JazzMatters: The Best New Jazz of April and May 2023
Our jazz columnist chooses the best new jazz albums of the past two months while reflecting on the passing of Ahmad Jamal and highlighting Walter Smith III.
Music Features
That Stank Attitude: Steely Dan’s Final Albums Two Decades Later
The last album by the rock/jazz phenoms Steely Dan was released 20 years ago. This is a look back at why their last two records deserve reconsideration.
Paula Abdul Found Artistic Growth and Maturity with ‘Spellbound’
Paula Abdul confounded her critics with Spellbound, looking to expand pop hooks and catchy melodies with more esoteric sounds to festoon her state-of-the-art dance-pop.
Hopelessly Devoted to Whom? Olivia Newton-John, Juliana Hatfield, and Me
In her tribute album, Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John, Hatfield gives us a direct line to the heady days of the ’80s and makes us wonder if shiny, electric blue lycra was really so bad.
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Bob Dylan’s Art Is Best Served Naked
As Bob Dylan learned, only through baring of one’s soul does one show the way forward, providing both a glimpse into the other and perhaps the shape of things to come.
This Rich, Weird Life: An Interview with M. Ward
M. Ward discusses the writing and recording of Supernatural Thing as well as his love of radio and how songwriting elevates his spirits.
How Keith Richards’ Drug Bust Opened the Mainstream for Disability Activists
Keith Richard’s 1977 drug bust in Toronto led to the controversial “Blind Date” benefit concert in nearby Oshawa. Many benefited, but not in the way you think.
Vampire Weekend’s ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ at 10
Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City is very much a studio creation in the 21st-century sense, born from many months of sweat and obsession behind computer screens.
Dom Flemons’ Slow Dance with the History and Future of Song
The great “songster” Dom Flemons has pandemic stories to tell, but also shares his new album’s inspirations, including a love of Bob Dylan and Black cowboy narratives.
Janet Jackson Came Into Her Own As a Significant Artist on ‘Janet’
Janet Jackson’s Janet, released 30 years ago today, embraces the maturity of her sexuality and political identity, and in the process, she creates beautiful music.
Bob Dylan’s ‘John Wesley Harding’ Was No Friend to the Poor
Bob Dylan’s 1967 album John Wesley Harding is more about what it is not than what it is. Does that hold true for the mythology of John Wesley Hardin himself?
Ranking the Sum 41 Albums: From Pop-Punk to Thrash Metal
With eight records across a 27-year discography, each of Sum 41’s albums have ranged widely in style from pop-punk to thrash metal.
