Hop on Pop

Jazz pianist Marco Benevento will branch into new musical territory during his Thursday gig at the Westcott

Anyone under the false impression that jazz music is inaccessible or only performed by stuffy players obviously isn’t familiar with Marco Benevento. This 35-year-old keyboard king is technically talented and creatively rich, but in no way personality-deprived. Just as his music is layered and varied, so is the man behind it.

Frisco Foursome

The Stone Foxes will blend old and new musical genres for their upcoming Salt City show

People get it wrong about the music industry today: Beneath that superficial layer of so-called Top 40 “hits” on the radio (Taylor Swift’s songs about her exes, Ke$ha’s garbage about getting wasted at age 17), it’s not all crap. Hundreds of bands are bubbling under the radar, presenting music lovers with new reasons to believe that rock’n’roll will never die.

IDLE CHATTER

Down on Brown Concert ducats are expensive these days (thanks, Ticketmaster!) so it’s refreshing when a band tries its hardest to reconcile the experience with the price of admission. The Za

Techs and Violins

Instrument repairmen Tom Hosmer and Harry Eibert master the art of making strings sing

An instrument is a work of art. When Tom Hosmer holds up a violin and starts explaining the curve, the wood, the seams, the thickness, the weight, the...

And The Band Plays On

Local musicians recreate Robbie Robertson and company’s Thanksgiving 1976 rock’n’roll goodbye

On Thanksgiving Day, 1976, The Band made perhaps the grandest farewell in rock’n’roll history. They took the stage for one final concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco and u

IDLE CHATTER

Spin Doctors Armory Square’s Sound Garden has gone old school in hopes of attracting new clientele. On Oct. 4, the record store, 310 W. Jefferson St., rolled out a fully stocked used vinyl

IDLE CHATTER

Sandy Saddens Springsteen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s current tour has been all about ghosts. The title song of Wrecking Ball (Columbia) refers to the demolition of the old Giant

Down-Home at the Dome

The Zac Brown Band will bring their Southern-fried rock up north on Friday

The Zac Brown Band had already broken out as one of music’s hottest acts last spring when the Georgia-based country fusion act brought in as a new member renowned percussionist Daniel de los

Southern Hospitality

Blackberry Smoke proves the band's place on Zac Brown's label and stage

It’s impossible to sit still when the first track of Blackberry Smoke’s latest album Whippoorwill (Southern Ground) comes on. On “Six Days to Sunday,” guitar rips like Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and keys pound like Adam MacDougall of the Black Crowes, but in this combo it’s Charlie Starr slaying the guitar and vocals, Brandon Still sliding up and down the black and whites, Paul Jackson on guitar, Richard Turner on bass and Brit Turner on drums.

Pair of Aces

The guitar duo of Loren Barrigar and Mark Mazengarb continue to make musical strides with their new CD

The transoceanic twosome of Loren Barrigar and Mark Mazengarb, now firmly established as one of the most popular acts in Central New York, have put many a mile behind them, making fans far and w