs that work as album rock favorites, even if they aren't as epic or passionate as their inspirations. She may not have songs as great as she did the first time out – "Somebody Bring Me Some Water" remains her finest moment – but she has a sense of purpose and identity that suits her well.

Talk about the human condition. When Melissa Etheridge released Lucky in early 2004, it was in celebration of a new romance and her status as a veteran singer/songwriter. Sadly, just a few months later, she announced she had breast cancer. But then, almost exactly a year after Lucky's release, Etheridge was on-stage at the Grammys singing a powerful version of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart." Her bold, and bald, performance proved that cancer wasn't Melissa Etheridge's goodbye. But it also gave hope to anyone experiencing the same ordeal. Etheridge celebrates her career again with 2005's Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled, which joins highlights and singles from her albums to unreleased material and a rousing studio version of "Piece of My Heart."