Bill Milkowski
Bill’s Contributions
03/24/13 Albums
Celebration : Life, Love, Music
Tony Monaco
This two-CD set showcases the fleet-fingered Hammond B3 maven Tony Monaco, who has worked in recent years with Pat Martino and gained notoriety in organ-group circles with six previous releases as a leader. Disc one features Monaco playing originals in a...
01/30/13 Albums
Nothing Left to Say
Joe "Guido" Welsh
Joe “Guido” Welsh, the renegade analog synth wiz responsible for 2004’s audacious Thelonious Moog project Yes We Didn’t , switches to guitar for this scorching homage to mid-’70s fusion, with direct references along the way to six-stringers Carlos Santana...
12/29/12 Albums
Dreams, Nightmares and Improvisations
Chad Wackerman
A former member of Frank Zappa’s touring band and longstanding member of guitar hero Allan Holdsworth’s trio, power-precision drummer Chad Wackerman is also an accomplished composer with five albums as a leader to his credit. His latest features Holdsworth...
11/29/12 Albums
Live! One Great Night
Steve Smith and Vital Information
Drummer Steve Smith, a one-time member of rock supergroup Journey and Jean-Luc Ponty’s fusion group, has kept his hard-hitting Vital Information together for 30 years. A number of stellar players have passed through the ranks during that time, contributing...
11/19/12 Albums
Formanism
Bruce Forman Trio
A bona fide bopper at heart, guitarist Bruce Forman has long been acknowledged as a harmonically advanced player with an alluring, dark tone and penchant for melodic improvisation. On this excellent trio outing, he most closely resembles classic jazz guitar...
11/17/12 Albums
Escape from Society
Sam Kulik
The spirit of Frank Zappa hovers over this oddly appealing album that draws from early FZ masterworks like Freak Out! and Absolutely Free while also recalling the smart, experimental pop of Brian Eno circa Here Come the Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain...
11/13/12 Albums
Bro/Knak
Jakob Bro/Thomas Knak
This innovative two-CD set involves two separate versions of the same set of tunes: one CD realized by Danish guitarist-composer Jakob Bro, a former member of Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band, the second CD containing rebuilds of those same tunes by Danish...
11/12/12 Albums
A Portrait of Brooklyn
Brooklyn Jazz Underground
Members of the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, a tightly knit cooperative of bandleaders and composers, join forces on this formidable outing. The quintet features the two tenors of Adam Kolker and Dan Pratt, who exchange furiously on Pratt’s “Buttermilk Channel...
11/07/12 Albums
Number Five
Tom Harrell
Over the course of five albums in five years, trumpeter Tom Harrell has maintained the same swinging quintet. Number Five shows the formidable group forging ever-tight chemistry on seven Harrell originals and four well-chosen covers. The collection kicks...
11/06/12 Albums
Gettin' It Done
Steve Davis
A stalwart on the scene since the ’90s, when he worked with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Jackie McLean and Chick Corea’s Origin, trombonist Steve Davis has established himself as one of the most accomplished and lyrical improvisers on his instrument as...
11/01/12 Features
Like It Is: The Branford Marsalis Interview
Bill Milkowski's extended conversation from the October issue
10/30/12 Albums
Michael Feinberg
The Elvin Jones Project
An Atlanta native and recent New York City transplant, 25-year-old bassist Michael Feinberg explores the relationship that Elvin Jones had with various bass players throughout his illustrious career, including Jimmy Garrison, Gene Perla, George Mraz and...
10/28/12 Albums
Wonderful! Wonderful!
Joey DeFrancesco
One-time Hammond organ prodigy Joey DeFrancesco, now a well-seasoned 41-year-old, has recorded with a number of great jazz guitarists, including his longtime collaborator Paul Bollenback and six-string icons John McLaughlin and Pat Martino. On Wonderful...
10/23/12 Albums
The American Dream
Marco Cappelli's Italian Surf Academy
Since relocating from his native Italy to New York City in 2004, guitarist Marco Cappelli has been active on the extreme-guitar scene inhabited by such likeminded downtown renegades as Elliott Sharp, Nick Didkovsky and Marc Ribot. While he quickly established...
10/19/12 Albums
Gravity of Love
Peter Madsen's Seven Sins Ensemble
Pianist-composer Peter Madsen, a mainstay on the New York scene since the early ’80s, made a courageous leap into a new life in 2000 by marrying an Austrian woman and relocating to her rustic hometown of Vorarlberg, nearly 4,000 miles from the Big Apple...
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ReportAbout Bill Milkowski
The author of a renowned biography of Jaco Pastorius and other books, Bill has been a regular JT contributor since 1991. He has done many cover stories and profiles for the magazine. In addition, he currently writes the UnderTones column in every issue, spotlighting up and coming artists and recordings.