Articles by Jim Trageser
Tommy Emmanuel: Finding Common Ground On Guitar
by Jim Trageser
Tommy Emmanuel began his musical career at age 6, playing guitar in his family's band as they busked around the Australian bush more than six decades ago. An invitation from guitar legend Chet Atkins to visit Nashville led to Emmanuel's relocating to the United States in 1997, where his genre-defying career has only further exploded. Emmanuel is on tour in support of Living in the Light (CGP Sounds, 2025). As at home in pop and country as he ...
Continue ReadingTeresa James: Bad at Being Good
by Jim Trageser
She may have been based out of Los Angeles for the past four-plus decades, but Teresa James' Texas roots still shine through on her 14th full- length release as co-leader. Given that her husband and co-leader, Terry Wilson, was also raised in Texas, as was drummer Tony Braunagel (who plays all but two songs), well, that sound comes to them naturally. Wilson wrote or co-wrote 11 of the 12 tracks here, with James contributing on five of them. ...
Continue ReadingEither/Orchestra: Nalbandian The Ethiopian
by Jim Trageser
After a decade and a half break, the always interesting Either/Orchestra is back with another compelling recording--albeit one recorded in 2011 and 2012, and only now, in 2026, seeing the light of day. Russ Gershon remains at the helm of the Either/Orchestra, and not only is this recording finally being issued, but the group is also in the midst of 40th anniversary touring schedule with shows later this spring of 2026 scheduled for jny: Knoxville and jny: Cleveland. ...
Continue ReadingRalph Towner: Unconcerned With What Genre His Music Is Labeled
by Jim Trageser
This interview was originally published in San Diego Troubadour magazine in the March, 2017 edition. You'll excuse Ralph Towner if he's not particularly interested in debates over genres and how to define them. The guitarist grew up playing swing jazz on trumpet, then studied classical piano in college, discovered guitar at age 22 and studied in Vienna before moving to jny: New York City in the late 1960s and co-founding pioneering world music combo Oregon--and then ...
Continue ReadingVarious Artists: Swinging In The Holidays
by Jim Trageser
With a warm, wood-paneled vintage glow, a new Christmas collection inhabits the space formerly reserved for top-flight crooners like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett: blending pop and jazz into comfort food for your ears. While few of the “next-gen" (as the album's publicity tag puts it) performers here will be known to those unfamiliar with the contemporary New York City scene, their chops are undeniable and the arrangements flattering to the performers' strengths.
Continue ReadingDavid Virelles: Igbó Alákọrin (The Singer’s Grove) Vol. III (Director’s Cut)
by Jim Trageser
In 2018, New York-based pianist David Virelles turned more than a few heads when he set aside his avant-garde playing style to dive headfirst into the traditional music of his native Santiago de Cuba. Igbó Alákorin Vol. 1 and II found Virelles fully immersed in the Santiago music community, recording alongside both local legends and young up-and-comers. He has now issued Vol. III in two different editions, a “theatrical cut" (with 18 tracks) and a longer ...
Continue ReadingEnoch Smith Jr.: The Book of Enoch Vol. 1
by Jim Trageser
With a longstanding residence as a music worship leader at Allentown Presbyterian Church in New Jersey, pianist / composer Enoch Smith Jr. comes to jazz with a gospel perspective. Once common in soul music and even blues, this gospel background is rarer in jazz, especially in recent years. On The Book of Enoch, Vol 1, as in his previous outing, The Quest: Live at APC (2016), Smith's performance is in a jazz vein--albeit one with significant ...
Continue ReadingApex Blues tackles legacies of Jimmie Noone and Jimmy Noone Jr.
by Jim Trageser
Apex Blues Cecile J. Picou 232 Pages ISBN: 979-8891552524 Self Published 2024 Quietly published in 2024 with little to no fanfare, Cecile Picou's dual biography of New Orleans' Jimmie Noone and his son, San Diego's Jimmy Noone Jr., offers some wonderful insights to jny: San Diego's jazz, blues and soul scenes of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. For fans of the son--who starred with Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham's Sweet Baby ...
Continue ReadingDan Siegel at MiraCosta College
by Jim Trageser
Dan Siegel Band MiraCosta College Concert Hall Oceanside, CAOctober 20, 2023 An old maxim of business is to under-promise and over-deliver. By that measure, pianist Dan Siegel's show at the MiraCosta College Concert Hall in Oceanside, Calif., was a massive success. The show was simply billed as The Dan Siegel Band, which barely hinted at the one-off lineup he assembled for the 10-song show on the campus where he's taught for more than ...
Continue ReadingDawg Yawp: So Much More
by Jim Trageser
On a 2004 remix compilation, What Is Hip? (Warner Brothers), Tsuper Tsunami turned Seals & Crofts' early '70s folk-rock classic “Summer Breeze" into a percolating bit of dance-ready electronica. But it does not seem that either Jimmy Seals nor Dash Crofts were involved in the electronica on the new take of their recording. On So Much More, contemporary folk rockers Dawg Yawp go full-on acid mode all on their own, and the results are every bit ...
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