Monthly Archives: January 2026
Dayna Stephens: Monk’D
Thelonious Monk was one of jazz’s great entertainers. But good Monk cover versions are generally as rare as hen’s teeth. You could probably count on one hand the interpretations that have really captured Monk’s playful spirit and/or created music of lasting value. But now we can add Dayna Stephens’ recent album Monk’D to that small, […]
Tribal Tech’s ‘Illicit’: the ‘Heavy Weather’ of the 1990s?
Many 1980s and 1990s jazz/rock bands tried and failed to match Weather Report’s killer combination of catchy melodies, elegant group interplay and cutting-edge improvisation, exemplified by their 1977 masterpiece Heavy Weather. But surely the most successful of the lot was guitarist Scott Henderson and bassist Gary Willis’s Tribal Tech. The LA-based group released four albums […]
Sounds Of Surprise 