Various Artists Woodstock ’94 (A&M) Didn’t I read about this on a Pepsi twelve-pack?–Michael Roberts Sade The Best of Sade (Epic) The lukewarm smooch tracks from this babe probably couldn’t even get a rise from the inmates at Denver County Jail.–John Jesitus Collective Soul Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid…

In response to the assurance that his impending fortieth birthday doesn’t mean he’s at death’s door, pedal-steel guitarist and African music enthusiast Glenn Taylor laughs: “But it is. I think turning forty is a milestone–like this stone around your neck.” He’s more serious when he adds, “Of course, it’s an…

Pianist/vocalist Kelley Hunt speaks in an unhurried, no-pretenses manner, as if she’s chatting with the girls down at the beauty shop. The personality of this native of Lawrence, Kansas, shines through tasty and sweet–and so does her music, which constitutes the freshest slant on classic R&B and boogie that you’re…

The members of Denver’s Blue City 5 take a philosophical approach to their work. The performers feel that their music is not going anywhere and doesn’t come from anywhere, either. It simply exists in eternal space and time. This theory might seem hard to swallow, particularly for an act described…

Cornetist Ruby Braff knows exactly how to describe himself. “I’m a performer,” he asserts. “I’m not like some other musicians. Back when I was very young and just beginning to play, the musicians all felt wonderful until the people started coming in. Then they’d say, `They’re coming!’ with such contempt–like,…

Spell Mississippi (Island) For those of you who think Westword can’t be objective about this Denver-based band, let’s start with a few negatives about Spell’s major-label debut. First of all, the title leaves a lot to be desired. It’s not all that funny (“Spell Mississippi”–get it?), and it implies that…

Either/Orchestra, Saturday, October 15, at the Bluebird Theater, is the odd, eccentric, precocious (but dearly loved) brainchild of composer/ saxophonist Russ Gershon. And a hardy youngster it is, for the Boston-based ten-piece jazz ensemble is now celebrating its ninth year of life. This longevity is quite an achievement: Aside from…

Improvisational wizard Bill Frisell is known worldwide for his ethereal, thinking-man’s work on the guitar, which he transforms into a stringed soulmate to wind instruments. The breathy, electrified tone that he produces with the help of volume pedals and other technological tools is simply splendid, as is his unplugged playing…

Storyville, Friday, October 7, at the Boulder Theater, is a Texas quintet that offers a fresh take on the music of the Lone Star state by coupling its blues base with passionate punk and soul influences. The band, which borrowed its name from New Orleans’s fabled and glamorous red-light district,…

When saxophonist/composer David Murray attended his twenty-year high school reunion last year, he won an award for having the most unique profession–or, as Murray puts it, “the strangest career.” Given Murray’s past, it couldn’t have been much of a contest. After all, very few people have achieved the significance in…

Eric Clapton From the Cradle (Reprise) This blues tribute disc was a good idea for three reasons: Much of Clapton’s best work has been in the idiom; following up the incredibly successful (and massively overrated) Unplugged with an album of covers automatically lowers expectations; and the format ensures that nothing…

The standard promotional line on singer-songwriter Keb’ Mo’ goes something like this: One of the first artists to be signed to Epic’s newly revived blues label (Okeh), Keb’ Mo’ is an unknown Los Angeles-based guitarist who’s being heralded as the latest wunderkind of acoustic, Delta-derived blues. His self-titled album showcases…

Stone Temple Pilots Stone Temple Pilots (Atlantic) It seems a little unfair to rag on the Pilots. I mean, there are ripoff artists in every style of music, and many of these performers wind up being more successful than the true innovators of the form. Which isn’t their fault, really:…

When asked to characterize his work, alto saxophonist/flutist Carlos Ward laughs. It’s a broad laugh, but also a mysterious one: There’s no way of knowing if he’s being congenial or expressing wordlessly the impossibility of defining his work and motivations. “Well, I hope people can understand it and accept it,”…

Steely Dan, Tuesday, September 6, at Fiddler’s Green, is a legendary act, and the chance to see the band live is a rare treat indeed. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen achieved breakthrough success in 1973 with the album Can’t Buy a Thrill, but quit playing concerts the next year. Fortunately,…

For over two decades critics have been calling Danny Gatton “The World’s Greatest Unknown Guitar Player”–and the way things are going, they may be calling him the same thing twenty years hence. Fortunately, Gatton stopped waiting for large-scale success a long time ago. “I just flat-out don’t give a damn…

Neil Young and Crazy Horse Sleeps With Angels (Reprise) Why Young remains a vibrant, intriguing, forward-looking artist at a time when most of his contemporaries have long since ceased to matter to anyone beyond their immediate families is a matter of some mystery. After all, he’s not doing anything that…

Author Gertrude Stein wrote that all vigorous art is irritating–and once it ceases to be irritating and becomes pleasant, it is no longer of any use. The members of Instrument Panel, an aleatory Boulder-based quartet committed to turning any sound into music, couldn’t agree more. “We are dealing with pure…

Julian Cope Autogeddon (American) Anyone who wants to know a little bit more about the fine line between insanity and genius would do well to give this a listen. The esteemed Mr. Cope is certainly capable of making accessible pop: He manned the defunct British act Teardrop Explodes during an…

In the world of hip hop, too many performers think that playing sampled funk grooves behind their own bad raps magically transforms them into composers. Mel Simpson, the producer and conceptualist behind the jazzy hip-hop project called Us3, disagrees. He feels that brand of rap is a rip. “So many…

As members of the Lost Angel Stone Ensemble, Boulderites Tom Wasinger and Jesse Manno play with rocks–literally. With the exception of melodic fragments produced on a small jade ocarina, their music is performed entirely on resonating stones. “There’s not anybody who makes instruments out of rocks anywhere in the world–at…

Marilyn Manson Portrait of an American Family (Interscope/nothing) If this is a legitimate effort to piss people off, it’s a failure: Although borrowing pseudonyms from serial killers (bandmembers here include Daisy Berkowitz, Madonna Wayne Gacy and Twiggy Ramirez) may upset a certain percentage of elderly schoolteachers, the rest of us…