Originally published on Tue August 28, 2012 5:15 pm
Based on their instruments, they seem like an old-time string band; based on their appearance, they seem like they might play punk music. The answer lies somewhere in between. Pete Bernhard (guitar) and Cooper McBean (banjo) grew up in New England to parents who liked ragtime and old blues. The two moved to Santa Cruz temporarily, where they met Lucia Turino (upright bass), and The Devil Makes Three was born. (For our session, Adam Chilenski fills in for Lucia, who had a broken arm.)
Lighting director Jackie Finney runs the light show during concerts for the band fun.
Credit Denise Truscello / WireImage
Singer Nate Ruess of fun. performs in Las Vegas. Behind Ruess are lighting director Jackie Finney's favorite new tools: towers of white lights called kryptons.
Kristian Matsson, the smallish Swede who performs under the moniker The Tallest Man on Earth, sings, plays guitar and occasionally takes a turn at the piano. That's all there is to his act: no backing band, no frills. Heck, he barely needs amplification, given the volume at which he performs. But that right there — the gigantic force of his delivery, the percussive hyper-dexterity of his playing — is part of what makes him so magnetic on stage. On paper, he's just another poet strumming a guitar.
Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 10:37 am
Sporting big hair and an even bigger voice, Belgian soul singer Selah Sue has attracted significant attention on both sides of the Atlantic. Her 2011 debut album Selah Sue sold more than 400,000 copies in Europe and peaked high on many European charts. Selah Sue, whose real name is Sanne Putseys, taught herself acoustic guitar at age 15 in her hometown, Leefdall. She was offered a record deal at age 17 by Universal but declined, preferring to write her songs on her own terms.
Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:12 pm
Hank Williams was a great singer-songwriter who forged his own brand of honky-tonk music from a variety of influences: country, folk, blues, gospel and jazz. Yes, jazz.
If you haven't listened to his music in a while you might not recall — Williams had swing. And even if some jazz listeners have forgotten that fact, many jazz players haven't. Here then are five jazz artists out of many who have taken Williams' music and put their own spins on it.
Marian McPartland recalls meeting singer Melissa Walker for the first time in the "powder room" at Birdland. McPartland was immediately taken with the young singer's glowing personality — and she probably heard hints of Walker's warm and rich vocals in the few words they exchanged that night.
"She's got such a wonderful voice," recalls McPartland. "The tunes she did aren't heard too often, they were very well done though. I enjoyed that session."
A supporter of feminist punk band Pussy Riot wearing the group's trademark colored balaclava waves a flag on a balcony in Moscow on Friday.
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Demonstrators protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.
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Pussy Riot supporters make masks near the Russian Embassy in London.
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A police officer talks with London protesters.
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Demonstrators gather near the Sagrada Familia, a Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain.
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Russian policemen quell riots in Moscow.
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Masked supporters of Pussy Riot gather in Hamburg, Germany.
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Protesters congregate near the Russian Embassy in London.
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Demonstrators at a protest in Brussels wear paper masks in support of the band.
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A protester in Moscow holds a sign that reads, "I believe in justice!"
Credit Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP/Getty Images
A supporter of feminist punk band Pussy Riot, wearing the group's trademark colored balaclava, waves a flag on a balcony in Moscow on Friday.
Credit Andrey Smirnov / AFP/Getty Images
Supporters of feminist punk band Pussy Riot hold posters reading, "I believe in justice!" outside a court building Friday in Moscow, where the trial of the band took place. Moscow's court today pronounced a guilty verdict in the case of three members of the feminist punk band who staged a protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in a landmark church.
