Singer-Songwriter Exploring Folk, Roots, Jazz & Blues
“Love Songs”: Four Female-Fronted Acts Team up for Three Thursdays, Bringing a Mix of Styles: Songwriter, Jazz, Blues, R&B and Torch February 6, 13 and 20, 2020 at Uncommon Ground Edgewater Chicago, IL — Music is one of the most emotional art forms and love is the perfect subject. Hear Chicago vocalists and songwriters…
Stumbling through jazz songs, I find the classic “Sometimes I’m Happy.” I check out the Sarah Vaughan version. Then, I found the Joni Mitchell version. The difference was striking. I felt like the image of the plaintive cup of wine and cigarette on the cover image of the latter artist, made me want to proclaim…
Since no one asked, I will throw some thoughts at the altar of “online content” and talk about guitar. Particularly, my relationship with the guitar. Someone said to me once that the guitar is a male instrument, but I have comfortably seen it as a female instrument (I mean B.B. King has Lucille, so I…
I Don’t Know Enough About You Lullaby of Birdland He Thinks I Still Care Hallelujah I Love Him So Comes Love Aged and Mellow Tears in Vain Another Night to Cry Walkin’ After Midnight Old Man of the Mountain You might wonder why this post modern indecipherable title resides here – and it’s because I…
Ok, ok, I try to be tough sometimes. Playing in a Tori Amos tribute show recently made me rethink that. I was raising my eyebrows looking at her lyrics, and wondering how I was going to learn the songs. While I meagerly pulled off my contribution to my act’s performance (I was just playing guitar,…
A good friend of mine a friend I met by accident taking a book from a free book case on the street the kinds with the glass front and a little door you open with a knob He started talking to me as I was carrying a guitar case and he said he normally doesn’t…
On a rare night off, I am home, and it’s winter, so the radiator is on. I start smelling something burning and look high and low. It seems to be coming from by the window. Is the radiator broken? Is the stove left on? Is there something burning downstairs? I fly out of the door…
Review: Lonnie Smith: THINK (Side B) After an indie band reached out to me to do an interview yet at the time, I did not feel like partaking in any indie rock with acoustic guitar, and weighing in on if it was “folk” or not. I shook my head. The stage was set for me…
I am not even sure there are photos of me when I first started playing guitar because I was playing the guitar and not posing in front of a camera. Marketing wasn’t even a word that came to mind when I thought of guitar. Nor was blogging, draw, online, social media, newsletter, or poster. Just…
I am learning “I Don’t Know Enough About You” and despite it being a straight ahead little song, there’s a lot of subtlety in it. The first 8 bars where she starts singing, the held notes between the 4th and 5th measures are quite winding. It’s fascinating to count through the intracacies of a lilting,…