Wayne Shorter performs at the Park West in Chicago on Nov. 15, 1978. Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images. Famed saxophonist Wayne Shorter died Thursday at the age of 89. Shorter was a jazz giant who not only witnessed jazz history but had a huge role in shaping it. From…

Dave Brubeck, lower left, in 1927. Courtesy of the Concord (Calif.) Historical Society. After many years of reviewing shows, I ventured to the other side. I was on the production crew for a concert. Legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck is from Concord, California, of course. He joins the ranks…

The Nels Cline Singers, “Share The Wealth.” Guitar shredders are a dime a dozen. A quick perusal of Instagram reveals a seemingly endless string of bedroom guitarists who can unleash a firehose spray of pentatonic scales that sound like angry hornets. But a guitarist who lends his fretboard talents…

It’s almost 2020. We’re living in an era when many of science fiction’s classics are supposed to take place. As a science fiction writer and a scholar who studies the genre, I’m acutely aware that we are not yet living in the stainless steel techno-utopia we were promised. Where’s…

With the release of Miles Davis’ 1986 Warner Bros. debut Tutu, the jazz icon divided his audience like he did during his ‘70s electric era. Younger fans appreciated his incorporation of drum machines and synth, but purists saw the departure as dumbed down. Either way, Tutu began a new…

We think that spells “chocolate” in Babymetalese. It’s probably obvious what topic I’m doing this week: World Chocolate Day, celebrated annually on July 7. Supposedly it celebrates the day chocolate was introduced to Europe. It should not be confused with National Chocolate Day in October and the apocryphal International…

Peter Frampton Band, “All Blues.” Peter Frampton has influenced the identity of loud guitar music to the point where people less than half his age have probably inadvertently heard his hits. When you’ve helped write the hard rock rulebook and collaborated with David Bowie, where do you go next?…

Kamaal Williams performs at Starline Social Club in Oakland on March 1, 2019. Photos: Joaquin Cabello. OAKLAND — During his Noise Pop Music Festival performance Friday, British keyboardist Kamaal Williams proved that the ghost of Miles Davis still haunts jazz. And if the capacity crowd was any indication, the…

Jeff Goldblum is a dish best served in person, but for anyone unable to attend one of his performances with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, his long-in-the-making debut album evokes a comparable front-and-center experience. The Capital Studio Sessions Jeff Goldblum Decca Records, Nov. 9 On The Capitol Studios Sessions, Goldblum…

When Zucchero Fornaciari first visited the United States in 1984, the Italian musician was on the cusp of greatness in his native Italy. The singer-songwriter, now Italy’s most famous bluesman, was just beginning to blend the American genre into his own Mediterranean style. Zucchero 7:30 p.m., Sunday, March 19 The…