Email Author Sam Prestianni

2004 Stories by Sam Prestianni

• Albert Ayler

  published December 22, 2004

  Holy Ghost is an extraordinary career-spanning box set of rarely heard material by revolutionary saxophonist Albert Ayler. But it may not... More >>

• Charlie Hunter Trio|Groundtruther

  published December 8, 2004

  Jazz-trained, funk-loving guitarist Charlie Hunter realized early on the limited groove possibilities of playing a standard six-string. So during... More >>

• Jacki-O

  published November 17, 2004

  A former phone-sex seductress, Miami rapper Jacki-O takes her vision of yoni power to the next level on her funk-tight debut, Poe Little Rich... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 17, 2004

  As the band name suggests, the Dresden Dolls perform a sort of dressed-up, post-apocalyptic music, devoid of high hopes yet rich in high... More >>

• Billy Bang

  published November 10, 2004

  A trooper on the front lines of the New York culture wars of the early '70s, violinist Billy Bang was a key "Loft Jazz" soldier: a cutting-edge... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 3, 2004

  In an effort to acknowledge the wide-ranging music culture of Brazil and its contribution to the evolution of American jazz -- most notably via... More >>

• Rokia Traoré

  published October 20, 2004

  On her spare, sensuous third recording, Malian singer Rokia Traoré expands her vision of an inspirational new-world folk music that connects... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 20, 2004

  The Drive-By Truckers are the kind of band that makes big-city sissies wish they'd grown up in the South. And for those who did, the act's... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 6, 2004

  Old Crow Medicine Show is not your average bluegrass band. While the high-lonesome vocals and fleet-fingered string-pickin' suggest a... More >>

• Get Lit

  published October 6, 2004

  Most folks in the United States don't read for pleasure very much, often opting for the action of 500-channel satellite TV, Sony PlayStation, or... More >>

• The Ex

  published September 15, 2004

  After a quarter-century of showing so-called punks what it really means to be radical, Dutch cult favorites the Ex still have a lot to say.... More >>

• Hear This

  published September 15, 2004

  Championing old-school values like fast cars and loose girls, hard drinkin' and harder drugs, in-your-face violence and blues-punk chord... More >>

• Industrial Jazz Group

  published August 25, 2004

  L.A.-based composer Andrew Durkin's Industrial Jazz Group is young, hip, and, despite its evocative moniker, not predisposed to swing covers of... More >>

• Hear This

  published August 25, 2004

  In the music world, like in the rest of this country, ethnicity is all too often condensed into an overly simplistic black/white binary that... More >>

• DNA

  published August 18, 2004

  In the late '70s and early '80s, DNA made a big noise in downtown NYC, setting the bar for the no-wave movement, an extreme offshoot of punk rock... More >>

• Hear This

  published August 11, 2004

  How does an old-school avant-gardist who made his name with the legendary Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor connect with today's kids? He meets them on the... More >>

• The Dillinger Escape Plan

  published August 4, 2004

  The Dillinger Escape Plan's latest full-length (after a five-year hiatus and the addition of hellhound vocalist Greg Puciato) may prove to be too... More >>

• Black Sabbath

  published July 28, 2004

  Long before Ozzy Osbourne degenerated into an unwitting "Say No to Drugs" poster child, he was the haunting lead singer in one of the most... More >>

• Hear This

  published July 28, 2004

  In the 1930s, Belgium-born Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt wowed Parisian cafe crowds with a sassy, soulful, unprecedented approach to jazz that... More >>

• Shannon Wright

  published June 9, 2004

  With her fourth solo album, Jacksonville native Shannon Wright cements her reputation as indie rock's goddess of Southern Gothic. On the... More >>

• Hear This

  published May 19, 2004

  Alice Donut was never the popular band on the block. Despite upbeat albums like 1989's Buckets Full of Sickness and Horror in an... More >>

• Myles Boisen

  published April 28, 2004

  The blues is more than a folk-music form derived from the post-slavery African-American experience. It's the deep-feeling essence of the human... More >>

• Larry Ochs, Joan Jeanrenaud, Miya Masaoka

  published April 21, 2004

  For his debut recording with former Kronos Quartet cellist Joan Jeanrenaud and koto master Miya Masaoka, Rova Saxophone Quartet's Larry Ochs... More >>

• Hear This

  published April 7, 2004

  Featuring an extraordinary double bill -- an all-star trio of veterans Sam Rivers (saxophone, pictured above) and Reggie Workman (bass) plus... More >>

• The Insiders Take It Out

  published March 31, 2004

  Joshua Redman's five-year stint as artistic director for SFJAZZ's spring season has turned out to be a sweet gig. Not only does the celebrated... More >>