Search results for

We're al fresco for New Orleans' Marlon Jordan Quartet, at the annual Summer of Jazz series in scenic Glenwood Springs, Colo. The group improvises with a Miles-and-Trane vibe while dogs, kids, baseball-tossers and Frisbee-throwers groove to the music.

Ponderosa Stomp is a music festival dedicated to the unsung heroes of solid American roots music. The annual event is a rocking showcase of jazz, soul, funk, rockabilly and swamp-pop combined into two days of non-stop jamming. Hear exclusive performances from Ponderosa Stomp and a chat with the festival's founder: Ira Padnos, a.k.a. "Dr. Ike."

Since leaving his post as guitarist of Drive-By Truckers, Isbell has pursued his own creative voice on two solo albums. The latest, a self-titled release with his new band The 400 Unit, lays down percussion-heavy Southern roots-rock with the perceptive, character-driven songwriting that distinguishes Isbell as one of the best lyricists around.

The grainy, blurry portrait of Ran Blake on the cover of his album, Driftwoods, looks like spirit photography: the pianist as ghostly presence. His playing can be spooky, too. The CD radically transforms popular vocal standards from Billie Holiday, Hank Williams, Quincy Jones and more.

The California native found his way from West Coast beaches to the swamps of New Orleans to perfect his soulful, '70s-style blues-rock. Lindell draws on his travels around the country to infuse his new album, Gulf Coast Highway, with funky grooves, touches of soul and a bit of honky-tonk.

New Orleans is not only the cradle of jazz. It's also the birthplace of great jazz piano, dating back to the early 1900s, when Jelly Roll Morton tickled the ivories. Hear three pianists who are keeping upholding that great tradition — Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler and Jon Cleary — onstage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with Keys to New Orleans.

Esquire music columnist Andy Langer runs through this week's new CD releases, including albums by Beck, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis, and Mugison.

The genre-bending saxophonist with a ubiquitous tone has a new album out. Sanborn tells Scott Simon that the disc is partly a tribute to his early heroes of blues and soul: Ray Charles and his saxophonist, Hank Crawford.

One of the most quintessentially American composers of the 20th century was not an American. But as a boy in Argentina, Schifrin discovered George Gershwin and Louis Armstrong, setting him — and his celebrated film scores — on a path to fame.

NOMO has a tiny name, but the group makes a big impression when it drives into town. NOMO is eight musicians from Ann Arbor, Mich., with dozens of instruments and just one van. On Ghost Rock, the octet proves that its jazz- and funk-inspired instrumental music is much more than a Fela Kuti tribute.