After hanging out with Mike Gordon a bit the night before his show during the Toubab Krewe concert at the Fox Theater, I was more than ready to see his new lineup at the Boulder Theater. I pre-ordered his new album and enjoy listening to it especially on vinyl. Each time I have met him has been a peculiar, but enlightening experience.

The biggest blessing that jazz music has brought to the world is it’s ability to tie different cultures, places, and musical ideas, all bound together by one common unity; love. Guitarist John McLaughlin, a pioneer of the jazz-fusion movement and continuation lets his music thrive in a state of flexibility that had lead him to brilliant collaborations with other craft masters worldwide. McLaughlin’s impressive career reveals a pivotal purpose of exploration and always reaches for more questions rather than answering old ones.

Medeski Martin & Wood + Nels Cline have announced the release of The Woodstock Sessions (Vol. 2) on April 22. The four musicians came together to record on August 27, 2013 at Applehead Studios in Woodstock, NY in front of an intimate gathering of 75 lucky ticket holders. The session was part of a newly launched series that brings established and emerging recording artists together with their fans in the recording studio. The experience is a performance/session hybrid that supports the artist to fan bond by sharing the process of record making.