Duke Ellington

Charles Mingus: A Beginner's Guide to the Late Jazz Great

True story: once, we were entertaining some people at home and my rat terrier, Mingus, got loose and began mingling with the guests. Because he's an insufferable attention-seeker and since people are nice and tend not to be threatened by terriers, a woman petted him and asked what his name was. I t ... More >>

The New Crusaders

TSU restarts its jazz program, tapping into the talents of the fabled Joe Sample and kids looking for a place to play.

Clockwork Angels

Veteran rockers Rush brought their steampunk-themed concept album to Toyota Center December 2.

RIP Dave Brubeck: "Take Five" Jazz Great Dies at 91

Dave Brubeck, the professorial jazz pianist and composer whose No. 2 album Time Out was a standard of the Mad Men era, has died at age 91, the Associated Press reported Wednesday morning. Brubeck's manager, Russell Gloyd, told the AP that Brubeck died of heart failure on his way to a cardiologist ap ... More >>

Sweet Feet: Dave Lombardo And Double Bass-Drum Domination

Slayer's Dave Lombardo is destroying a couple of bass drums just out of frame.​Forty-seven years ago today, drummer Dave Lombardo was born in Havana, Cuba. Never heard of Dave? That's okay. If you've listened to any heavy metal in the past 25 years, you've definitely heard his influence. Roun ... More >>

Uncovering Peter Case: The Rocks Off Interview

Julie EnsmingerPeter Case at Cactus Music last year​"I was always sort of not interested in what my generation was doing," Peter Case told Rocks Off 10 years ago after flipping through Louvin Bros. compact discs at a now-defunct bookstore in Sugar Land, surrounded by car dealerships, business ... More >>

Tilman Fertitta an "Executive to Watch" in 2011

This is Tilman Fertitta's three-story yacht. How's your 2011 looking so far?​Houston's Tilman Fertitta made a short list of restaurant executives to watch in 2011, in part because of his recent acquisition of a trio of new restaurant chains: The Oceanaire, Claim Jumper and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co ... More >>

Last Night: Merle Haggard At Mo's Place

Photos by Jason Wolter​Merle Haggard Mo's Place November 7, 2010 Next month, President Obama will look on while Willie Nelson inducts Merle Haggard into the Kennedy Center ring of honor, our nation's artistic equivalent of a Purple Heart. A glance at the Hag's tour calendar could offer a sma ... More >>

The Quotable Keith Richards: "I'm Happy To Be Anywhere"

​As anyone with half a brain and persistent hacking cough knows, today is a very special day. Today Little, Brown and Company publishes Life, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' autobiography as told to/pieced together by British journalist James Fox. Life has already received a fair amo ... More >>

She's Got Rhythm: Jazz-Pop Upstart Nikki Yanofsky, 16 And Swingin'

myspace.com/nikkiyanofsky​Nikki Yanofsky has been "singing since I could talk, basically." And doing it well: When her dad asked the Montreal native to sing a few songs with his garage band at a charity event, it was a little different than practicing in the garage. In the audience was the fou ... More >>

Straight, No Chaser

The most underground music in Houston right now isn't rap or indie rock...it's jazz.

Get Lit: Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D. G. Kelley

​Though his stature as an icon of jazz is secure today, for much of his actual performing life, pianist/composer Thelonious Monk was not always so well-received by jazz critics or general fans. His personal eccentricities - the hats, the dancing, the attacking piano keys - and odd/unprofessional b ... More >>

Houston 101: You Knew We Would Have To Do This One -- Liberty Hall

​Liberty Hall, by the 1970s, had somewhat survived its time as a church and an American Legion hall to become probably the hippest rock club in the city.Comfortably seedy, the Hall hosted legends like the Velvet Underground, Gram Parsons (with Neil Young and Linda Ronstadt sitting in), the Ramones ... More >>

Mick Jagger's Brother Tells British Readers About His Recent Visit To The Balinese Room, Somehow

Photo by rhaagaThe Balinese Room, several months before Chris Jagger apparently enjoyed a drink there.Has British tabloid the Daily Mail become the Daily Fail? It sure seemed like it when Hair Balls came across a Texas travelogue by Chris Jagger.Jagger, the brother of Mick, gathered little moss as h ... More >>

The Top 10 Reissues of 2008

[Note: This is the first in a series of articles that constitute Village Voice Media's year-end music package. The others - pop, indie-rock, dance mixes, Latin, country, alt-country/Americana, metal, rap/hip-hop and special graphics breaking down the year in charts and 2008's worst lyrics - will be ... More >>

Kristine Mills: Playing with the Big Boys — Live!

Requiem for the Balinese Room

Re-Scattering Willie Nelson's Stardust, 30 Years Later

Sgt. Pepper at Discovery Green

The Houston International Festival Is Upon Us

Get Lit: Rock & Roll Heaven, by Robert Dimery and Bruno MacDonald

Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy

Cornell 1964

Alive and Well

Jazz and the Osama Raad Quartet

The Bolivar Kid Strikes Again

Hayes Carll continues H-town's hot streak with Little Rock

A Century of Progress

Guitarist Huey Long is from all the eras

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

The Nickel Burger

How is a falling-apart Fifth Ward joint turning out the best burgers in town? Adrian's has history.

Mood Indigo

Oh, Solo Duo! (SuBerry)

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Popular

Spyro Gyra keeps making the best friendly jazz

Key Ingredient

Pianist Ahmad Jamal may have had a bigger impact on jazz than you think

Listen In

Hollisters, Bo Patt, Hadden Sayers Band, and Tom Cummings Quartet

Devil May Care

Matthew Shipp

Sock It to Me

Jazz Couplet

Coming This Week

Straight Sambas

Jazz pianist Danilo Perez mixes American and Latino traditions

Soul Brother No. 1

Top 10 reasons why Ray Charles is a genius

A Jazz Odyssey

Even without his commander, Marshall Allen orchestrates interplanetary space travel just fine, thank you

Rotation

Rotation

Night & Day

June 18 - 24, 1998

Press Picks

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Utmost Blue

Bully Boys

A Touch of the Familiar

Static

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Pop Moment

Live Shots