Email Author Sam Prestianni

2003 Stories by Sam Prestianni

• Hear This

  published December 3, 2003

  Every rocker boy dreams of bowing down to an amazon onstage – a 50-foot queenie with platinum-blond tresses, black lashes that could poke you... More >>

• Cesaria Evora

  published November 12, 2003

  Both sweet and sorrowful, the title track on Cesaria Evora's latest album attests to the Cape Verdean singer's recommitment to her roots. The... More >>

• Rancid

  published November 5, 2003

  If Bruce Springsteen were a punk rocker, he'd be in Rancid. Just as the Boss once galvanized a generation of working-class young people with his... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 5, 2003

  Given that jazz is widely acknowledged as the international language of music, it makes sense that two of the genre's top guitarists -- Bill... More >>

• Art Ensemble of Chicago

  published October 29, 2003

  Four years ago, the jazz world mourned the sudden loss of Art Ensemble of Chicago trumpeter Lester Bowie, one of the genre's great innovators and... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 29, 2003

  Whether directing propulsive big bands or evoking a similar sound-mass in his extraordinary solo recitals, radical pianist Cecil Taylor has... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 1, 2003

  Given bluegrass' fondness for quick-fingered chops on acoustic string instruments like fiddle, mandolin, banjo, upright bass, and gee-tar, one... More >>

• Hear This

  published September 17, 2003

  Writing about "new music" -- in this case, the seventh annual New Music on the Mountain event, presented by Rova: Arts -- is a tricky road... More >>

• Towering Over Us

  published September 10, 2003

  No one talks democracy better than Jim Hightower. For nearly 30 years, the popular radio commentator and best-selling author (most recently... More >>

• Hear This

  published September 3, 2003

  Rage is the bloody hellfire that powers kids up off the couch and into the mosh pit of life with one goal in mind: to fuck shit up. Back in 1976,... More >>

• Hear This

  published July 30, 2003

  Erin McKeown enchanted critics and audiences alike with her saucy late-2000 debut, Distillation, an original brew of blues, folk,... More >>

• The Sharing of Pharoah

  published July 30, 2003

  "Pharoah is a man of large spiritual reservoir," John Coltrane once said. "He's trying to allow his spiritual self to be his guide ... dealing,... More >>

• Hear This

  published July 16, 2003

  There was a time not long ago when millions of adolescent boys supercharged with pubescent hormones, rebellious spirit, and rock "n" roll... More >>

• Sun King

  published July 2, 2003

  The continued existence of the Sun Ra Arkestra a full decade after its leader's passing testifies to the power of Sun Ra's music and... More >>

• Various Activists

  published June 25, 2003

  From psychedelic folk phenomenon Country Joe & the Fish, whose '60s anti-war anthem "Fixin' to Die" was the toast of Woodstock, to Spearhead's... More >>

• Hear This

  published June 25, 2003

  The Bay Area is no stranger to the sun-soaked melodies, breezy tropical beats, and punchy horns of Afro-Cuban pop and jazz. When visas were easier... More >>

• Hear This

  published June 4, 2003

  A growing movement in the jazz underground is best summed up by the band name Full Throttle Orchestra, bassist Adam Lane"s spot-on moniker for his... More >>

• Hear This

  published May 28, 2003

  Despite its ubiquitous use of all kinds of improv strategies, which carry the hope of fire and surprise, jazz is a dogmatic genre with its own... More >>

• Hear This

  published May 21, 2003

  Pianist Jason Moran holds a rare distinction in contemporary jazz: He's not only one of the genre's foremost twentysomething virtuosos --... More >>

• John Hammond

  published May 14, 2003

  Though it may sound ridiculous to suggest that veteran bluesman John Hammond has begun to hit his stride after four decades on the scene, his new... More >>

• Stars and Stripes

  published May 14, 2003

  Roots revivalist Gillian Welch celebrates the lonesome highway of American memory with slow, sad, yet hopeful songs that evoke both myth... More >>

• Hear This

  published May 7, 2003

  When one thinks of the European avant-garde, Evan Parker instantly comes to mind as the top ambassador of the music's out-of-this-world... More >>

• The Polyphonic Spree

  published April 23, 2003

  Rather than wallow in the kind of self-destructive nihilism that tends to accompany survivor's guilt, former Tripping Daisy singer Tim DeLaughter... More >>

• Hear This

  published April 23, 2003

  When a 25-year-old Antigoni Goni won first prize at the 1995 International Guitar Foundation of America Competition, she was already a seasoned... More >>

• Hear This

  published April 16, 2003

  The best jazz improvisers bring a kind of sixth sense to the stage that enables them to meet the ever-shifting challenges of in-the-moment... More >>