Back in the 1980s Robert Mugge was among the best documentary filmmakers working in music. Two films of his from the era have been issued on DVD, Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus and Gospel According to AlGreen. Rollins came to prominence in jazz circles during the �60s for pushing the tenor saxophone onto new ground. Mugge�s interviews with Rollins and various critics and collaborators ...

Once a regular feature of this blog, the Cheap Album Round-Up has all but disappeared in recent months as I, like much of the country, try to keep my spending habits in check. This weekend, however, I did treat myself to a couple of used albums, including: Al Green � Al Green is Love (LP) Price: $5.99 From: Bullseye Records, 1627 E. Irving Pl. Paired with producer/songwriter ...

  After the one-two punch of Al Green's solid comeback albums I Can't Stop and Everything's OK, I set my expectations a touch too high for Lay It Down, Green's much-hyped album with the visionary Roots drummer ?uestlove and a host of respectable, younger neo-soul ambassadors. The pairings and pre-press suggested an aggressive, ambitious album, which Lay It Down is most certainly not the mood here...

2008 is shaping up to be the worst year yet for the struggling music industry�this week, for instance, music sales were down a whooping 9% from just a year ago, and the top-selling album, Alicia Keyes� As I Am, was the second lowest-selling #1 album in the history of the SoundScan charts. But while hip-hop and rock sales have taken considerable hits, there is one genre that continues to ...