Nicholas Payton: “The trumpet chose me”

It was evident early on that New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton had tremendous trumpet chops. After a stint with legendary drummer Elvin Jones, Payton inked a deal with Verve at the age of twenty and went on to release seven discs for the imprint, as well as a number of…

The ten best male jazz vocalists of all time

While Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole and Mel Torme made singing jazz standards part of their repertoire, some consider them to be more from the crooners school. Here we’ve put together a list of the ten of the best male singers who excelled in jazz, whether it be…

Ten metal bands to watch in 2014

Even though metal has smoked and drank its entire life, it will never die. This year, metal embarks on another era opening up the swinging saloon doors for new inebriated metal degenerates to steal the show. Below the radar, most of these metal bands have what it takes to break…

The ten best Christian metal bands of all time

Over the years, Christian metal bands have played in a variety of styles, from death metal to metalcore to ’80s metal. Some artists in this realm often wish that critics and fans would focus less on the religious aspect — claiming it detracts from the music — while others embrace…