Herbie Hancock

Frog Eyes! The 10 Greatest Glasses-Wearing Musicians

If you were like me growing up, you had glasses. You got ridiculed for it with names like "frog eyes," "nerd" (sadly children didn't equate that with smart, just weird), "ugly" and "geek." Even worse was the fact that, as a result of my wearing glasses, I couldn't wear sunglasses because the good o ... More >>

A Texican In New Orleans: Lessons Learned From Jazz Fest

This past weekend was the last for this year's edition of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which started way back on April 27. The festival runs over two weekends, usually Thursday through Sunday. Obviously since it is a uniquely Nawlins institution going back to 1970, it's not a festival t ... More >>

The Roots Of Lionize: From Miles Davis To Led Zeppelin

It's hard to find a band that reps Miles Davis in the same breath as much as they do Led Zeppelin, but Lionize are that band. Recording in Jamaica with Steel Pulse's Sidney Mills, supporting beardos like Kylesa, Clutch, and cKy? Yes, that's Lionize for you. Opening for Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster ... More >>

14 Notable Female Rock Drummers

girlscantwhat.com​Last week, we rounded up a list of our favorite female rock bassists. We'd like to continue the trend of honoring rock's finest females, by next recognizing 14 notable female rock drummers. As usual, we will focus on the live-performing, touring drummers over time, rather tha ... More >>

The 25 Most Influential Music Videos Of All Time

​It's hard to fathom a time before music videos, and it's even sadder to remember when channels like MTV and VH1 were wall-to-wall music videos. In between there was a golden age, when with every clip that you watched could spark a revolution in you, or at least change your fashion sense. It's ... More >>

Idol Beat: The Beginning Of The End

Billboard.com/Fox"Are these two really the best from this season?"​7:07 p.m.: Okay, so the sir who typically writes this column - Pete Vonder Haar, or, as he's also referred to: the Television Demigod - has a bit of personal business to tend to, so we're stepping in for him. I have seen exactl ... More >>

Never Mind Arcade Fire: Bands Who Fit Other Houston 'Burbs

Gabriel Jones/Merge Records​Tonight's the night. Win and Will Butler of conquering indie heroes Arcade Fire finally return to the town that indirectly won them a Grammy, The Woodlands. On last year's The Suburbs, the Butlers and their Canadian compatriots reflected on the brothers' restless M ... More >>

The Musical Minds That Made Booker T The Soul Man He Is Today

​How good a musician is Booker T? Along with the rest of the MGs, the house band of seminal soul imprint Stax who had several instrumental hits of their own besides backing Stax's powerhouse roster (Rufus Thomas, Albert King, Sam & Dave, Otis Redding...) throughout the '60s, the Memphis-born m ... More >>

Dave Wrangler Is Under The Influence... Before Our Washington Shore Party

Album art by Wyatt LittleRocks Off mentioned this right after Houston's main man on the mash-ups, Dave Wrangler, agreed to DJ tonight's Washington Shore party (8 p.m., rain or shine) at the Washington Avenue Drinkery, but it's worth repeating. Wrangler's got a new 18-track collection of mix-n-match ... More >>

Aftermath: Goodie Mob at House of Blues, With a Completely Unexpected Bun B Cameo

Photos by Marco Torres / Click here for a slideshow​9:25 p.m.: Standing in line to pick up tickets with the photographer, Bun B happens to walk up right behind us. (The Bun B Law of Inevitability is infallible.) I turn around and tell him hello and that we've spoken on the time several times ... More >>

Double Vision

Equally gifted in jazz and R&B, area native Robert Glasper moonlights in Maxwell's touring band.

Sonidos y Mas: Getz/Gilberto Turns 45

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 exc ... More >>

Local Album of the Week: Little Joe Washington's Texas Fire Line

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 ... More >>

Aftermath: One Wild Weekend

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  ... More >>

Five Spot: Prince Drives Us to Distraction

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 enig ... More >>

Houston's Jazz History

Texans Electric Touch Top Amazon's MP3 Chart

Miles Davis

The Complete On the Corner Sessions

Hope Springs Eternal

A northern suburb tops our third installment of rating greater Houston's taste in music

Our top DVD picks for the week of April 18.

Say What?

David Ellis starts up a crazy "Conversation"

Hurricane Mixtape

Music to drown by

Hand It to Herbie

Houston's jazz-piano cats salute a giant in their field

Potty Mouths

Tamales overhead, beer cans underfoot, drug references and cussing from the stage — it's the return of the Westheimer Street Festival to its old home

Super Mario Brother

The youngest Escovedo rides his sin-breathing Dragons into town

The Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio

Monday and Tuesday, April 7 and 8

The Year of Living Dangerously

Cinema 2002 counterbalanced a treacherous world

Pander Bare

Ex-Soular Slide front man peels away the funk to show off his songs

The Tortoise Taught Us

Chicago collective outraces critical hares with its genre-melding mind warps

Kenny Garrett

No one told him jazz is dead

Various Artists

Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music (Columbia Legacy)

Against the Tide

Pianist and former Houstonian Jason Moran refuses to flow with mainstream jazz

Pepper Shakers

Los Hombres Calientes take jazz into booty-shaking territory

Sock It to Me

Pop Jazz Masters

Hitting the Blue Notes

Herbie Hancock Times Six

Jazz Piano Times Two

Nature Boy

Rotation

Night & Day

June 18 - 24, 1998

Elling's Rant

Bully Boys

Here Comes the Sun

Andre Sam-Sin, a.k.a. DJ Sun, spins a luminous sound

Corrosive Talent

Jazz Royalty

George's last name may be Duke, but on the keyboards, he's a king

Rotation

Rotation

Blowing His Own Horn

Live Shots