I get upset when I hear a Black man who knows nothing about Jazz pretend he knows. It's painful to listen to and insulting. Jazz is deeply personal to whatever taste, or whomever artist you choose to favor.

Michael Brecker, a Grammy award-winning saxaphonist whose music spanned both jazz and rock genres, died January 13th in New York city following a two year battle with cancer. He was 57 years old.

A friend of mine recently told me, "Leave it to James to die on Christmas." That pretty much sums up the career of James Joseph Brown Jr. He came in with a bang, and went out in flying colors.

Reviews of Bob Dylan's latest CD and Spike Lee's Inside Man, now on DVD.

Natalie Maines, of the Dixie Chicks (an unfortunate name for a great country group), in England, spoke up a few days before the start of the Iraq war.

"We're old men. We probably all have life insurance," jokes Thom Yorke on the opening night of Radiohead's British tour, looking really rather pleased with himself.

This week, System of a Down are releasing their fifth studio album, Hypnotize, following on from their summer album Mezmerize. The two albums dovetail together effortlessly.

Good Fight ain’t the soundtrack to Riverdance. The new release by The Kissers from Madison, Wisconsin, far-removed from the birthplace of Irish folk rock only by time and space, will nevertheless transport you to when The Pogues rocked the new wave scene in the 1980s.

Hiretsukan is a loud New York hardcore punk band whose lyrics on their latest, End States range from the deeply personal and emotional, sometimes surreally so, to highly charged political and historical matters. f you love blues, jazz, folk, or roots music in any combination and haven’t discovered Otis Taylor, you have missed out on an excellent body of work.

Two artists rarely seen as part of the same music scene released new compact disc albums early this year. Their highly personal and deeply political music bonds them in my mind. Both artists were born a little over 50 years ago, Nanci Griffith in Texas and Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey.

System of a Down totally demolishes the facade of credibility built by right-wing dominance, bullying of the media and repetition of “talking points” fabricated by Bush’s handlers.

Smiling and happy on their Cuban adventure, members of US rock band Audioslave promised to play the loudest, best concert of the band´s history Friday, at Havana´s Tribuna Antimperialista Jose Marti.

A wide range of styles and genres represented by a diverse collection of CDs by Lea DeLaria, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, U2, and Greg MacPherson are reviewed.

James McMurtry and his backup band, the Heartless Bastards, with another guitarist and drummer, started their set at a new music venue in Brooklyn, SouthPaw.

Hate groups are taken their message of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism to teenagers for recruitment into the white supremacist movement.

From punk to hip hop, recent music offers a mixed bag. Here Political Affairs reviewers give their opinions about several new CDs including Eminiem's Encore, new releases from Submission Hold, Travis Morison, REM, and more.

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Corporate media attempts to drain us of all passion. We are constantly bombarded by images of shallow performers promoting fashion and consumerism attempting to silence our need to be nothing more than consumers and an exploitable workforce. In this dark context Michael Franti’s new album Songs from the Front Porch is an exuberant burst of light and inspiration.

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Fat Wreck Chords has produced a classic collection of punk rock of varying shades and motifs – metal, industrial, riot grrl, techno-derived, even pop – all uniting to defeat Bush in the 2004 elections.

Ross Golan and Molehead’s recent CD release Reagan Baby leads the sonic assault on the corrupt, hate-filled politics of the far right. The hypocrisy and lies used to justify war, corporate corruption, apathy, war and commerce, the economic crisis, gun violence, domestic violence and abuses of civil liberties and rights are among the subjects of the debut album of this multifaceted three-piece band.

Rock and roll means rebellion. For some rockers, it isn’t rebellion only for the sake of it; it’s political. Political rebellion against conformity or conservative religious values set to music is, for many, the definition of rock and roll. From Woody Guthrie to Nina Simone progressive rockers have given voice and substance to this discontent, have raised the difficult questions about the system and the establishment and even have offered personal and systemic alternative visions.