EXPLAINED: 4 - The Real Truth

Chuck Mangione obituary

Musician who helped to create ‘smooth jazz’, an easy-listening sound that won him two Grammy awards

The Guardian - UK · Aug 5, 2025

“Initially, his strongest influence was the blues. Then his Mexican heritage surfaced and combined with the influences of Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Tito Puente and Gábor Szabó”: Decoding the magic of Carlos Santana’s supernatural soloing style

Stay cosmic with this lesson in how Carlos Santana took the blues as practiced by B.B. King and Peter Green, plus the new radical rock styles of the '60s, and put his signature spin on them

Guitar World · Jul 29, 2025

“There was a sense that the record was the definitive music, and you were to reproduce that night after night. It became boring”: Wang Chung’s Jack Hues reinvented himself by revisiting prog influences Robert Wyatt, Radiohead and Talk Talk

Decades after playing to 80,000 people a night with Wang Chung, the Canterbury artist went wild on Epigonal Quark, with help from Syd Arthur and others

Louder · Jul 27, 2025

Sly Stone obituary

Funk and soul musician whose band, Sly and the Family Stone, had a profound effect on US music in the 1960s and 70s

The Guardian - UK · Jun 10, 2025

“A lot of dreams that came to fruition in the 70s were born in the 60s. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was just one. Shakti was another”: John McLaughlin doesn’t know why his music sold so well. In fact, he knows he knows nothing

The jazz rock pioneer on being fast and loud, walking away from success, and why a musician is actually exploring the meaning of life

Louder · May 29, 2025

"It shimmers, it shakes, it grooves, and most importantly, it rocks": Mahavishnu Orchestra navigate new musical worlds on The Inner Mounting Flame

Mahavishnu Orchestra's The Inner Mounting Flame was the first jazz-rock album that found favour among significant numbers of rock aficionados

Louder · May 19, 2025

Sir Mick Jagger’s company to produce Miles Davis movie starring Damson Idris

The film will detail Davis’s romance with French singer and actress Juliette Greco during his trip to Paris in 1949.

Evening Standard · May 14, 2025

“Miles runs into the studio with his horn and shouts ‘hit the record button,’ and we were recording. We wrapped that album up by midday”: Billy Cobham on Miles Davis’s agile approach to recording

Iconic drummer turns 80 later this month

MusicRadar · May 2, 2025

‘Jazz isn’t about perfection’: drummer Billy Cobham on Miles Davis, Massive Attack and still learning at 80

After a grounding with genre greats, he fused jazz with rock to outrageously funky effect. Ahead of UK dates, he explains why two prosthetic hips aren’t slowing him down

The Guardian - UK · May 1, 2025

UK jazz star Emma-Jean Thackray: ‘I had the word weirdo thrust upon me. So I’m reclaiming it’

Autistic and with ADHD, the chart-topping musician always felt out of step – and then she had to face terrible grief. She explains how her new album helped her survive

The Guardian - UK · Apr 22, 2025