By Devon Wendell I just cannot process the fact that B.B. King is no longer on this earth. How can it be? It’s like trying to imagine life without oceans, trees, and air to breathe. No one in history changed the approach and sound of the electric guitar like B.B. King. Sure, there were T-Bone… Read More An Appreciation: Remembering The King
Royal Southern Brotherhood heartsoulblood (Ruf Records) By Brian Arsenault What the so-called blues “purists” don’t understand is called out on critic John Sinclair’s liner notes to the superb heartsoulblood recently released by Royal Southern Brotherhood. To wit: “Here Cyril Neville points out (on the album’s second track) that ‘rock & roll is the child of… Read More CD Review of the Day: Royal Southern Brotherhood’s “heartsoulblood”
By Devon Wendell There has been quite a bit of hype for multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and sardonic poet Doc Wendell over the last decade. As a teen in New York City, Wendell worked in the studio with Donald Fagen and Steely Dan on their “comeback” album Two Against Nature. The late John Lee Hooker nicknamed… Read More Q&A: Doc Wendell – A Twist Of Misery
By Devon Wendell There have been countless films made about the blues and about B.B. King. A large percentage of these films merely focus on how King (Born Riley B. King on September 16th, 1925, between Itta Bena and Indianola Mississippi) inspired a plethora of overdriven, unoriginal rock guitarists from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Very… Read More Film Review: B.B. King “The Life Of Riley”
By Mike Finkelstein Sometimes life can be so poetic. In 1980, as Peter Frampton’s career was at a low ebb, he lost his most prized possession. He lost his Les Paul black beauty. This was his main axe and a huge, iconic part of his musical identity. It’s the one he played on Humble Pie’s… Read More Live Music: Peter Frampton’s Guitar Circus at the Greek Theatre
By Michael Katz There is nothing like driving around in a remote area to underline the virtues of good music. So I’d like to say a few kind words about Sirius XM. And also Avis, whose rental car was equipped with it. I recently spent a week in Yellowstone National Park, the setting for my… Read More Radio Jazz: Time To Get Sirius?
By Devon Wendell Bobby “Blue” Bland was truly the last of the stand and deliver blues crooners. Since Bland started recording in Memphis in the mid-‘50s — as part of the thriving blues scene that included Roscoe Gordon, Rufus Thomas, Junior Parker and B.B. King — he changed the world of modern blues and soul… Read More An Appreciation: Bobby “Blue” Bland
By Devon Wendell I was saddened when I learned that Hugh McCracken passed away of leukemia yesterday – March 28th, 2013 – in New York City. While working at Donald Fagen’s recording studio in New York in the 90s, I was constantly surrounded by the top session musicians of the world on a constant basis,… Read More An Appreciation: Hugh McCracken — A Fond Remembrance
The International Review of Music 