Though he is relatively new to the New York jazz scene, Memphis-born bassist Stephan Crump already has an impressively broad-minded musical resumé, having worked with (among others) blue-eyed soul crooner Michael McDonald, ex-Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, singer-songwriter (and wife) Jen Chapin, saxophonist Greg Osby, and Gregg Bendian's Mahavishnu Project. His current primary gig is with the avant-jazz piano genius Vijay Iyer. Crump's own Rosetta Trio with acoustic g

Since arriving in the US a couple of decades ago, the Netherlands born-and-bred VW (van Wageningen) Brothers, drummer Paul and bassist Marc, have become two of the Bay Area's most respected and prolific session musicians. Their work can be heard on recordings by bands and artists such as Tower of Power, Henry Kaiser, George Duke, Jan Akkerman, Paul Winter, Sheila E. and Stan Getz, to name a few. For "Muziek," their debut CD, the VW Brothers have wisely chosen to work with a cohesive and stable b

Danish guitarist Torben Waldorff's American Rock Beauty extends and embellishes the music he presented on his previous artistShare release Afterburn. Leading a well-established, highly simpatico and cohesive backing band that, with the exception of new keyboardist Jon Cowherd, is the same as the one featured on Afterburn, Waldorff seems to take some more risks and ventures into somewhat heavier musical environments than he did on his previous release. That said, an appealing, friendly and bucoli

After listening repeatedly and closely to “Forty Fort,” I decided that the music of the wonderfully creative quartet Mostly Other People Do The Killing (MOPDTK for short) is more 'cutting edge' than 'avant garde.' This distinction is important. Avant garde – while a completely appropriate term for many musical forms and styles - carries the connotation that one must be in a special state of mind, or have a certain sort of intellectual qualification, to truly appreciate the music. But the music o

Prana Trio is actually the duo of vocalist Sunny Kim and multi-percussionist Brian Adler. Their stunningly original CD, “The Singing Image of Fire,” is one of the best things I've heard in the music + poetry realm in many years. I was going to call this a 'spoken word' CD, but that would be really misleading as Kim truly sings the texts – mostly very ancient, and from a variety of sources including Rumi, Hafiz ( a 14th Century Iranian poet), Kabir (a 13th Century north Indian poet and saint), an