Pat Donohue 2011 Nobody's Fault

Jazz tribute albums are a dime a dozen. Often comprising familiar, oft-recorded material, many seem indistinct. Not so Hommage à Eberhard Weber, recorded live in January of 2015 on the occasion of the bassist/composer's 75th birthday. It features a host of collaborators and friends with the SWR Big Band under the direction of Helge Sunde. With the exception of Pat Metheny's suite-like composition "Hommage," everything was written by Weber, who is esteemed for his technique and custom-built instruments and as one of the architects of "the ECM sound." He has been unable to play since suffering a debilitating stroke in 2007. Thanks to technology, he is virtually present on two of these performances…

Not long into the ceaseless promotional parade for Born This Way, Lady Gaga’s second full-length record and easily the most anticipated record of the 2010s, a certain sense of inevitability crept into play. It was inevitable that Born This Way would be an escalation of The Fame, it was inevitable that Gaga would go where others feared to tread, it was inevitable that it would be bigger than any other record thrown down in 2011, both in its scale and success…

2011 is the sixth album the Smithereens have released since 2007, but it's the first in a while that hasn't seemed like the product of a band just making busy work. After two albums of Beatles covers, one devoted to an edited version of the Who's Tommy, a Christmas album, and a live disc, 2011 finds the Smithereens finally recording a full set of new and original material for the first time since 1999's God Save the Smithereens, and it represents a return to form in more ways than on…

Not long into the ceaseless promotional parade for Born This Way, Lady Gaga’s second full-length record and easily the most anticipated record of the 2010s, a certain sense of inevitability crept into play. It was inevitable that Born This Way would be an escalation of The Fame, it was inevitable that Gaga would go where others feared to tread, it was inevitable that it would be bigger than any other record thrown down in 2011, both in its scale and success…

Foo Fighters: Back and Forth chronicles the 16 year history of the Foo Fighters: from the band's very first songs created as cassette demos Dave Grohl recorded during his tenure as Nirvana's drummer, through its ascent to their Grammy-winning, multi-platinum, arena and stadium headlining status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.

itiates with an exotic melody played in accordion. His French roots are shown in the first two tracks. Elegance and brightness would be the most appropriate terms to describe this notorious CD. Generally more substantial than most of the other albums that smooth jazz stations play, the uneven, erratic 107 in the Shade is far from a gem, but has its moments. Bugnon gets into a pleasant, Joe Sample-ish groove on "Paris and May" and "When I Think About Home," whereas the much too brief "Fly, Spirit, Fly" hints at Pat Metheny. It was obvious that Sample was a major influence on Bugnon, although there were also traces of Ahmad Jamal in his playing.

Al Di Meola has enjoyed an impressively long career as a recording artist. The guitar virtuoso was only 22 when he recorded his first album as a leader, Land of the Midnight Sun, back in 1976 (although he had joined Chick Corea's Return to Forever at 19), and a 56-year-old Di Meola was still going strong when 2011 arrived…