Allan Viens on S’barre

The rap on Sonny Stitt is that he was little more than an imitator of Charlie Parker, without a firm identity of his own. However, from the evidence of these early Stitt recordings - gathered together into a three-CD box - the first part of the rap doesn't quite ring true, though the second remains an open question. Stitt may have shared an occasional rhetorical turn or blindingly fast run with Bird - most tellingly on "S`Wonderful" - but definitely not his entire style. You can hear plenty of Lester Young influences on the tracks where he plays tenor sax, and many of the ballads preview the soulful inflections that would flourish when he joined the soul-jazz movement in the '60s. Moreover, aware of the Bird backlash, Stitt recorded the majority of these tracks on the tenor, with occasional sessions on the baritone and finally, about two-thirds of the way through the set, on alto…

Otolithen is a duo formed in 1993 by Päd Conca of Switzerland and Dirk Bruinsma of The Netherlands. Conca plays electric bass, a homemade string instrument, effects and foot-activated percussion, while Bruinsma sings and plays electric guitars, soprano saxophone and foot-triggered percussion. Conca and Bruinsma use prepared instruments and a wide range of effects. Their compositions exhibit rhythmic complexity, and range from delicate melodies to noisy sonic assaults. Otolithen released an album in Germany on their amf label in 1995. Their second release, S.O.D., was released by Cuneiform in 1997.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of S&M, the 1999 extravaganza where Metallica played highlights from their catalog with the support of the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Kamen, the band decided to celebrate by holding two new concerts with the orchestra. Appropriately called S&M2, the 2019 event was a very different affair. S&M2 inaugurated San Francisco's new arena The Chase Center, whereas the original S&M was held at the relatively smaller-scale Berkeley Community Theatre, and then there's a question of personnel…

For the most part, the new disc stands up nicely alongside its predecessor. Greenleaf is first and foremost a singer, belting out blues in the fiery, hollering style of Koko Taylor. But Trying To Hold On shows that she's also a very capable songwriter, able to hew to the genre's traditions while revealing her own writing voice……

The rap on Sonny Stitt is that he was little more than an imitator of Charlie Parker, without a firm identity of his own. However, from the evidence of these early Stitt recordings - gathered together into a three-CD box - the first part of the rap doesn't quite ring true, though the second remains an open question. Stitt may have shared an occasional rhetorical turn or blindingly fast run with Bird - most tellingly on "S`Wonderful" - but definitely not his entire style. You can hear plenty of Lester Young influences on the tracks where he plays tenor sax, and many of the ballads preview the soulful inflections that would flourish when he joined the soul-jazz movement in the '60s. Moreover, aware of the Bird backlash, Stitt recorded the majority of these tracks on the tenor, with occasional sessions on the baritone and finally, about two-thirds of the way through the set, on alto…

Freedom Hawk's third official release, 2011's Holding On, alights upon planet stoner rock with abnormally tall expectations, and justifiably so, since even the praise singling out the band as "the East Coast's answer to Fu Manchu" doesn't do full justice to the diversity of their songwriting gifts…