The Offspring Ixnay on the Hombre (Columbia) Despite the presence of Jello Biafra on “Disclaimer,” a bit o’ hucksterism plopped at the top of this disc in an effort to rent a little credibility, Ixnay is punk rock only in the broadest sense. The comfort lead shouter Dexter Holland displays…

Johnny Dowd Wrong Side of Memphis When I began reviewing albums, I instituted a simple rule for myself: I must listen to at least three songs of every recording I receive before deciding whether or not to put it in my giveaway drawer. This doctrine has caused me no shortage…

Guitarist/vocalist John Cephas and harmonica expert Phil Wiggins, collectively known as Cephas & Wiggins, play what’s alternately called Tidewater music or Piedmont blues. And while they’re not the only ones to do so, Cephas is frustrated that more young players aren’t following in their footsteps. “You know, I can’t really…

Most musicians are more comfortable talking about music than merchandising–but not Al Ferguson. When discussing Fascinating Rhythm, a group whose name he likes so much that he’s had it trademarked, the Denver-based Ferguson often sounds more like the head of an advertising firm than a creative artist. “My objective with…

When the readers of Guitar Player magazine named English guitarist Adrian Legg’s 1992 album Guitar for Mortals the acoustic record of the year over competition that included the Eric Clapton disc Unplugged, many of them probably assumed that Legg had roots in the art-rock supergroups of the Seventies. But Legg,…

The process of setting up interviews with nationally known musicians generally includes two predictable steps–gaining permission from a record company and an agent. But in the case of blues-harmonica legend Junior Wells, there’s a third hurdle that must be cleared, and it’s the most formidable obstacle of all: Wells’s sister…

Pat Boone No More Mr. Nice Guy (Hip-O) Jimmy Webb Ten Easy Pieces (Guardian) By most measures, rock and roll is over forty years old–meaning that at least two generations of performers have grown old as part of this young person’s universe. Only a tiny percentage of these artists have…

New York-based pianist Fred Hersch is a superior soloist as well as an excellent producer, composer, arranger, group leader and sideman. But in most of the articles about him, these attributes are given short shrift in favor of chatter about his personal life: In 1982 he announced that he was…

One of the reasons bass legend Paul Warburton knows so much about the fabric of his music is that he’s actually made music with it. Fabric, that is. “Before I started playing bass, when I was fourteen, I’d lay on my bed, which was covered with one of those old…

When veteran alto saxophonist Hank Crawford and Hammond B-3 wizard Jimmy McGriff formed a quartet in 1986, their record company, Milestone, documented the union with the release of Soul Survivors, a high-energy platter filled with R&B, blues and lots of the sort of soulful jazz with which they’ve long been…

“I made up this little story that kind of describes what I do,” says Miguel Espinosa, the extraordinary flamenco guitarist who makes up half of Boulder’s Curandero. “I imagine a little boy who is walking on this road. So he sees a marble. He puts it in his pocket. Then…

Cuarteto Latinoamericano is the classical world’s only full-time string chamber ensemble made up exclusively of Latin American musicians–but don’t make the mistake of dismissing the group as a novelty. Performances by the foursome (Saul Bitran, older brothers Aron and Alvaro Bitran, and Javier Montiel) have earned glowing notices from reviewers…

Ask Denver’s Day Butler to describe hip-hop and you won’t get a definition; you’ll get a mini-course in sociology. “A lot of people say hip-hop is a way of life. But as far as I’m concerned, hip-hop is life,” says Butler, the creator, producer, editor, publicist and host of the…

Better Than Ezra Friction, Baby (Elektra) Dear friends, this CD represents everything that’s wrong with alternative music in 1996. Not that it’s obviously abysmal. Far from it: The songs here are tuneful and hooky, and the players (guitarist/vocalist Kevin Griffin, bassist Tom Drummond and drummer Travis Aaron McNabb) deliver them…

The New York-based sextet called the Klezmatics is known for playing “in the tradition.” But Klezmatics trumpeter/keyboardist/arranger Frank London denies that this reputation means the band is unadventurous. “We make informed choices,” he says. “We try to make our artistic choices based on a deep knowledge of our tradition and…

‘Eighteen years ago, bluesman Otis Taylor, a longtime fixture at the Denver Folklore Center, walked away from his career as a professional musician with hardly a second thought. “I just quit, because I decided I didn’t need that lifestyle,” Taylor reminisces. “I tend to be the type of person that…

To most of his friends and neighbors in Colorado Springs, the notoriously conservative town where he’s lived for the past thirty years, Stephen Scott is simply a professor of music at Colorado College. But to listeners interested in the development of classical music during the twentieth century, Scott, 52, is…

Now in his mid-fifties, country blues guitarist/ vocalist John Hammond has held up well. His thick crop of hair shows no traces of male-pattern baldness. His figure, often accented by stylish suits, remains svelte. And his voice has never sounded better–which is remarkable given the fact that he’s spent a…

Unlike those musicians who play up a variety of interests, perhaps to demonstrate that there is more to them than their tunes, Tabu Ley Rochereau, the Zaire-born leader of L’Orchestre Afrisa International, insists that music is his be-all and end-all. “I’m writing one book about my life,” he says. “I…

Jazz pianist/vocalist Shirley Horn is a cult classic. A restrained and reticent woman, Horn loathes interviews and seldom appears anywhere other than her hometown, Washington, D.C. “I was born here,” she says from the nation’s capital. “I’ve lived here all my life. And I’ll be here all my life.” As…

The message flashed at viewers during the introduction of The Last Klezmer–a 1994 documentary film made by Yale Strom, leader of the klezmer/jazz act known as KLAZZJ–underlines the important role the style has played in Jewish culture throughout Eastern Europe. “A wedding without a klezmer,” the saying goes, “was worse…

“Have you noticed how a majority of the musicians around here are about a generation behind in the way that they play?” asks Sam Coffman, a composer/pianist who leads the Denver jazz act Cat Unit. “And hey, it’s not just around here; I think it’s a common problem everywhere. But…