“Nothin’ But The Blues (featuring Theresa Needham” is a perfect opening to Terry Blade’s first full studio album since his award-winning 2023 release, ‘Ethos: Son of a Sharecropper”. The Chicago-based singer/songwriter continues his mission of educating the public about folk and blessings while creating a memorable musical canvas to explore. “Nothing But The Blues,” with […]
Deborah Holland is a jack of all trades and the master of several. A member of the musically talented trio The Refugees, Holland, along with Wendy Waldman and Cidny Bullens, produced the excellent 2024 release, California. While that album relied on the group’s interpretation of classic folk-rock, Holland gets to flex her considerable songwriting muscles […]
I’m hardly a fan of greatest hits collection. However, the artists and songs on this collection make it worth repeated listening. Fania Records is synonymous with the explosion of salsa music in New York during the 1960s and 1970s, and this compilation delivers an outstanding collection of classic and near-classic songs that capture the era’s […]
Perhaps guitarist, singer/songwriter, and producer Fernando Perdomo should have slowly ramped up his twelve-album series. ‘Waves,’ released in January 2025, is an inviting and daring collection of songs. Perdomo will release the incising ‘Waves 2’ in February 2025. Has the journeyman guitarist reached the same heights as the first ‘Waves’ album? Listening to Waves and […]
The third release by the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble is just as bold as the group’s last release, ‘We Will Know: An LGBT Civil Rights Piece in For Movements,’ released over 10 years ago. ‘Griot Songs, ’ a nod to the West African tradition of storytelling to share community history and tradition, encompasses a series […]
Holding Space is a musical collaboration between two musical titans that is long overdue. Wallmann and Mitcheltee have been musical and personal friends for almost 30 years. Geography may have played a part in this being their first project together, as Mitcheltree is in Las Angelos and Wallmann in Madison, Wisconsin. Another factor is that […]
Only Yes’ Billy Sherwood could get me to listen to yet another Christmas album—and only Sherwood could pull off such a strong release with such a diverse group of prog-rock artists.
“This Christmas,” written and originally recorded by soul legend Donny Hathaway in 1970, seems like an unlikely candidate for 2003’s What’s It Gonna Be, Santa?, the expanded version of Chicago XXV.
This statement in no way diminishes Champlin’s vocal chops or his keyboard and organ talent. There are also a few great examples of Champlin’s excellent fretwork with Chicago.
Bill Champlin brings his usual vocal-arranging expertise, stacking his voice with Scheff’s in the background harmonies. The result is a joyous and heartfelt rendition of this holiday classic.
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