Wajdi Cherif – Jazz Pianist

Wajdi Cherif – Tunisian Born Jazz Pianist – Born May 20, 1975

So May 20th is a holiday in several nations including, Cambodia, East Timor and Cameroon. It was also the birthday of a Tunisian jazz piano player, Wajdi Cherif!! Knowing nothing about his music, other than that he played piano, I went to Spotify and listened to his 2009 release Fuzzy Colours and I didn’t have to listen long to become intrigued by and enjoy his music. Returning to All About Jazz, I discovered that at five years of age Wajdi was learning to play tunes he heard on the radio in his homeland of Tunisia on his little piano. Wajdi never lost his love for music and along his life’s journey, he earned his BA in English Literature, but more importantly he discovered jazz!! At the American cultural center in Tunis, he watched live performance videos of pianists Chick Corea, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans. He soon decided to make jazz music his career, and set out exploring it on his own. He made his professional debut in 1998. In 2003, he released his first album Phrygian Istikhbar in Paris. Accompanying Wajdi on the album were Diego Imbert on acoustic bass, Jeff Boudreau on drums and Habib Samandi on Arabic percussion. The album went on to become a finalist in the Indie Acoustic Awards in the USA in 2004!! From All About Jazz: Read More

Jimmy Thackery – Blues Guitar Virtuoso

Jimmy Thackery – Band Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers

Born:May 19, 1953

I first discovered Jimmy Thackery &the Drivers in the late 90s, in the period where my sons and I visited Tunes Used CD store in Marlton every week. My introduction to his music was  his 1994 release Trouble Man that I picked up on cassette. I’m listening to it now remembering what a great album it is! Check it out!! I loved the album since then several of his albums are in my music library. I must say that over the last several years I’ve lost track of his career, hum, maybe his birthday is a good day to start reconnecting….. from AllMusic…. Read More

Night Owl Music: Goodman and Gorka with thoughts of New Jersey!

Steve Goodman sings about the dangers of falling asleep with the TV on,

while John Gorka sings about living in New Jersey….

So we’ve all been there, it’s late at night the TVs on you fall to sleep to its glow, what could go wrong??…….maybe Steve Goodman can tell us….. in a song, that always brings a smile to my face, no matter how many times I hear it!! Read More

Intents and Purposes – Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet

Intents and Purposes – Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet meets 80s Jazz Fusion

Rez AbbasiOne  of the albums that has been in my music rotation is Intents and Purposes for the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet Rez Abassi is a jazz guitarist and rising star on the jazz scene.  He was voted #2 “Rising Star” guitarist in DownBeat magazine’s 2012’s esteemed Critic’s Poll, and #1 in 2013’s poll, Intents and Purposes is Abbasi tenth album and throughout  his career he has become best known for music that blends jazz with Indian music. On his first eight albums he has been both a leader and a collaborator. His collaborations have been with  Rudresh Mahanthappa, pianist, Vijay Iyer and with his wife, Juno-award-winning Indo-Canadian singer/songwriter Kiran Ahluwalia, for whom Abbasi serves as musical. On his last two albums the influence of Indian music on his music has been more subdued. His 2012 release Continuous Beat featured a trio composed of bassist John Hébert and drummer Satoshi Takeishi. Read More

Inspector of the Dead – David Morrell

Inspector of the Dead – David Morrell and 1855 London Perfect Together!

David Morrell author of Inspector of the DeadDavid Morrell has been a top mystery and thriller author since his debut novel First Blood released in 1971, introduced the world to John Rambo! I have enjoyed Morrell’s books since 1984’s release The Brotherhood of the Rose. All total Morrell has written twenty-eight novels, and his work has been translated into twenty-six languages While I have enjoyed Morrell’s books through the years, I never thought that any of them were as good as The Brotherhood of the Rose or the novels that followed like The Fraternity of the Stone and The League of Night and Fog, that is until 2013 and the release of Murder As A Fine Art. Murder As a Fine Art was a wonderful historical murder mystery set in 1850s London featuring Thomas De Quincey, known as The Opium-Eater and author of an essay titled “On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts”   and his daughter Emily. In March of 2015 the second book in the series Inspector of the Dead was released and this week it became the 24th book I’ve read in 2015 and one of my favorites of the year! Read More

Tomislav Goluban – Blow Junkie

Tomislav Goluban – Blow Junkie – Great Blues Harp from Croatia

Tomislav GolubanThe other day when I was reviewing the Roots Music Reports latest Blues Chart I was intrigued by the album at number 49 Blow Junkie from Tomislav Goluban. First, I was taken aback by the album seemingly drug referenced title.But then I looked more closely at the album cover I saw the harmonica and then I understood! And then there was the artist’s name Tomislav sounds a little Eastern European to me. So I made a quick trip to Spotify. downloaded the album onto the iPhone and gave it a listen on a run to do some errands yesterday morning! From the opening songs “Harp’ Rockin'” and “Blow Junkie Boogie” this album;s good time feel had me; Read More

Tomislav Goluban – Blow Junkie

Tomislav Goluban – Blow Junkie – Great Blues Harp from Croatia

Tomislav GolubanThe other day when I was reviewing the Roots Music Reports latest Blues Chart I was intrigued by the album at number 49 Blow Junkie from Tomislav Goluban. First, I was taken aback by the album seemingly drug referenced title.But then I looked more closely at the album cover I saw the harmonica and then I understood! And then there was the artist’s name Tomislav sounds a little Eastern European to me. So I made a quick trip to Spotify. downloaded the album onto the iPhone and gave it a listen on a run to do some errands yesterday morning! From the opening songs “Harp’ Rockin'” and “Blow Junkie Boogie” this album;s good time feel had me; Read More

B.B.King – Farewell to the King of the Blues!

B.B.King

Riley B.B.King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), The King of  the Blues

I look at the world and I notice it’s turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps*

The guitar that weeps today is Lucille,.the faithful guitar of Riley B. King, will feel his fingers on her fretboard no more… and the world has lost one of the best when B.B.King joined heaven’s band yesterday. B..B.King’s career has spanned seven decades, over forty albums, fifteen Grammys and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy in 1987. Here are some of the other awards and honors bestowed on B.B.King… Read More

Spiritual Haven – Russell Suereth

Spiritual Haven – Relaxing ethnic instruments and rhythms blended with modern sounds

Richard Suereth - Spiritual HavenThis morning I was looking for music to serve as the soundtrack for my morning yoga routine. (routine 3 from Richard Hittleman) I made a stop at the Zone Music Reporter‘s Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart The album that caught my eye was the number 31 album Spiritual Haven by Russell Suereth. It sounded like an album that would make a good soundtrack for my yoga set, so  I gave it a quick listen,I liked what I heard, but for some reason I didn’t use it, I come back and listen to it later in the morning though, and I think that I will be in my music rotation for a while. Here’s what Steve Sheppard of One World Music says about Spiritual Haven Read More