Ricky Byrd’s latest single—“Glamdemic Blues” with the hippest cover of a Four Tops song you’ll ever hear (“Reach Out”) on the flip side—spent a week as the “Coolest Song In The World” on Little Steven’s Underground Garage (Sirius XM).

For his 29th album, recorded in Middletown, Little Falls and Paramus, vibraphonist/keyboardist/arranger/composer/producer Joe Locke, 63, leads his quartet—with pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Lorin Cohen and drummer Samvel Sarkisyan—through some acrobatic arrangements, challenging in their complexity.

He charged out of Newark to change the face of modern jazz. Tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, over the course of seven decades, was one of the most influential musicians in history. He died March 2 in Los Angeles.

Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs continues to be the place where great jazz is born…and Time Bandits, by trumpeter/composer John Bailey, is no exception. In this one legendary studio, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Thelonious Monk, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Memphis Slim and hundreds of other greats made their best recordings.

New Orleans is a state-of-mind. Every year around this time of year, Mardi Gras is an explosion of joyousness. You don’t have to travel down to Louisiana to feel it. Its spirit resides in Mercer County, in a little town called Ewing, where Joe Grillo leads The Gumbo Gumbas on a Cajun holiday all year round.

Our Jersey Festival Line-up: Bamboozle, Adjacent Music Festival, Atlantic City Beer and Music Festival, Barefoot Country Music Festival, Tidalwave Music Festival, Sea. Hear. Now.

“Bruce? That’s a tough one, because I like the guy. But the music…I don’t know. I’m the toughest taskmaster of all time. I’m going to annoy a lot of people. Bruce? To me, it’s pretentious.”

It’s going to be a long loud summer in Holmdel. The PNC Bank Arts Center (a great place to see a show), has announced its 2023 summer schedule.

Stevie Van Zandt has signed a multi-million dollar deal with Primary Wave Music. PWM will now manage his publishing/recording catalog as well as owning the rights to his “name and likeness.”

Eighteen North American cities will host the 22 added shows to the current tour of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band.

Al Di Meola, the legendary jazz-rock fusion guitarist with Return To Forever, will be part of Director Fulvio Cecere's "The Jersey Sound" documentary.

On Time Capsule, Bill Warfield’s fourth CD with the Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra, he unloads 12 tracks with, as he says, a “fervent emphasis on the power of the horns. My interests are so varied,” he continues, “I love classical. I love commercial. With this band and these horns, I can do anything!” And that’s exactly what he does.

Guitarist Stevie Van Zandt and violinist Soozie Tyrell of the E Street Band tested positive for COVID prior to the February 10 American Airlines Center show in Dallas.

Jack Antonoff took home Producer of the Year honors at the 2023 Grammy Awards for his work on Florence and the Machine’s Dance Fever, the soundtrack to Minions: The Rise Of Gru, Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well,” Diana Ross’s “I Still Believe” and The 1975’s “Part Of The Band.”

Guitarist/Composer/Producer/Educator (Montclair State University) Dave Stryker, 65, has released 32 albums in 35 years. Prime is the first with his working trio of the last 12 years, his fine-tuned machine.

There’s a human keg of dynamite that came out of Paramus High School in Bergen County. Hades and Non-Fiction may be the two bands that cemented Dan Lorenzo’s rep but the dude’s a renaissance man of major-league proportions. Last summer, Reach For The Scars by Patriarchs In Black melted walls. Now comes “Friends,” a Led Zeppelin cover.

He’s in the New Jersey Hall of Fame—as inducted by his friend Stevie Van Zandt—but every year that Tommy James isn’t in the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame, that institution becomes as tainted as today’s Supreme Court.

The first three live songs in six years from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band happened in Tampa February 1. "No Surrender," "Ghosts" and "Prove It All Night."

Stone Temple Pilots bassist/composer/producer Robert DeLeo, 56 (the younger brother of STP guitarist Dean DeLeo), has released two Gordon Lightfoot covers—“Affair On Eighth Avenue” and “Your Love’s Return”—as a bonus to his Lessons Learned solo album from last year.

Circle May 5, 6 and 7 on your calendars. Bader Field in Atlantic City will get loud for the first time in 11 years with Bamboozle’s celebrated blend of electronica, hard rock, heavy metal, punk and hip-hop.