May 2026
Last July, music critic and jazz historian Ted Gioia published an article on his Substack blog, The Honest Broker, about the poor state of music criticism. “What Is Happening to Music Criticism?” wasn’t lamenting the decline in the quality of writing about music. It was sounding the alarm that the genre is disappearing.
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council can be found through this link.
April 2026
Recently, I’ve been re-reading work I’ve published since my first album reviews in 1976. Much has changed in the past 50 years; back then, I was reviewing new releases by the likes of Miles Davis, Stan Getz, and Dizzy Gillespie—now all long dead. If you subscribe to a “golden age” theory where jazz is concerned, it wouldn’t surprise me if you feel that the music hasn’t been the same since giants like those left the scene in the early ’90s. If so, you’re not alone.
April 2026
Parlophone 5021732635679
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
The English band Talk Talk started as a synth-driven pop group in 1982 with The Party’s Over, but grew restless and moved into more layered, complex, and emotionally stirring music with its second LP, It’s My Life (1984). Two years later, The Colour of Spring was an even bolder step forward, with fewer synths and even greater lyrical and musical ambitions.
April 2026
I wish I could claim I was swept up in the excitement that was in the air when the Beatles appeared live on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. I was seven years old and I’m sure I was aware of what was going on, but only vaguely. On the school bus, the older sisters of my friends were all talking about the upcoming, momentous event.
April 2026
Craft Recordings / Fantasy Records CR00962
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi died at 47, having released a surprisingly small number of recordings during his lifetime. He recorded 15 albums as leader or co-leader, three of them live. Many have slipped in and out of print over the years, but two, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (1962) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), have been available consistently since they were released.
March 2026
SoundStage! Recordings—SRMH001
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
Martin Verrall is a musician and painter based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. According to Discogs, Verrall has released two albums on physical media, Concrete Rivers (2003, on CD) and January Downs (2023, on vinyl). His Bandcamp page lists those albums for download, as well as three others, Escape Show (2009), Spears of Fate (2010), and Yesterday’s Tomorrow (2019).
March 2026
When I was 12, I formed a band with a couple of friends who, like me, had been playing music for a year or so. We played songs that had been on the radio over the previous few years, songs every kid just starting a band in 1968 would play. “Gloria,” by the Shadows of Knight—we hadn’t heard Them’s original version. “In the Midnight Hour,” by Wilson Pickett.
Note: measurements taken in the anechoic chamber at Canada’s National Research Council can be found through this link.
February 2026
David Mott, baritone saxophone master and former head of the music department at York University in Toronto, Canada, once told me that the best musicians play without ego. By creating an unmediated flow of ideas, artists like John Coltrane channel something approaching the divine. Pianist Keith Jarrett certainly belongs in that category.
February 2026
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab / Columbia Records—MFSL 2-567
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
I hadn’t bought a Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab LP since the 2022 dustup over the sources the label was using for its costly reissues. MoFi’s handling of the issue was imperfect, but in the end, it reached a settlement with disgruntled customers. At this point, the big takeaway from all the noise the scandal created is that it’s silly to assume an original analog tape is the best and only source for cutting an LP.
February 2026
Mark Howard’s name appears in the credits of a lot of records you probably own. He’s worked as a recording and mixing engineer on albums by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Marianne Faithfull, Rickie Lee Jones, Chris Whitley, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris . . . and the list continues. On many of those albums, he was working with producer Daniel Lanois. He was the engineer on a couple of Lanois’s own albums as well.
January 2026
ECM Records ECM 2860 7849960
Format: CD
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
By my count, jazz guitarist John Scofield is closing in on 50 albums as a leader or co-leader. Bassist Dave Holland has a similarly large discography as leader, co-leader, and group member on jazz recordings. The two have played together on albums by Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, and others, and toured as a duo in 2021 and again in 2024. Those shows led to the decision to record an album together.
January 2026
The first time I heard of Steven Wilson was when I received a copy of Porcupine Tree’s seventh album, In Absentia, for review in 2003. Wilson was the group’s leader, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He also produced the band’s albums and has served in that role for other musicians as well.
December 2025
Riverside Records / Craft Recordings—CR00727
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
The great jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery enjoyed commercial success in the last few years of his life after he signed with Verve Records in 1964, and gained even more popularity when he moved to A&M Records in 1967, a year before he died. Creed Taylor was his producer in those years and often matched him with various orchestral ensembles, from big bands to strings.
December 2025
Last month, SoundStage! Xperience posted part one of my list of LPs that I think are worth hearing. The records on my list aren’t as popular as others that get heavy airplay or show up in articles in classic rock mags, and they didn’t necessarily sell many copies. But I like them and think they deserve more notice than they often receive. Here are my remaining recommendations, to round out my list to ten.
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