Welcome back to The Five Spot, another new Rocks Off recurrent. Every Friday (but sometimes Monday), we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com.
So we were all pumped about the songs that the enigmatic Prince leaked from his upcoming album - essentially, he called up some personnel at an L.A. indie-rock station, brainstormed about a possible non-record-label release with them, then offere
Craig Hlavaty
The Imani School Student Jazz Ensemble
Craig Hlavaty
Erykah BaduRocks Off is still in the very early recovery stages from this weekend, which was one of the most satisfying musical whirlwinds he's been sucked into in quite some time. He started off Friday evening at the Arena Theatre (his new favorite local venue) for Erykah Badu's retro-futuristic benefit for Houston's Imani School. The local private academy's jazz ensemble - no member was over age 13 - ev
Little Joe Washington
Texas Fire Line
www.dialtonerecords.com
One of the easiest jobs in music has to be producer of a Little Joe Washington album. Make sure he shows up at the studio - itself no small feat, though not as difficult as it used to be - turn on the recording equipment and get out of the way. On his second album for Austin's Dialtone Records (following 2003's Houston Guitar Blues), the blues flows so effortlessly out of Washington's guitar it's hard to believe any of these 14 s
2009 marks the 45th anniversary of Getz/Gilberto, the album that established bossa nova in the international market - something that came at the right time, as the popularity of the unapologetically apolitical genre had begun to wean in its native Brazil.
But it was not like Verve Records was excited about it at the time: in early 1964, Verve producer Creed Taylor finally decided to release the product of two days of recording sessions done in September of 1963 with saxophonist Stan Getz, Bra
