E. Doctor Smith's Blog

My first exposure to the singer Sam Phillips came during tie mid-nineties, while touring on the summer folky-circuit. Her album "Cruel Inventions" quickly became one of my all-time-favorites, and my band mates and I played it to death. Songs like, "Tripping Over Gravity", "Standing Still", and the killer "Raised on Promises" were simply unbelievable. No small wonder, Phillips was joined on the album by future husband T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello. It remains one of my favorite albums of all time and I play it regularly. Now Phillips makes a rare San Francisco a appearance this Saturday night at Yoshi's in support of her latest album, "Don't Do Anything". Oh you do not want to miss this one. Phillips was born in Glendale, California, and began her musical career as a vocalist in the early 1980s, singing background parts for Christian artists Mark Heard, Randy Stonehill and others. After a short time, Phillips was...

Buoyed by veteran guitarist Austin de Lone, local songwriter Winston Montgomery returns with his latest album, "Mozart on the Road". Montgomery's last album, "Child Is Father To The Man", saw him treading a path worn by the likes of Phil Ochs, John Prine, and Pete Seeger. This time, he heads to the world folks like Ry Cooder, Willie Nelson and augmented by the strings of the Mill Valley Symphony. Not a surprise, for this long time veteran of the Haight and it's musical history. The arrangements on "Mozart", are tight, the playing top-notch and Montgomery's love of the Western melodies of his home-away-from-home New Mexico, are evident in many of the tunes. The title cut even has a "spoken word" bit that only Montgomery could give in his often poignant, sometimes comical, prairie-home way. Born in New York State, an hour’s drive north of New York City, Montgomery made the pilgrimage to San Francisco during the summer after...

With the release of This Way, Acoustic Alchemy’s first album under Higher Octave/Narada Jazz’s association with Blue Note Records, guitarists Greg Carmichael and Miles Gilderdale celebrate a remarkable two decades since 1987’s Red Dust and Spanish Lace established the British ensemble as an ever evolving, powerhouse force in contemporary jazz.

Their thousands of fans around the world may be feeling nostalgic, but the duo—while keeping their trademark acoustic guitar synergy front and center—Is clearly committed to forging ahead, following the laid back pop-soul vibe of American/English (2005) with their most aggressive and swinging, hard rocking and artfully jazzy disc to date. Complementing performances by familiar Acoustic Alchemy recording and touring members Terry Disley (piano), Snake Davis (sax), Fred White (keyboards and trumpet), Julian Crampton (bass) and Greg Grainger (drums) are special guest appearances by smooth jazz stars, trumpeter Rick Braun, saxman Jeff ...