2016-24 Features: Blog:
This is For the Lover in You: 30 Best Romantic Albums (1955-2015) (March 23, 2025)
2024’s Raves & Faves: The Best Popular Culture of the Year (December 31, 2024)
More than Nostalgia? A review of Yacht Rock: A Documentary (December 2, 2024)
That 90s Music! Visible yet under the radar recordings (August 14, 2024)
A summer interlude: Some notes on award-worthy television and the best music of 2024 so far (July 12, 2024)
Black & Country: Something Old, Something New (March 29, 2024)
2023’s Raves & Faves: The Best of the Year (December 29, 2023)
A literary and musical celebration (and recognition) of Barbra ! (December 3, 2023)
103 R&B Ballad Vocal Performances (November 7, 2023)
Occasional songs: Lists for everybody for everything (June 16, 2023)
Robbed, rewarded, and remembered: Reflections on the 2023 Grammy awards (February 19, 2023
In the Cut: A Spotlight on Black American Music (February 2023)
Raves & Faves: A List of 2022’s Cultural Standouts, A-W (December 14, 2022)
On the Radio: 150 Killer Singles (1972-2022) (August 4, 2022)
Listening beyond the moment: Classic female albums, new and new(er) (August 3, 2022)
Since 2015: The legacy of the 100-ish influencers (August 2, 2022)
Creating Space in the New Century: Remixing the 100-ish Most Influential Female Artists (August 2, 2022)
Caught in a trap: Baz Luhrmann renders Elvis generic (July 2022)
2022 Oscar recommendations and predictions (March 2022)
Raves and Faves 2021: The year of “Yes, but…” (December 20, 2021)
Between a “jazz” and a pop place: A review of Listening to Kenny G (December 11, 2021)
Bonus Cut: Jazz adjacent and Rock torch/Occasional jazz + Artists ripe for discovery/rediscovery (October 23, 2021)
Daily Dose of Vocal Jazz (Part 5): A Quiet Thing: A tidal approach to vocal jazz (October 22, 2021)
Daily Dose of Vocal Jazz (Part 4): You Fascinate Me So: Jazz + Beyond Category (October 21, 2021)
Daily Dose of Vocal Jazz (Part 3): Our Love Rolls On: The 1980s and 1990s jazz generation (October 20, 2021)
Daily Dose of Vocal Jazz (Part 2): This is New: Voicing jazz in the new millennium (October 19, 2021)
Daily Dose of Vocal Jazz (Part 1): Prelude to a Kiss: I know you love the past but what jazz have you listened to lately? (October 18, 2021)
95 years young: Celebrating the Art of Tony Bennett (August 2021)
Risks, departures, and pivots: When musicians change directions (July 2021)
The great 80: Vocal masters of the rock era (1955-present) (May 2021)
Love, hate, acceptance, rejection, and curiosity: 76 most influential songwriters (April 2021)
Girls like her: The early recordings of Tanya Tucker (February 2021)
Esther Phillips: Heart of the Blues (February 2021)
America’s Blues: A review of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (January 2021)
Raves & Faves: The Best of 2020, a most unusual year (December 2020/January 2021)
Sheltering in place: Music, podcasts, friendship, & 2020 (December 2020)
Learning to Listen profile: Get hip to Marlena Shaw (September 2021)
Learning to Listen profile: Diane Schuur records an album for these times on Running on Faith (July 2020)
Learning to Listen profile: Three-in-one: The appeal of Brook Benton (March 2020)
Learning to Listen Interview 1.2: Annie Randall (March 2015)
Learning to Listen Interview 1.1: Theo Cateforis (February 2015)
Please use the arrows at the bottom of the blog posts to scroll for 2015-20 blog entries!
Book Review Blog: My Name is Barbraby Barbra Streisand (December 2023);Major Labels: a History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefah Sanneh(December 2021);Americanaland by John Milward (September 2021); Broadway in the Box: Television's Lasting Love Affair with the Musical by Kelly Kessler (August 2020);Beyond the Book Review: A feast for the ears-60 significant vocal jazz and traditional pop albums (December 20l7); The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums by Will Friedwald (December 2017); Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz by Fred Hersch (October 2017); Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan by Elaine M. Hayes (August 2017); Soul Serenade:Rhythm, Blues, and Coming of Age through Vinyl by Rashod Ollison (December 2016); Never a Dull Moment: 1971 the Year that Rock Exploded by David Hepworth (September 2016); The Genius of Michael Jackson by Steve Knopper (March 2016); Boys in the Trees: A Memoir by Carly Simon (February 2016); Playboy Swings by Patty Farmer with Will Friedwald (September 2015); Billie Holiday: The Musician and The Myth by John Szwed(June 2015); The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song by Ben Yagoda(April 2015);Who Should Sing Ol' Man River? by Todd Decker (March 2015); Mr. B: The Music & Life of Billy Eckstine by Cary Ginell(March 2015); Is That All There Is? by James Gavin; Jazz Child by Ellen Johnson (February 2015); Respect by David Ritz (February 2015).