Jun 9, 2026 10:54 AM
In Memoriam: James Blood Ulmer, 1940–2026
With deep sorrow and profound love, we announce the passing of James Blood Ulmer, a boldly innovative guitarist,…
Laura Chavez’s My Voice is not a vocal album.
(Photo: Amy Brat)Billy Price: Random Madness (Get Hip; ★★★★ 47:32) Though never as widely celebrated as his aptitude merits, Billy Price nonetheless has established an enviable reputation over several decades. The dyed-in-the-wool soul-bluesman, based in Pittsburgh, sings stirringly throughout his latest album’s 14 original songs, a blue-ribbon program socked home with expressive understanding and abundant confidence and meticulous phrasing. Informed by rich soul and blues past yet modern-sounding, Price probes lyrics on mixed-up romance without being overwrought. Even with the jittery-jive entertainment of “Creature Of Habit,” the listener can feel a mind and a heart at work. Price’s band members, including noted producer-drummer Tony Braunagel and jazz-inclined saxophonist Eric Spaulding, share their leader’s focused belief in the primacy of delivering soulful grooves.
Ordering info: gethip.com
Todd Albright: Blues For Dexter Linwood (Misfortune; ★★★★ 39:02) Recording his voice and 12-string guitar on a single mic in mono sound at a short bare-bones session, Todd Albright integrates deep familiarity with the golden work of prewar East Coast and Delta blues artisans into his own musical vision. Delivering his first album in nine years and fourth overall, he spruces up historic fare like Mississippi John Hurt’s crime saga “Frankie” and Blind Lemon Jefferson’s kiss-off “Shuckin’ Sugar.” Albright merges precision in his singing and finger-picking of thick double strings with emotional virtuosity. He conjures blues poetry on the human condition. Guests in sync with him are harmonica player Dave Hundrieser on four numbers, and fairly well-known guitarist Charlie Parr on the standard “Step It Up And Go.”
Ordering info: misfortunerecords.com
Johnette Downing/Nathan Williams & The Zydeco Cha-Chas: My Little Snap Bean–Zydeco For Children (Wiggle Worm; ★★★½ 38:30) Zydeco For All Ages is a truer subtitle. The studio alliance of New Orleans children’s author-musician Johnette Downing and spirited zydeco standard-bearer Nathan Williams results in the big fun of bayou dance rhythms in community- and culture-building Creole traditional songs. Downing’s just mildly charismatic as a singer but that matters little to delighting in such happy music. Smart blues producer-musician Scott Billington, married to Downing and a longtime friend of singer-accordionist Williams, monitors the proceedings to ensure that nothing sounds silly, not even “Hitch Up My Pony.”
Ordering info: johnettedowning.com
Laura Chavez: My Voice (Ruf; ★★★★ 38:09) All-instrumental blues albums aren’t so unusual these days. Consider releases by Tinsley Ellis, Rick Vito, 11 Guys Quartet and Tom Principato. They’re now joined by upcoming guitarist Laura Chavez’s first feature album with its displays of honest expressionism welded to riveting guitar discourse. The Californian, who names Sue Foley and Debbie Davies as having encouraged her ardor for the blues, has a storyteller’s coherence and imagination. The sensual tenderness of Latinized “Mamba Negra” leads into aggressive emotional release à la Ronnie Earl. Two more nods to her Mexican bloodlines, Phil Manzanara-ish “El Cascabel” and an exciting strut-shuffle down “Napa Street,” especially show that she is developing a capacity for projection of self-authority. Chavez’s sped-up revival of Creedence Clearwater Revivals’ “Born On The Bayou,” an appreciation of her father’s fondness for blues-rock in the late 1960s, stirs up more activity than bees out of an upended hive. Don’t overlook French keyboardist Lea Worms in the able supporting cast.
Ordering info: rufrecords.de
Joe Bonamassa: B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100 (Keeping The Blues Alive; ★★½ 142:40) The grandiosity of Joe Bonamassa’s salute to the memory of B.B. King on his 100th birth year, featuring 40 celebrities, distracts listeners from the hard truth that almost none of the musicians involved get close to the huge emotional pull of the peerless master’s mix of piercing sadness and purifying joy. Still, elders Bobby Rush, Buddy Guy and Dion have the world-weary savviness to appropriate King songs and make them their own. Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Susan Tedeschi and a few others infer a clear understanding of King’s majestic art as they interpret King-size classics. The rest, including ubiquitous King stand-in Bonamassa, have their heart in the right place without offering anything in the way of even faint revelations. DB
Ordering info: jbonamassa.com
To the world, James Blood Ulmer was a legend, a visionary and a musical force whose sound was distinctive and unique. To his family, he was their teacher, their storyteller and a source of strength.
Jun 9, 2026 10:54 AM
With deep sorrow and profound love, we announce the passing of James Blood Ulmer, a boldly innovative guitarist,…
Clockwise from top left, Mary Halvorson, Patricia Brennan, Adam O’Farrill, Keith Jarrett’s At the Deer Head Inn: The Complete Recordings, Sheila Jordan and Jaki Byard.
Jul 16, 2026 1:34 PM
The DownBeat Critics Poll never ceases to amaze! And the 74th Edition offered plenty of accolades for poll veterans and…
Ibrahim was an early jazz acolyte, studying the music via 78s he would buy from soldiers stationed in South Africa — who also gave him the nickname “Dollar.”
Jun 30, 2026 3:19 PM
Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, the NEA Jazz Master from South Africa who helped fuse the folk music of his home country with…
A drummer’s drummer, Rodney Holmes gigged with everyone from Joe Zawinul and Carlos Santana to Steve Kimock and the Brecker Brothers.
Jul 22, 2026 12:37 PM
Drummer Rodney Holmes, a powerful presence behind the kit who emerged as an in-demand player on the New York scene…
“There was something about her tone and sound and phrasing — an intimacy, a vulnerability, an honesty,” says Joshua Redman, who produced Cavassa’s record after she toured with his band.
Jun 16, 2026 1:27 AM
Gabrielle Cavassa is an avowed perfectionist. So when she failed to place despite becoming a finalist in the 2018 Sarah…
