Every week our staff of CD Reviewers bring you the best in Independent CD releases. Making a Scene is considered the number 1 resource for the independent musician and the fans that love them.
Roy Roberts Covering the Years Growing up in Tennessee, Roy Roberts was exposed to a variety of music, but it was Jimmy Reed’s song “Baby What You Want Me to Do” which inspired him to get his first guitar. Over the years, Roberts has backed acts such as Solomon Burke, Eddie Floyd, “Little” Stevie Wonder, Dee Clark, and Otis Redding. His From the mid-sixties Roberts worked as a session man […]
Dave Wilson Stretching Supreme Self-released Dave Wilson’s Stretching Supreme is a follow-up of sorts to his 2019 release One Night At Chris’, a Philadelphia jazz institution that is the site for this tribute to John Coltrane. We did cover that release on these pages. Yes, one may be asking – do we need another tribute […]
Tony Malaby The Cave of Winds Pyroclastic The title, Cave of Winds, sounds like a rock formation but draws its name from an interesting place where saxophonist/composer Tony Malaby and his trio played in 2020 during the lockdown months. Beginning in July of that year, Malaby began hosting improvisational jamming sessions featuring bassist John Hébert […]
Taru Alexander Echoes of the Masters Sunnyside Drummer Taru Alexander was blessed with the jazz genes from his father, saxophonist Roland Alexander, and an extended family of professional musicians while growing up in Brooklyn, NY. As the title, Echoes of the Masters, suggests, the drummer pays tribute, in one of the most sacred traditions of […]
Pablo Mercedes Sickening Today I can introduce you to the brand new album by Pablo Mercedes which was released in November 2021. Pablo Mercedes, based in the UK, is what you can call a veteran of music with a clear conscience without being disrespectful. In the music business since 1978 he started with punk rock […]
Roswell Rudd & Duck Baker Live Dot Time This is one that broke late in 2021 that we’d be remiss to overlook. It is not often that one finds duets between trombone and fingerstyle guitar to begin with and considering that the trombonist is the late legendary Roswell Rudd along with the renowned finger stylist […]
Robert Connely Farr Ain’t Enough Ain’t Enough was recorded at Hipposonic Studios in Vancouver, BC, and marks Robert Connely Farr’s ninth studio album, and first solo acoustic album. What I love about Farr’s music is that it’s deep, meaningful, and baptized in the blues. Nominated for 2019 Maple Blue Awards for Songwriter of the Year and New Artist of the Year, Farr was mentored by 2021 Grammy […]
Carolyn Wonderland Tempting Fate Texas blues sensation Carolyn Wonderland has certainly been on the fast-track these past few years. After holding a highly-coveted spot as guitarist in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, a position previously held by legends such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor, Wonderland signed to the beloved Alligator Records label. That just does not happen by chance. This kind of positioning only happens with talent, and […]
Sugaray Rayford In Too Deep I was super thrilled to see the new Sugaray Rayford disc In Too Deep when it recently arrived. I was in total awe of his prior album, Somebody Save Me, which earned him a Grammy nomination and two Blues Music Awards. Sugaray’s brand of hot buttered soul makes me feel […]
Allen & Douglas Imagine Nothingness Today I would like to invite you to the new Allen & Douglas album. Allen & Douglas are Craig Allen and Steven Douglas from Birmingham and what you can call long-term friends because they have been making music together since 1979, interrupted by short breaks for work, travel, etc. In […]
Willie Jackson All in the Blues Hailing from Savannah, Georgia, Willie Jackson, the son of a reverend, had worked for the railroad until an accident ended that career. It was then he decided to dedicate his time on his music and the Blues. Jackson’s brand-new album All in the Blues, follows up quite nicely to his debut 2017 EP release Willie Jackson […]
Making a Scene Presents Jim Hynes Top Jazz Releases for 2021 2021 marked by far the most jazz reviews we have ever done in this space which has proven to be a haven for some lesser-known names, artists making debuts, and a surprising number of forward-thinking, explorative performers. In hindsight, the list, which includes […]
Coral the Color Part -Time Broken Coral the Color is a band based in Stockholm, Sweden. They just released their debut EP “Part-Time Broken” and this is a very promising start for this young band that we will definitely hear a lot from in the future. Fresh, cheeky and with a lot of self-confidence, the guys present […]
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Jaime Kyle Before Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert, there was Jaime Kyle. Jaime was the first female rock artist to be signed to a major record deal out of Nashville. Her albums “The Passionate Kind” (Atco/Atlantic), “Back from Hollywood” (Now and Then, England) and “The […]
Joseph and the Velozians Four years have passed since Veloz’s last release Offerings made it across my desk for review. That was quite an impressive album. His brand-new record Joseph and the Velozians again captures my full attention with his delightful originals and covers. With Veloz laying down the funkiest of rhythms on bass and Funk-wah guitar, keyboardist Jim Alfredson and drummer/percussionist Donny Brown hold down the fort for the […]
Gov’t Mule Heavy Load Blues I’ve been a Gov’t Mule fan since seeing them live at the 1998 HORDE Festival at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. Warren Haynes is such an astonishing performer, and I consider him one of my favorites. Heavy Load Blues, the title of the new Gov’t Mule album, is perfectly matched with the contents inside. For the first time ever, the band has made an […]
Greg Amirault News Blues Self-released This week’s theme seems to be mostly about Canadian artists. Jazz guitarist, educator, and composer Greg Amirault originally hails from Nova Scotia and has been living and performing in the Montreal area for over three decades. As an educator he teaches at the prestigious McGill and Concordia Universities. He has […]
Dave Young Mantra Modica Music This is the third review you may be reading this week about a Canadian artist, in this case, the seemingly ageless bassist and composer Dave Young, 81 years young (not a play on words, it just turned out that way). If you are unfamiliar with him, consider that he has […]
Asaf Yuria Exorcisms Jojo Israeli saxophonist Asaf Yuria’s Exorcisms is an old school album, or mostly a vintage hard bop excursion. One can tell Yuria grew up on the great Blue Note era of the 1960s with artists such as Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Lee Morgan, and early John Coltrane. Consider the conventional […]
Bruce Cockburn Greatest Hits (1970 – 2020) True North This may be the first time this writer has ever given ink to a greatest hits album, but my guess is that there are not many of us thinking of Bruce Cockburn, one of the most indelible voices of early non-commercial FM radio in the ‘80s, […]
Scott Marsden Scars My recommendation for today is the Welsh singer / songwriter Scott Marsden. Scott has already made records with the bands The Lizzies and Holy Coves and has attracted the attention of various radio stations with his music, including the Bethan Elfyns BBC radio 1 show and Adam Waltons BBC Radio Wales show. He […]
Cole Allen The Other Side Minnesota-based music artist Cole Allen first appeared on my radar while I was in the midst of reviewing the album Live My Life by his wife Sena Ehrhardt. Allen was lead guitarist for the band, and that album, which was released on Blind Pig Records made a terrific impression on me. His new six-track release The Other Side is quite impressive as […]
Lil Nas X Montero This year has brought us so much music, most notably the highly anticipated debut album by Lil Nas X. The 22-year-old Atlanta native’s album “Montero,” named after himself—Montero Lamar Hill—is full of musical self-growth from his June 2019 EP ”7.” “Montero” is a pop-rap album about the intersection of being queer and […]
Cory Weeds With String – What Is There To Say? Cellar Music Group We’ve heard so many produced projects recently from Cory Weeds that we’ve almost forgotten that he’s quite an artist in his own right. In fact, Weeds would likely let you know that he is a saxophonist first, and an entrepreneur in his […]
Matt Patershuk An Honest Effort Black Hen There must be something in those canola fields of Alberta that makes good songwriters. Matt Patershuk is the third singer-songwriter this writer has covered in just the past two months. Those who read reviews know that this writer is especially fond of Black Hen Records, and virtually anything […]
Martin Wind My Astorian Queen Laika We’re brought to this new release, My Astorian Queen by German native, New York-based bassist and composer Martin Wind partly through coincidence. Having just reviewed on these pages, the terrific vocal album While You Were Gone from Paul Jost, on which Wind plays impressively on four tracks as a […]
Mareike Wiening Future Memories Greenleaf Music Certain jazz labels such as Greenleaf Music, Pyroclastic, and Outside in Music are just a few that one can count on for creative jazz presentations today. Greenleaf, the subject at hand, is an independent music company owned, operated and curated by trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas. The label is […]
Joe Fiedler Fuzzy and Blue “Open Sesame” Multiphonics Music Who would have thought we’d encounter the music of the long-running television show Sesame Street through a progressive jazz outfit? Well, this is not the first but the second time for trombonist Joe Fiedler who released Open Sesame in 2019 and is the EMMY-nominated music director […]
Colin James Open Road Stony Plain One of Canada’s most renowned blues artists, Colin James, has reached a milestone, issuing his 20th album, Open Road. It’s the third in a trilogy of records. It’s the follow-up to 2018’s Juno Award -winning Miles to Go, and 2016’s Blue Highways. Even though the travel motif is in […]
Dionne Bennett Sugar Hip Ya Ya Hunnia Prepare for blast-off. This one comes as an explosive surprise. British Jamaican singer-songwriter, producer, and radio personality Dionne Bennett, who has forged most of her career in Europe, means business. We can thank Little G Weevil for bringing Bennett to our attention as the album was recorded in […]
Various Artists Highway Butterfly – The Songs of Neal Casal (3 CDs, 5 LPs) Royal Potato Family Neal Casal never got his due as a complete artist and certainly as a songwriter until now. Spread across 5 LPs and 3 CDs from a stunning list of artists are 41 of the late Casal’s songs in […]
Eberhard Weber Once Upon a Time Live in Avignon ECM Bassist Eberhard Weber has been recording since the mid-1970s back in the dark ages when this writer was just beginning his now-retired radio career. Perhaps that’s why we are taking up for the first time a review of a solo bass album. You may not […]
Shubh Saran inglish Art of Life Shubh Saran is a New York-based guitarist, composer, and producer who has performed globally and grew up in six different countries. His nomadic raising shapes a wide range of influences in his music, sourcing from modern jazz, neo-soul, rock, classical Hindustani and Rajasthani folk music, and more. In short, […]
Dylan Jack Quartet Period Pieces Creative Nation Music Period Pieces is the follow-up to this quartet’s 2020 Tale of the Twelve-Foot Man which we covered on these pages. Although we don’t see “Dylan Jack Quartet” on the cover, we see the same four names – guitarist Eric Hofbauer, drummer Dylan Jack, bassist Anthony Leva and trumpeter Jerry […]
Dave Specter Six String Soul – 30 Years on Delmark Delmark Guitarist Dave Specter lives up to the enticing album title Six String Soul, with his career-to-date selection of 28 remastered tracks spanning his three decades with Chicago’s Delmark records. It’s so tempting to engage in the kind of wordplay found in the liner notes […]
Dino Govoni Hiding in Plain Sight Whaling City Sound Hiding in Plain Sight is a terrific title when considering that tenor saxophonist and composer Dino Govoni hasn’t issued a recording in nearly a decade yet has remained continually active as an educator, a long-time faculty member at Berklee School of Music. This is his third […]
Dave Meder Unamuno Songs and Other Stories Outside in Music Undoubtably you are wondering just what are Unamuno songs? This album has quite a concept behind it. Pianist and composer Dave Meder is using the writings of Spanish Civil War-era philosopher Miguel de Unamuno as a historical analogy to recent sociopolitical unrest here in the States. Meder […]
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson Searching for the Disappeared Hour Pyroclastic Pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and guitarist Mary Halvorson are two of the most forward-thinking musicians on their respective instruments. While a duo recording of two chordal instruments may seem bound for clashing rather than harmonizing, one can point to classics such as Bill Evans and […]
Paul Jost Quartet While We Were Gone – Live at Soapbox Gallery Self-released Paul Jost’s While We Were Gone may well be the top jazz vocal album of 2021. Yes, we said the same about Roseanna Vitro’s Sing a Song of Bird, but let’s just consider that one a collaborative vocal effort. Jost delivers a […]
Jeremy Monteiro & Alberto Marsico Jazz-Blues Brothers Jazz Note Back in April of this year, we brought you the elite trio of pianist Jeremy Monteiro aka Singapore’s King of Swing, bassist Jay Anderson, and drummer Lewis Nash Live at No Black Tie. That session introduced this writer and you readers to the swinging, bluesy piano […]
Jane Ira Bloom and Allison Miller Tues Days Outline/Supaphine In 2017 in one of the first jazz reviews (see Wild Lines) this writer contributed to these pages, we praised soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom with these words – “If you love the pure sound of the soprano without the screeching and honking and free from […]
Hayes Carll You Get It All DualTone Hayes Carll has built his career mostly on singer-songwriter roots-rock records but he claims that You Get It All is a country singer-songwriter record. He turns to his wife, Allison Moorer, and her favorite producer, guitar great Kenny Greenberg as co-producers of this, his eighth album. The many […]
Alex Brown The Dark Fire Sessions Self-released Pianist and composer Alex Brown is relatively new on the scene and The Dark Fire Sessions marks only his second release as a bandleader. Having seen Brown perform in virtual performances such as Sean Jones’ Dizzy Spellz at the 2021 Detroit Jazz Festival and at Baltimore’s Keystone Korner […]
Benjamin Schnake Ensemble The Joy of Playing Self-released The Benjamin Schnake Ensemble presents an enticing meshing of jazz and South American music. Schnake, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger was born in Chile and studied both classical and popular music growing up. He is skilled at the charango (Andean small guitar), pan flutes, and quena (Andean […]
Sue Foley Pinky’s Blues Stony Plain Canadian-born and longtime Austin TX resident Sue Foley is back with Pinky’s Blues, the follow-up to her acclaimed 2018 The Ice Queen. The title references her signature pink paisley Fender telecaster, “Pinky.” Foley is at the peak of her still growing career as she won “Best Traditional Female (Koko […]
Kazemde George I Insist Greenleaf Music I Insist is the debut as a leader for Brooklyn-based tenor saxophonist, composer, and educator Kazemde George. The title is to both signify an emphatic statement and a nod to Max Roach’s landmark 1960 protest album We Insist! Freedom Now Suite. George has previously released a series of electronic […]
Ben Levin Still Here VizzTone Still Here is the third release for the youthful pianist/songwriter/vocalist Ben Levin, who has already matured well beyond his years. When we last visited him on his 2020 release Carryout or Delivery on these pages, Levin was still in college, having just reached drinking age. And, as we said then, […]
The Delerium Trees STORMS ON THE MOON The Delerium Trees have just released their great album “Tales from the Western Isles” and the next one is already at the start! And this time a double album which of course means double enjoyment! “Storms On The Moon”, sixteen songs, sixteen times unearthly good music and selected […]
Farnell Newton Feel the Love Posi-Tone Feel the Love is third Posi-Tone release for Portland, OR-based trumpeter and composer Farnell Newton. We covered his second one, Rippin’ and Runnin’, on these same pages in May 2020. Newton, who after being raised in Miami, FL attended the Philadelphia High School for creative and Performing Arts, studied […]
Rodeo FM All the things you asked for Rodeo FM is Pat – lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Masataka – bass, Dominik – drums and backing vocals, Desmond – guitars and backing vocals, Gigi (guitar & banjo) Rodeo FM is a band based in Berlin, Germany, making music for 15 years. They have really played everywhere, at weddings and funerals, […]
