Whether you like rap, rock, classical or country, you'll find your favorite music at the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, MA.
Posted in Blues, Classic Rock, Jazz on Mar 12th, 2012
“The primary pleasure of the Little Willies, the uptown country cabaret covers band fronted by Norah Jones, is their ease, how they can take tunes everybody knows by heart and not so much reinterpret them as freshen them, pulling them ever so slightly toward the jazzier side.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
Posted in Avant-Garde Jazz on Feb 13th, 2012
“The exuberant cheers and applause from the small studio audience at performance’s end remind you that what you’ve just heard has happened in real time, making it all the more impressive. COIN COIN, the first half of a larger politically-charged and personal work, is one of those records you didn’t know you were waiting for, [...]
“The veteran bassist has long been one of the top soloists on his instrument and a significant composer as well. There are several fresh interpretations of standards, including a buoyant, lively Come Rain or Come Shine.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
Posted in Jazz on Feb 4th, 2012
“Donny McCaslin is very much a tenor saxophonist in the John Coltrain/Sonny Rollins mold, but he often varies his approach by adopting unusual instrumentation. That’s what he does on Perpetual Motion, using an electric bass played by Tim Lefebvre, electric and acoustic keyboards by Adam Benjamin and Uri Caine, and drums by Mark Guiliana and [...]
Posted in Jazz on Feb 4th, 2012
“[I Feel You] delves into rock, pop, jazz, and Brazilian tunes and interprets them with a contemporary international feel, without leaving jazz behind.” — All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
Posted in Jazz, Latin Jazz on Dec 9th, 2011
Many of the most cherished standards in jazz were born as popular songs. In fact, through the course of jazz history, popular songs have served as a source of inspiration for jazz artists. They still do. Now, in his new recording of classic Puerto Rican songs, saxophonist, composer and arranger Miguel Zenón brings that jazz [...]
Posted in Blues, Jazz, New Orleans Blues on Dec 9th, 2011
“The music included here celebrates the musical diversity of New Orleans and Treme as traditions have been passed down from the neighborhood where jazz was born and where blues, Cajun, and folk musics have flourished to the present post-Katrina era. As a soundtrack, this volume represents what’s best about Treme; as a listening experience, it [...]
“Compared to Wynton’s duet albums with Willie Nelson, this is both more traditional and riskier, and compared to Clapton’s latter-day duets with B.B. King and J.J. Cale, this finds the guitarist none too deferential. These are consummate musicians united by playing music they love, and their passion resonates so strongly it’s hard not to enjoy [...]
“This lavish 111-track, six-CD box set attempts the impossible — to tell the whole story of jazz. This expanded anthology is wonderfully diverse in the story it tells, with tracks from jazz artists across the stylistic board, from Stan Kenton to Sun Ra, Bill Evans to Chick Corea, Louis Armstrong to Cecil Taylor, with stops [...]
Posted in Jazz, Solo Ukulele, World Music on Aug 29th, 2011
“Shimabukuro gained recognition when his version of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ went viral on Youtube, but as he shows on much of Peace, Love, Ukulele, he is more interested in his own original compositions. The ear-catching cover here is Shimabukuro’s nearly unaccompanied version of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.”–All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
Posted in Blues, Jazz, Performed at the Crane on Aug 1st, 2011
Emotionally charged, bluesy vocals in a contemporary folk style with strong shades of jazz and blues. Check Our Catalog
“Nelson’s singing and guitar playing have always fallen well to the jazz side of country all along anyway, and he’s hardly been a garden variety hat act during his long career, while Marsalis has long worked to reintroduce jazz as a viable popular form in American music. It’s about synthesis, really, and so it makes [...]
Posted in Jazz on May 13th, 2011
“Vibraphonist Mike Mainieri is hardly the first jazz artist to pay tribute to John Coltrane, but he may very well be the first to do so accompanied solely by alto saxophone (the late Charlie Mariano) and double bass (German Dieter Ilg) — no drummer or pianist in sight. Mainieri says in his liner notes that [...]
“Esperanza Spalding is a quadruple threat as composer, bassist, singer, and producer. Chamber Music Society is a more sophisticated offering than Esperanza. That said, with its musical diversity, stylistic panache, humor, and soul, it’s also a more enjoyable listen.” –All Music Guide Check Our Catalog
Posted in Jazz on May 13th, 2011
“This collaborative album between two alto saxophonists of different generations but similar character is a fascinating encounter that demonstrates the power of what’s known as the “inside-outside” approach to jazz. Mahanthappa and Green play distinctively enough that each is identifiable despite the fact that they’re both on alto, and the music maintains an adventurous but [...]
Posted in Avant-Garde Jazz, Experimental, Rock/Pop on May 13th, 2011
“Floored By Four is a one-off collaboration between a quartet of musicians, each with at least one foot in conventional rock, the other in more experimental jazz and improv. Each of four tracks is named for a band member and highlights that individual in ways that are sometimes clear and sometimes hard to parse.” –Dusted [...]
Posted in Jazz on May 4th, 2011
“The 2010 self-titled release by the Stanley Clarke Band is aptly titled; it actually feels more like a band record than anything he’s done in decades. This isn’t saying that Clarke’s solo work is somehow less than, but when he surrounds himself with musicians that are all prodigies in their own right, the end results [...]
Posted in Avant-Garde Jazz, Jazz on Mar 29th, 2011
Check Our Catalog “Guitarist Nels Cline has generated a high profile since becoming a member of Wilco, but it’s his solo work that defines him — he can always be counted upon to thwart expectations. Initiate is the fourth album by the Nels Cline Singers, a power trio with Devin Hoff on contra and electric [...]
Posted in Jazz on Mar 29th, 2011
Check Our Catalog “There’s a sense that, by joining the dots between different forms of African-American music, Parker is using Mayfield’s compositions to preach a timeless sermon of Afro-centric consciousness. That’s heightened by the addition of the uplifting raised voices of the New Life Tabernacle Generation of Praise Gospel Choir, and by the hellfire-hipster declamations [...]
Posted in Jazz on Mar 29th, 2011
Check Our Catalog “The album’s repertory leans perceptibly toward ballads, with well-worn jazz standards brushing up against deep spirituals.” –The New York Times