Roots Music Report

PAUL JOST’s newest album, WHILE WE WERE GONE, is a double disc album recorded live at the Soapbox Gallery, an art and performance space in Brooklyn, NY. Jost and his band, which comprises some of the top New York area musicians, includes JIM RIDL on piano, DEAN JOHNSON on bass, TIM HORNER on drums, and LORIN COHEN and MARTIN WIND subbing on bass on several tunes. Jost and the band began performing live just one day a month at the Soapbox Gallery when the Covid-19 lockdown started easing up in New York City. The venue recorded the... Read More

The chase has been on for a longtime for drummer/percussionist extraordinaire Scott Kettner. With his collective Nation Beat, he has long explored the folkloric musical traditions of Brazil and Louisiana. That exploration of the shared history and culture of these two incredibly rich musical areas has led to a hybridity, one mixed with his jazz influence, inspiring Kettner and his crew to compose and perform new music that brings all of these influences together. The chase has led Kettner to a royal payoff. The Royal Chase (NBM),... Read More

The Atlantic Ocean separates Cuba and Senegal, the respective birthplaces of piano virtuoso Omar Sosa and kora maestro Seckou Keita, a distance diminished by their shared ancestral connection to Africa. When the pair met in 2012, Seckou loved Omar for his musical spirituality, whilst Omar saw in Seckou a rare ability to collaborate but not lose his identity. Their debut album Transparent Water (2017) was hailed as ‘beautiful, rhapsodic… spiritual’ (Songlines) and ‘mesmerising, evocative and sophisticated’... Read More

Rubén Blades speaks about their new 2021 album:  SALSWING! as an album has different purposes. One, to present the Roberto Delgado Orchestra as an outfit capable of expanding its original Panamanian roots to cover other musical genres. Another, to present my interest in exploring other vocal directions and thus eliminate the stereotype that affirms that we are conditioned to only exist artistically within specific boundaries, according to our nationality.   Perhaps the most important point is to... Read More

If you find yourself looking for peace, Strata is a good place to start. In their musicianship Skúli Sverrisson and Bill Frisell are twin souls, whose playing is so complementary that it's remarkable that this is their first time recording together. Strata is a hypnotizing album.  Speaking on their collaboration Frisell remarks, "Skúli was tapped in to something I dream of. When we did the recording, it took it to 100%. It felt like something that was in my imagination, but... Read More

  EVER SINCE THE WORLD ENDED, the newest album by vocalist LAUREN WHITE, is a family affair. It is not White’s consanguineous family but her extended music family to whom she turned for succor as the country deals with the Covid-19 pandemic. The loneliness and isolation caused by the quarantine are exacerbated by the disruption of our daily routines and uncertainty about the future. THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED is a testament to the anodyne powers of making music as a shared experience. EVER SINCE THE WORLD ENDED is... Read More

Acclaimed jazz vocalist and songwriter JACQUI NAYLOR’s 11th album, THE LONG GAME, is filled with both original and timeless love songs. The recording highlights the singer’s magnificent songwriting and deeply rich and soulful voice on thoughtfully arranged songs, all selected by Naylor’s fans via ballots distributed at her performances, a process she used for her prior four albums. The title of the album was born from one of Naylor’s philosophies of life: “Keep going, stay hopeful and enjoy your life. If you... Read More

Trumpet master JOHN DAVERSA is releasing his newest CD, ALL WITHOUT WORDS: Variations Inspired by Loren, a lush, orchestral jazz trumpet concerto composed by his lifelong friend and collaborator JUSTIN MORELL. Daversa is a prolific performing and recording artist whose projects often reflect important social themes, like his three-time Grammy-winning release, American Dreamers, Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom (2019), which gave voice to young undocumented people known as “Dreamers,” or his most recent project, Cuarentena: With... Read More

FRANCESCO AMENTA is releasing MIDTOWN WALK, his second album as a leader, featuring mostly original tunes penned by the composer, tenor saxophonist, and pianist. Amenta was born and raised in Italy but has been living in New York City since 2017, where he has become a regular on the city’s jazz scene. MIDTOWN WALK is produced by Grammy winning bass player JOHN LEE, who had a long association with Dizzy Gillespie and has worked with many top jazz artists, including Monty Alexander, Larry Coryell, Roy Hargrove, and Antonio Hart,... Read More

Noted musician and photographer, Phil Zimmerman, has donated his entire collection of historic bluegrass-related photographs and early recordings to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum.Many of the images in this collection can also be found in his book, Bluegrass Time, which is also available through this museum. Zimmerman's historic collection includes reel to reel audiotapes from the first multi-day, outdoor bluegrass festival held in 1965 in Fincastle, Virginia. Additional audiotapes of early bluegrass festivals feature... Read More

  The Japanese philosophy "Wabi Sabi" translates roughly as “find beauty and take pleasure in the imperfect”. For an ensemble like The Tiptons Sax Quartet and Drums that's been scattered across... Read More

RMR interviews the artists on Escape The Mind Vol. 3 The new volume release of the series of New Age Music - Escape The Mind, Vol. Three by Various Artists features award-winning and Grammy® Nominated artists from around the world. 90 Minutes of New Age Music for meditation and tranquility. One of the most diverse independent labels world-wide, releasing all types of rock, jazz, Neo-classical and New Age music, New Jersey based Bongo Boy Records continues on with its excellent New Age music series with... Read More

Jazz vocalist REBECCA KILGORE is one the most prolific recording and performing artists on the scene today. With 50 or so recording projects as a leader or co-leader, she is one of the most respected interpreters of the Great American Songbook. Based in Portland, OR, Kilgore has worked with many of the top jazz musicians in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Kilgore does not disappoint on her newest recording, THE REBECCA KILGORE TRIO – VOL. 1, which features pianist RANDY PORTER and bassist TOM WAKELING. Porter has performed with... Read More

      A Centering Peace is Brian Woodruff's third release as a leader, following 2018’s The Ing with the OKB Trio. This recording presents nine new compositions composed and... Read More

Big brass and high energy sum up the sounds of Hugh Manwell’s second project of 2021, Guidance. This 6 track EP combines soul, funk, & big band Jazz into a high-energy project. Hugh Manwell, a multi-instrumentalist and composer, plays Drums, Trumpet, Saxophone, Bass, Guitar, Piano, and Synths on Guidance delivering a modern twist on the classic Big Band Jazz sound. From the larger than life epic sounds of Big Time to the more slowed-down sensual vibes of “Walking On Clouds” the project will... Read More

Distance is Carr’s ninth album. Continuing his propensity for funk-based jazz and explorative melodic melodies, Carr has once again put together a listenable yet gritty album that goes the distance. The name Distance came from the fact that 6 of the songs on the album were written over 25 years ago, with lots of youthful exuberance. Kenny... Read More

Guitarist JUAN CARLOS QUINTERO is re-releasing his critically acclaimed album, The Way Home (1997) on his world music label, Moondo Music LLC. Out of print for over two decades, the re-titled album, CAMINANDO, features Quintero’s signature melodic guitar stylings, blending contemporary jazz with native Colombian rhythms. Quintero was born in Medellin, Colombia, but came to the United States when he was just a baby. When he was eight years old, his father, a physician in the U.S. Army, brought the family to Brussels, Belgium, where he... Read More

According to Modern Drummer magazine, “Steve Gadd is one of the very few drummers whose innovations changed the way other musicians heard music.” The all-world drummer emerged as a force on the scene in the 1970s through potent and iconic recordings with Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Al Di Meola and, most notably, Paul Simon. Gadd’s innovative and eminently infectious beat on Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” grabbed countless ears and is forever encoded in the memory banks of a legion of drummers who... Read More

CHICAGO-BASED SURF ROCK BAND THE BREAKERS RETURN IN EARLY 2021 WITH NEW EP “A DATE WITH DESTINY” A DATE WITH DESTINY FOLLOWS 2020 CD RELEASE OF “VOODOO TREATMENT”   The Breakers are a Surf / Psychedelic / Garage / Punk instrumental combo from the Chicago area. THE BREAKERS ARE: Jim Abrahams - Guitar, Effects Marc Lockett - Drums, Percussion Jayson Slater – Bass   The Breakers formed in 2018 at an open mic in the Chicago Area when guitarist Jim Abrahams walked in with a list of... Read More

JP Williams Blues Band ft. Ekat Pereyra  New CD “JP & Ekat” will help reshape the BLUES in 2021   Band: JP Williams Blues Band featuring Ekat Pereyra  CD Title: JP & Ekat Label: Gizziffter Records   Scranton, PA, Release: February 15th, 2021. For Immediate Release​          The JP Williams Blues Band have recorded their fifth commercial CD album entitled “JP & Ekat”, this time featuring the amazing vocalist Ekat Pereyra  It... Read More

ALOHA RADIO HAWAII A Musical Journey to the Golden Age of Hawaiian Song   Rhymoi Music is thrilled to announce the release of their newest recording, a tribute to the Golden Age of Hawaiian Song titled Aloha, Radio Hawaii! Acclaimed producer, Yunchuan Ye has spared no expense in assembling the talents of legendary 4-time Grammy Award-winning sound engineer Dave Way, a collection of priceless vintage guitars and a team of all-star veterans of the Island music scene for a special nostalgic retro-style musical luau! Beloved... Read More

AUSTIN BASED PRODUCER/MUSICIAN MATT SMITH TO RELEASE EIGHT NEW ALBUMS ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2020   AUSTIN, TEXAS – Aug. 11, 2020 – Austin-based artist Matt Smith and 6 String Ranch Records announce the release of 8 new albums, as well as 10 digital re-releases of Smith’s catalog recordings. All the albums will be available everywhere music is streamed or bought. The new albums will be available Austin’s Waterloo Records and at www.6stringranch.com “Being Human” – the flagship... Read More

  The New Grand Undoing Album Is A 21st-century Masterpiece That Unites An Array Of Reenvisioned Classic & Contemporary Pop-Rock Sounds The 2020 album release of In A Vigil State is the highly anticipated 4th album by the Boston area band known as The Grand Undoing. Group founder, lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Seth Goodman, with the help of a handful of like-minded musicians, has advanced to a foothold still further up the mountain. The critically acclaimed 2016 Grand Undoing album—Sparks... Read More

Peter Galperin releases Tomorrow Seems Like Yesterday Never one to turn away from a valiant fight, NYC-based maestro Peter Galperin turns to face the strange on his 2020 CD, Tomorrow Seems Like Yesterday. Singing his catchy melodies and laced narratives more like a manifesto than a pure pop outing, Peter takes on the pathos of the Trump era head-on with his new single and album lead-off track, "Nature Of Your Kind", a sing-along song that is both disconcerting and hummable. The seven tracks on Tomorrow Seems Like Yesterday serves... Read More

Roots Music Report speaks with MOTU: The Blues For The Beach Interview RMR caught up with blues rock guitarist, songwriter and band leader, MOTU and he was more than happy to go track-by-track on the 2020 MOTU album Blues For The Beach. MOTU, who's real name is Dr. Richard Michelson, describes Blues For The Beach as an album that "was all written with an intent to be an American Roots album." Complete with a hard driving band of top-notch musicians, Blues For The Beach is an worthy follow up album to the 2019 MOTU album... Read More

French synth legend Zanov returns in 2020 with a new concept album called "Chaos Islands" Like a sonic apparition arising from the ashes of his late ‘70s albums, France’s preeminent synth maven, Zanov returned after many decades with Virtual Future (2014) and Open Worlds (2016). In 2020 Zanov returns with a kind of concept album called Chaos Islands. Conceived very much in the adventurous spirit of late 1970s French synthesizer music, on the 7-track 49 minute Chaos Islands, Zanov draws on a bevy of modern day... Read More

NEW ALBUM OUT NOW! STEINAR KARLSEN – DESTINATION VENUS CD: OTWCD005 - LP: OTWLP005 Get ready for a musical journey to the planet Venus... NEW CD:  STEINAR KARLSEN – Destination Venus Norway’s 21st century guitar hero Steinar Karlsen has appeared in many music reviews on a number of media sources and many writers and radio stations have enjoyed spinning his music over the past decade. It’s been a while but Steinar Karlsen returns in 2020 with Destination Venus. Co-produced, engineered and mixed by... Read More

The Apparat European tour continues. The German band with leader Sasha Ring came to Italy. On April 5th the musicians made a stop in Naples, the capital of southern Italy. In the evocative location of the Acacia Theater, they created an intense and surprising live show. The show starts around 10.30 pm in a sold out theater. Sounds of nature lead the way at the entrance of the six musicians. Dawan is the first track of a concert that travels between the present and the past of the Apparat. Blue lights surround a figure dressed in black.... Read More

Kids In A New Groove (KING) provides private, in-home, music instruction to Central Texas youth in foster care, allowing them to gain the benefits of one-on-one mentorship, as well as the skills and creativity that come with music. KING’s program combines the power of mentoring with music instruction.   The program is successful because of the dedicated music mentors who give their time and share their passion for music with our youth. As one music mentor said: “She credits music with helping to give her the confidence... Read More

  SOULFUL BLUES SINGER/SAXOPHONIST VANESSA COLLIER EMBARKS ON 'HONEY UP' TOUR IN SUPPORT OF NEW ALBUM "If you haven't yet hooked onto the Vanessa Collier bandwagon, do so now because this young woman's a rising star. Ms. Collier is a true triple threat --- an accomplished sax player, a very fine soulful singer with some roots in gospel, and a prolific... Read More