Peak performance

IN THE LAST 25 years, Joe Bonamassa has dropped 16 studio records. That’s a lot of music, meaning it’s hard to keep things fresh — and his latest, Breakthrough, despite its title, doesn’t even try to

Improvisation. For many pianists, the very word can feel intimidating. We see a jazz player fly across the keys and assume they are simply making it up. But improvisation is not a random act. It is ro

Patterns, says Clare Hammond. Learning a new piece, especially if you’re committing it to memory, and the clock is against you, is all about finding patterns. ‘If you can find patterns in a piece of m

THE ERIC GALES we know today is undoubtedly a product of his environment growing up. In this case, as fate would have it, we’re talking about an incredibly musical family. Older brothers Manuel and Eu

“MY WIFE HAS enrolled me in a gym, and I have to go lift weights for an hour after this,” chuckles blues guitarist extraordinaire Walter Trout, the 74-year-old survivor of a drug habit and subsequent

Todd Rundgren Expect the expected and the unexpected at ...