Gary The Life Before Us

No one would say at first listen, but Johnny and the Rivals, with that image of elegant mobsters that explode in the promotional images, is a Quartet of blues rock that actually comes from Switzerland.

"Sources is a brand new series which will examine the output of a number of extremely influential independent U.S. labels throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

‘The High Cost Of Low Living’ is no recycling of old songs. Moss wrote eight memorable new originals and Gruenling wrote two, all deeply rooted in the blues tradition with a touch of old school rock ‘n’ roll. Produced by guitarist Kid Andersen and Moss and recorded at Rancho de Rhythm in Elgin, Illinois, the album is a joyous sonic blast of pure blues power.

Without knowing or planning it, saxophonist/composer Benjamin Boone has spent his life preparing for a collaboration with Philip Levine. Long fascinated by the inherent musicality of the spoken word, Boone crossed paths with the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet as fellow professors at California State University, Fresno, and they ended up working closely together in the three years before Levine's death in 2015. Boone and Levine's "The Poetry of Jazz" captures a genre-expanding partnership unlike anything else in the jazz canon. Produced by piano great Donald Brown, the 14-track project features the compositions of Boone, the poetry of Levine, and a stellar band with special guest appearances by Tom Harrell, Greg Osby, Branford Marsalis and Chris Potter.

The “definitive” book on the U-2 episode and its disastrous impact on the future of the Cold War (Kirkus Reviews).

Without knowing or planning it, saxophonist/composer Benjamin Boone has spent his life preparing for a collaboration with Philip Levine. Long fascinated by the inherent musicality of the spoken word, Boone crossed paths with the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet as fellow professors at California State University, Fresno, and they ended up working closely together in the three years before Levine's death in 2015. Boone and Levine's 2018 release, "The Poetry of Jazz," captured a genre-expanding partnership unlike anything else in the jazz canon. "Volume Two" completes the program with 14 poems and three instrumental compositions by Boone. "Boone knows where the thing called poetry lives, an ocelot among the waters, a sky-shaped Rain God that flares down upon us…He is one of the very few that can lure Phil's poetry-magic and call it out and show it to the world…Beyond words up there with the muses." - U.S. POET LAUREATE JUAN FELIPE HERRERA.