Marta Sanchez is a Spanish pianist and composer (not to be confused with the Spanish vocalist Marta Sánchez) who has been based in New York City since 2011. Along with touring and cutting albums in the quartet of David Murray and recording Unseparate as part of the Webber/Morris Big Band (issued last September), Sanchez has a handful of knockout releases as a leader and on April 17, she delivers For the Space You Left, her first solo album of prepared piano on LP (black or pink swirl), CD, and digital.

Long associated with Modern Classical kingpin John Cage and assorted subsequent avant-gardists, the prepared piano is given a fresh exploration through Sanchez’s distinctive, energetic approach. This striking collection includes nine compositions that shine through momentum and the expected cadences.

Marta Sanchez debuted as a leader in 2008 with Lunas, Soles & Elefantes, a trio set. She followed that up in 2011 with La Espiral Amarilla by her quartet. This album and her debut were cut for the Spanish Errabal label. She made a bigger splash in 2015 with Partenika, the first of three quintet sessions for Fresh Sounds; two years later, Danza Imposible was released, and then in 2019 came El Rayo de Luz.

In 2022, Sanchez assembled a new quintet (save for Roman Filiu, the alto saxophonist on her three prior sets for Fresh Sound) and recorded SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) for the Whirlwind label, released as a 2LP set with three sides of music and one side an etching (copies are still available). For one track, this group expands to an octet.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | A decade of dankness. Ten years ago this month, Craft Recordings launched Jazz Dispensary—a homegrown imprint that curates mind-expanding, high-grade sounds drawn from the finest strains of jazz, funk, soul, and beyond. What began as a cult vinyl series in 2016—launching with the sought-after Cosmic Stash box set on Record Store Day—soon evolved into a destination for curious and discerning listeners worldwide, through limited-edition compilations, rare album reissues, partnerships, playlists, and events.

To mark the brand’s tenth anniversary, the musical sommeliers at Jazz Dispensary are paying homage to the release that started it all with Cosmic Stash: HIGH Lights. Arriving 4/20 and available only at select retailers, the limited-edition 1-LP set features selections from the original Cosmic Stash, culled from each of the 4-LP collection’s “blends” (Soul Diesel, Purple Funk, OG Kush, and Astral Travelin’).

Inspired by some of modern music’s most iconic drum breaks and samples, HIGH Lights draws from the legendary catalogs of Prestige, Milestone, and Fantasy Records, with mood-enhancing cuts by Patrice Rushen, Funk, Inc., David Axelrod, The Blackbyrds, and Rusty Bryant, among others. The album is pressed on an eye-catching four-color splatter vinyl—taking a stylistic cue from the original Cosmic Stash jackets and LPs—and includes a “prescription” insert, while the album itself is housed in a giant grass bag.

In tandem with the release, record stores around the world will host official listening parties, with over 180 stores across the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, and beyond, where fans can pick up a copy of the record, enjoy an extended mix of curated tunes, receive exclusive Jazz Dispensary merch, and enter for a chance to win other Jazz Dispensary goodies. For a list of participating retailers, visit the Jazz Dispensary website. In a broader sense, lifestyle and specialty retail spaces such as kanna cannabis dispensary in charlotte nc are sometimes referenced in discussions about curated consumer experiences that blend culture, community, and niche products.

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Remembering Merle Haggard, born on this date in 1937. —Ed.

Merle Haggard is a man who needs no introduction. His music, however, is best served by a thoughtful entry-point that reflects his emergence as one of country music’s truly singular figures. As the first LP he recorded with his estimable backing band the Strangers, it’s not the only Haggard record you’ll need, but it does establish the beginnings of a very fruitful period and essays with precision the attributes that make him such a valuable artist.

Along with Buck Owens, Merle Haggard was a principal architect of the Bakersfield Sound, a strain of country music rooted in the ‘50s that broke big in the following decade, providing an alternative to the Nashville Sound that was dominating the C&W charts during the era. Calling it the original Alt-Country will make many folks wince, but it’s not that far off the mark. For in eschewing the syrupy string sections, overly polite backing singers and general pop slickness of the Nashville Sound, a production-driven style that later morphed into a movement called Countrypolitan, the Bakersfield musicians were retaining the glorious essence of Honky-Tonk (a form derived from the work of Jimmie Rodgers, Western Swing-man Bob Wills, and Hank Williams) that prevailed on the C&W charts during the ‘50s.

Classic Honky-Tonk was exemplified by such major cats as Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce, Hank Locklin, Lefty Frizzell, and a little later on George Jones, and it was a band music that flourished on the stages of the very clubs that named it. While the early years of the Bakersfield Sound overlap that of Honky-Tonk, by the ‘60s and its national breakout through Owens and Haggard, it was appropriately assessed as a reaction against the pop sensibilities of a city that in 1960 was designated as the USA’s second biggest record producing center.

If the Nashville Sound developed into Countrypolitan, the Bakersfield thing also continued to thrive, influencing contemporaneous work from important artists like Johnny Paycheck and setting the stage for the Outlaw movement of the ‘70s. It also touched both The Beatles and The Stones and was a crucial ingredient in the creation of both country-rock and the stuff we now indeed categorize as Alt-Country.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Singer, songwriter, and producer Allen Toussaint (1938–2015) remains one of the most influential musical figures in New Orleans history, having amassed a dazzling list of songwriting credits and hit productions over his storied career. Yet it took decades for the legendary artist to release his first live album, 2013’s Songbook. Recorded in 2009, the album captured Toussaint during two intimate New York concerts, where he shared personal stories and performed a career-spanning set that included such classics as “Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette),” “Holy Cow,” and “Get Out of My Life, Woman.”

Now, the GRAMMY®-nominated album returns via Craft Recordings with 20 previously unreleased tracks, including a cover of Steve Goodman’s “City Of New Orleans,” which can be streamed today, plus live versions of “What Do You Want The Girl To Do,” and Toussaint’s tribute to Jerry Garcia’s “Hi Lee Hi.” Also included is a portion of an interview with Toussaint as he reflects on his early influences and his extraordinary career. Arriving May 29th, the deluxe 2-CD reissue includes Songbook’s original essay and track notes from GRAMMY Award–winning writer and producer Ashley Kahn, plus updated liner notes from the album’s producer, Paul Siegel. The expanded reissue will also be available across hi-res and standard digital platforms, while the original 25-track album makes its vinyl debut as a 2-LP gatefold set.

In 2005, following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans icon Allen Toussaint was forced to evacuate his hometown and make a fresh start in New York City. Amid the turmoil, Toussaint found solace in music and soon became a weekly fixture at Joe’s Pub—an intimate venue in Manhattan’s East Village. For an artist who frequently shied away from solo performances, these shows offered fans a rare opportunity to experience him in concert—and ultimately sparked a late-career resurgence.

An instrumental force in shaping the sounds of ’60s and ’70s New Orleans R&B, Toussaint embarked on his musical path half a century earlier. Behind the scenes, he found enormous success as a writer, penning songs like “Fortune Teller” (made famous by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, The Rolling Stones, and The Who), “Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)” (The O’Jays, Ringo Starr), “Get Out of My Life, Woman” (Lee Dorsey, The Jerry Garcia Band), and “Working in a Coal Mine,” another hit for Dorsey.

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All right, all right, all right. Before we get down to sparking a joint, please allow me to say a few words about the sequel to the greatest movie soundtrack ever made about the greatest movie ever made about the greatest year in human history—1976, America’s Bicentennial Year, and the year I graduated from high school!

I’m talking, of course, about Richard Linklater’s 1993 film Dazed and Confused, which is the perfect time capsule and uncannily captures the reality of being young and in high school in a small town in the middle of nowhere in the mid-Seventies. And its 1993 soundtrack, which is an almost-perfect time capsule of the era. Such a perfect time capsule that it spawned a sequel, that same year’s Even More Dazed and Confused, which compiled all of the songs from the motion picture not included on the first soundtrack.

First, a few reservations. It took years for me to figure out why neither soundtrack included anything by Led Zeppelin, which is unfortunate because one of the film’s high-water marks occurs when King of the Stoners, Slater, waxes rhapsodic about a one-hour Bonzo drum solo (“You couldn’t handle that shit on strong acid”). But I finally found out it wasn’t Linklater’s fault. He wanted to include “Rock and Roll,” but Robert Plant (the prick) nixed the deal. Linklater never forgave him.

Likewise, with Aerosmith, which is near tragic because the film ends with Pink, Slater, Simone, and Wooderson driving to Houston to buy tickets to see the band. Again, not Linklater’s fault. He tried but failed to include “Sweet Emotion” because of exorbitant licensing costs.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Tina Turner’s ninth studio album, Wildest Dreams, returns for its 30th Anniversary, remastered for the first time and expanded with rare and unreleased music.

Parlophone will release Wildest Dreams (30th Anniversary Edition) on June 26 across multiple formats, led by a 4CD/Blu-ray collection that includes the remastered version of the 1996 album, a compilation of B-sides and rare tracks, and the previously unreleased July 20, 1996, concert at Wembley Stadium—mixed from the multi-track master by Jon Bailey at AIR Studios in London. Recorded before a considerable London crowd during the album’s record-breaking world tour, Turner delivers nearly two hours of hits spanning her career, from “The Best” and “What’s Love Got To Do With It” to her singular version of “Proud Mary.” Acclaimed writer and music historian Jason Draper has written the liner notes, featuring all-new interviews with Roger Davies, Trevor Horn, and Holly Knight.

The concert film Live in Amsterdam—previously known as Wildest Dreams Tour (Live In Amsterdam)—makes its Blu-ray debut in the anniversary set, remastered in 96kHz/24-bit stereo with 1080p upscaled video. Directed by David Mallet, the nearly two-hour film captures Turner’s three-night residency at Amsterdam Arena in September 1996. It was nominated for Best Long Form Music Video at the 1997 GRAMMY® Awards. Pre-order the set HERE.

Other versions available the same day include Wildest Dreams (2026 Remaster) on 2LP, CD, and digitally; and the 2CD Wildest Dreams (30th Anniversary Edition) featuring the remastered album and rare bonus tracks.

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Remembering Richard Manuel, born on this day in 1943. —Ed.

Part of what makes The Band so fascinating is they served two very different roles in rock history—first as the backing band that produced a hurricane of sound behind Bob Dylan during his epochal (and polarizing) 1966 tour, then as the purveyors of a totally original fusion of country, rock, R&B, folk, and soul music that would ultimately be labeled “Americana.” A unique designation given that The Band’s members—with the exception of drummer/ vocalist/ and mandolin player Levon Helm, an Arkansas boy—all hailed from Canada.

And Robbie Robertson—who passed away on August 9, 2023—was their leader, a role he assumed both because he became the band’s chief (and in time almost sole) songwriter and had the energy and organizational skills a laid-back Helm (the group’s original leader) constitutionally lacked. Robertson, a young Toronto guitar whiz of Native American/Canadian descent—Dylan once called him “the only mathematical guitar genius I’ve ever run into who does not offend my intestinal nervousness”—was every bit as contradictory a figure as The Band itself.

He was a Canadian who created American myths, and wrote songs so tightly wound they left little room for him to show off his guitar chops. And he became a case study in the fickle nature of musical genius—after writing the immortal songs on The Band’s first two albums—1968’s seminal Music from Big Pink and 1969’s The Band—his creative wellspring slowed to a trickle; The Band’s subsequent studio albums became increasingly spotty affairs as Robertson went from writing great story songs to stilted and didactic lectures on the loss of the America of his imagining. There are great songs on the later albums, but there are far more forgettable ones.

The Band was a powerful musical outfit—its players were uniformly crack musicians who’d honed their skills touring with Arkansas rockabilly and country legend Ronnie Hawkins, who’d decided he’d sooner be a big fish in Toronto and points north than a small fry in his native America. And they boasted three incredible vocalists in piano player and sometimes drummer Richard Manuel, drummer and mandolin player Levon Helm, and bass player Rick Danko.

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Midge Ure is one of the architects of the sound that defined a generation.

As the frontman and creative co-architect of Ultravox, co-writer of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, and the producer behind some of the most enduring records of the new wave era—including “Fade to Grey” and “Vienna”—he shaped synth-pop and post-punk at the moment both genres were finding their footing. His fingerprints are all over many eras.

On this episode of Radar, Midge joins us to talk about five decades of making music and his first new album in twelve years. A Man of Two Worlds is out May 8 on Chrysalis—sixteen tracks split across two distinct worlds, instrumental and vocal, from one of the most quietly influential figures in modern British music.

Ure will tour the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand with dates kicking off on May 8th in Bath. More information can found at www.midgeure.co.uk.

Tune in.

Radar features discussions with artists and industry leaders who are creators and devotees of music and is produced by Dylan Hundley and The Vinyl District. Dylan Hundley is an artist and performer, and the co-creator and lead singer of Lulu Lewis and all things at Darling Black. She co-curates and hosts Salon Lulu which is a New York based multidisciplinary performance series. She is also a cast member of the iconic New York film Metropolitan.

Who is Neil Merryweather, and how come I’ve never heard of him? Well, turns out he’s a Toronto bassist/vocalist/songwriter who started out playing the blues before putting out (with his band Space Rangers) a positively wonderful late-era, capital “G” Glam album in 1975’s Kryptonite.

I’ve never read about Merryweather in any of the many books about Glam Rock I’ve read, which boggles the mind. As does his backstory: he went from the Mynah Birds (who also spawned Rick James and some guy named Neil Young), played in a whole bunch of bands you’ve probably never heard of, was asked by Stephen Stills to play bass for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (and turned him down), recorded a 1969 album (Word of Mouth) featuring the likes of Steve Miller, Dave Mason, and Charlie Musselwhite, and then meandered around (he briefly fronted a band called Mama Lion) before finally forming another band called Space Rangers, which recorded two great albums in 1974’s Space Rangers (which included spacy covers of “Eight Miles High” and “Sunshine Superman”) and the superior Kryptonite. Before disappearing for forty-odd years!

Space Rangers were Neil Merryweather, bass and vocals; Michael “Jeep” Willis, lead guitar; James Herndon, Chamberlin, synthesizer, guitar, and slide guitar; and Tim McGovern, drums and guitar. The Chamberlin (which was news to me) is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument and precursor to the Mellotron, and Merryweather bought his from Sonny and Cher! It had a piano-style keyboard and used prerecorded tapes featuring various musical instruments or special effects. It, along with the synthesizer, helped Merryweather make the transition from blues/hard rock musician to Space Glammer.

Krytonite is a remarkably solid album—Glam with a hard edge, and consistently up-tempo. I was so excited by “The Groove,” a T-Rex-school Glam opus, that I immediately sent it to my pal Steve Mitchell, Glam lover and the Svengali behind UK “theft band” The Pooh Sticks, to see what he thought.

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