Album Review: Ches Smith - Clone Row

Ches Smith

Clone Row

***and1/2 out of *****

The newest offering from Brooklyn based percussionist Ches Smith, is the dynamic Clone Row. The album is vibrantly alive with avant-garde jazz phrasing, club ready beats and dynamics that can be mind altering; do not operate heavy machinery while listening. 

Live Review: Malevitus - 1/2/26 @ BJ's in the Bywater New Orleans, LA

Malevitus

1/2/26 @ BJ's in the Bywater 

New Orleans, LA

With the New Year comes renewal and for the post-punk outfit Malevitus that meant a return to performing. They took to the stage at BJ’s in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans for the first time in nine months, Friday night January 2nd.

Album Review: Hal-Mel - Alone Together

Hal-Mel

Alone Together

***and1/2 out of *****

One of 2025's releases from Tipitina's Record Club was the reissue of Hal-Mel's Alone Together, a partnership between Harold Battiste and Melvin Lastie. The luxurious smokey gray vinyl contains jazzy/funky instrumental outings, finding the two men playing all the parts themselves. 

Happy Anniversary to Angels & Vagabonds Debut, The A&V EP

Hard to believe Angels & Vagabonds released our debut effort, The A&V EP twelve years ago today.

It has been fun writing about music on various websites and publications over the last fifteen plus years, but nothing beats the act of creating music, playing it live and recording it. Our first EP was an excellent experience, a huge learning process for me personally, and the whole band are still very proud of the final result.

Album Review: Harold López-Nussa - Nueva Timba

Harold López-Nussa

Nueva Timba

***and1/2 out of *****

The Cuban born and based jazz pianist Harold López-Nussa's newest full length offering from Blue Note Records, Nueva Timba continues his families musical tradition of keeping the Cuban sound alive while also exploring it's future.  

Live Review: Phish 12/28,29,30,31/25 MSG, NYC

Phish 

12/28,29,30,31/25 

MSG, NYC

For their annual four night NYE run at Madison Square Garden in NYC, Phish ended a sonically strong year with some solid playing. Each of the nights contained excellent jams and song selection, wrapping up with a blazing start to 2026.

New Single/Video from Malick Koly "HiM8"

The NYC based jazz drummer Malick Koly is moving in a new direction with his newest single/video "HiM8" from his upcoming EP Toxic Nothing. 

Koly is going with a more bedroom-pop type approach to his music, check out the video below:

Dylan Cover #714 Liz Kennedy "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a live cover by Liz Kennedy playing "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" 

Jazzy January has invade Mondays! All this month we will check out various artists covering Dylan with a jazz vibe.

Thought's on Original:

From the first time we reviewed a cover of this tune:

This song is so iconic and flat out awesome, even people who dislike Dylan have to enjoy this tune right? Biting and yet not bitter, a toss off of the grandest proportions, "Don' Think Twice, It's All Right" is epic and yet so straight forwardly simple. It easily ranks as one of the bard's best works, truly a classic and has been covered by so many people in so many ways.

Cover:

Thoughts on Cover Artist

This is the first time RtBE has heard Liz Kennedy who is a San Francisco, CA based singer/songwriter. 

Thoughts on Cover

A jazzy spin, with gospel feeling as well, as Kennedy and company work their way elegantly throughout the song. Kennedy's strong vocals lead the charge as piano, backing vocals, harmonica, sax and light drums enter the scene. A strong cover of a popular tune. 

Full Show Friday: Tyreek McDole Quintet - Mexico City, Mexico 5/25/24

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing). This week...Tyreek McDole Quintet! 

It's Jazzy January again here at RtBE, so get ready to kick off 2026 with some different styled shows every Friday. For this series we skew into new (or more recent) jazz lands. Keeping it current proves there is amazing live jazz still being performed no matter what Ken Burns says.

We kick off this month of Jazz focused Full Show Fridays with the amazing vocalist Tyreek McDole. Tyreek makes his international debut in 2024 with his quintet as part of the NY Jazz All Stars series. A collaboration between De Quinta Producciones and Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The band is: Tyreek McDole - vocals, Dylan Band - Tenor Saxophone, Tyler Bullock II - Piano, Dan Finn - Bass, and Jerome Gillespie II - Drums.

Pro shot, pro sound, Enjoy!

New Single/Video from Jack Flint "Dirty Road"

The Lancashire, UK based artist Jack Flint has a new single/video out "Dirty Road"

About the song, it was

Album Review: Trombone Shorty & New Breed Brass Band - Second Line Sunday

Trombone Shorty & The New Breed Brass Band 

Second Line Sunday

**** out of *****

In 2024, Trombone Shorty joined New Breed Brass Band for their largest show of the year, opening for The Rolling Stones at Jazzfest. That performance was recorded and released, resulting in a dynamite live album. Now they join forces again for their stunning studio offering Second Line Sunday, which was released to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

New Video/Single from The Guilt "Naked on My Own"

The Swedish electro punk duo The Guilt have a new video out for their single "Naked on My Own". 

The group will be releasing their new album Naked Rat Dance on January 15

Check out the blistering single below:

Year In Review 2025 - Favorite Albums of 2025

Here are our all of our favorite albums of 2025. This is the year end review, all in one place.

Below are our picks for RtBE's favorite albums of the year. It starts with our honorable mentions then moves into our top ten albums of the year. There is a short blurb about the album and a song from it, click on the title to read our full review of the selected records. The focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen to all the way through.

We also took some time to discuss our favorite album artwork, our favorite archive/live album releases and favorite live shows from the year if you are interested.   

Thanks for reading. Until next year....

New Single from Murphy's Law "Revenge of the Killer Beers"

The NYHC legends Murphy's Law have released a new single, "Revenge of the Killer Beers"

Check out the sequel to their classic tune "Attack of the Killer Beers" below:

Album Review: Bruce Springsteen - Tracks II: The Lost Albums

Bruce Springsteen

Tracks II: The Lost Albums

*** out of *****

For Tracks II, Bruce Springsteen decided to focus on albums (or close to it as you can get) he had recorded yet chose not to release for various reasons over the years. The massive collection of 83 songs is overwhelming to those without a hardcore love of The Boss, however a few of these collections are enjoyable no matter what your level of fandom is. 

New Single from Nadia Angelini "see through"

Los Angeles based singer/songwriter Nadia Angelini has a new single out "see through".

Check out the Angelini's fantastic vocals on the tune below:

New Video/Single from The Band of Heathens "No Direction"

The Austin, TX based Americana outfit The Band of Heathens has a new single/video out, "No Diretion".

Check out the easy flowing, twangy effort below:

 

Dylan Cover #713 Quincy Flint "When The Ship Comes In" Live

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a live cover by Quincy Flint playing "When The Ship Comes In" 

Thoughts on Original:

From the first time we tackled a cover of this tune:

One of our favorite songs from the early days of Dylan. The purest Irish Folk we felt he ever got, Joan Baez was a fan of this one and told a cool story during No Direction Home, about him being pissed at a hotel attendant and then having this song just spiral out of him. Images of the sea, the salt, the song, raiding/pillaging; a pirate song at heart. When we are looking for pure folk Dylan this one usually finds it's way to our ears.

Cover:

Thoughts on Cover Artist:

This is RtBE's first time hearing Quincy Flint who is a Florida based folk singer.  

Thoughts on Cover:  

Great picking, solid singing. A well down live, straight ahead cover of the gorgeous song. Well done all around. 

This wraps up another year of Bob Dylan covers. I can't believe this series is still going. 713 different Dylan covers and counting. Thanks for reading and listening. Thanks to all the artists as well. See you in 2026. 

 

New Single/Video from Dan Owen "Movie Screens"

A few weeks back RtBE featured English singer/songwriter Dan Owen in our Monday's Bob Dylan Cover Series. Owen played a stunning live version of the "Ballad of Hollis Brown". It was our first time hearing the artist, and after some research, we found out he has a new album coming out soon. Here he is playing his new single "Movie Screens".

Check out the live acoustic tune below:

 

Full Show Friday: Celtic Women Home for Christmas

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing). This week...Celtic Women! 

Our last Christmas post! Celtic Women, Home for Christmas on this final Full Show Friday of 2025.  Thanks for reading and listening. 

Pro shot, pro sound, enjoy!