Jon Armstrong is a musical wizard. I don’t mean this as hyperbole. I mean that in every context in which I’ve witnessed Jon Armstrong make music he elevates himself, his band-mates, and his audience to a state of spiritual expansiveness while keeping his music grounded, earthy, and genuine. There is a simplicity and tunefulness in his voice that cuts straight to the soul and somehow takes the imagination to outer space!
Read MoreWhen I first met Alexander Noice, I knew he was a special character and a brilliant musician, but when I first heard his brainchild, Falsetto Teeth, I knew he was a visionary. It was one of those moments where you see a close friend break into a new plain of realization and bust open a world of potential you never knew waited within them. I’m not sure if it was their first show, but it was certainlyone of the first, and the promise it held was incredible! A promise that comes to full fruition in their brand new avant pop rock masterpiece, Boiling High Idol.
Read MoreA motivating factor for many artists is the desire for self-expression, a need to represent either explicitly or through abstraction the philosophy and/or biography of one's life. With the release of Southern California-based tenor saxophonist Jonathan Rowden's debut album, Becoming, he manages to do so in one concise, dramatic, heartfelt gesture.
Read MoreFire Keeper introduces a new brand of American music, unbound by genre or stylistic idiom. Daniel Rosenboom and his quintet seamlessly blend elements of jazz, progressive and experimental rock, electronic music, N'awlins blues, grunge, and contemporary classical music into an unprecedented sound that is fiery, grooving, intelligent and exciting. The band rocks hard, but flies with the freedom of inspired jazz. The sound is fresh yet grounded, and for all its brazen metal edge, this is joyous music!
Read MoreIn October of 2012, Cathlene Pineda was flying back to her home in Los Angeles when she took out a pencil and begun to write. Her thoughts spilled out of her and onto the staff paper, notes that would tell the story of what had just become a significant personal time in her life. She titled the resulting piece A Week's Time, one of fourteen compositions that are featured in the pianist's debut album by the same name. It's a beautifully crafted, expressive work which elucidates her prodigious ability as a classical pianist tethered to a lyrical, imaginative improvisatory mind.
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