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Watch Luciana Souza on the Season Finale of The Checkout Live at Berklee

Los Angeles Soul Artist Joey Dosik Shares His 'Inside Voice,' and Jazz Tales, on The Checkout

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Deep Dive: Odds 'n' Ends About Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Lester Young and "Jazz" Itself

Remembering Ed Bickert, Who Helped Turn the Fender Telecaster into an Expressive Jazz Voice

By Evan Haga • Mar 5, 2019

Ed Bickert, whose exceedingly modest way in conversation belied a nimble sense of humor, used to tell one story deserving of a permanent place in guitar lore. At a concert in Montreal, the host introduced the band by naming each player as well as the make of his equipment — for instance, “Bill Mays on a piano by Yamaha.”

When he homed in on the guitarist, the announcer said: “Ed Bickert on a guitar by Fisher-Price.”

Bill Evans and Wes Montgomery Shine in a Pair of New Archival Albums on Resonance Records

By Nate Chinen • Mar 5, 2019

Resonance Records became a leading purveyor of historical jazz recordings thanks to two artists in particular: guitarist Wes Montgomery and pianist Bill Evans.

The label, which recently observed its 10th anniversary, has released five Montgomery albums, and three by Evans — all of the music sanctioned for the first time, and most of it previously unissued in any form. Resonance is now about to return to the well with Evans in England, a live 1969 recording by the Bill Evans Trio, and Back on Indiana Avenue: The Carroll DeCamp Recordings, an assortment of early material by Montgomery.

Take Five: The Hot Sardines Hit the Trail, Ella Fitzgerald Takes Flight, and Steve Davis Locks In

By Nate Chinen • Mar 3, 2019

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Older N.J. inmates may be released under plan for ‘geriatric parole’

By Joe Hernandez • Mar 8, 2019

New Jersey lawmakers are considering a plan to offer parole to older inmates who are imprisoned for less serious crimes. The move could save the state millions of dollars and extend compassion to offenders who are not a public safety threat, they said.

If signed into law, New Jersey would be the 18th state to offer “geriatric parole.”

‘Abuse is abuse:’ N.J. lawmakers advance bill expanding sex abuse statute of limitations

By Joe Hernandez • Mar 8, 2019

New Jersey’s Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill Thursday evening that would dramatically expand the state’s statute of limitations for sexual assault, allowing survivors to file civil lawsuits against their abusers for conduct that took place years or even decades earlier.

The upvote on a bill that had stalled in the Legislature in previous years came after hours of raw testimony from survivors about the abuse they had endured and the struggles of seeking justice with the state’s two-year limit.

Gov. Murphy on raising NJ Transit funding in the budget: ‘We’re open to that’

By Joe Hernandez • Mar 6, 2019

A possible fight over transportation funding in New Jersey’s next state budget could end before it really started.

In his second state budget proposal Tuesday, Gov. Phil Murphy suggested increasing New Jersey Transit’s funding by $25 million.

The proposal prompted immediate pushback from Democrats in the Legislature, with whom Murphy will have to negotiate in order to pass his budget plan.

State Sen. President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said he wanted to see even more money funneled into the ailing transit agency.

In his second budget, Gov. Murphy again calls for a higher tax on N.J. millionaires

By Joe Hernandez • Mar 6, 2019

Gov. Phil Murphy is again calling for New Jersey to raise its income tax rate on millionaires, a proposal that was shot down last year by legislative Democrats as the state hurtled toward a government shutdown.

In his second proposed budget, which he announced Tuesday, Murphy suggested expanding the state’s highest income tax bracket of 10.75 percent to include anyone making more than $1 million per year.

Murphy predicts it would mean additional $447 million if the state expanded its highest income tax brackets.

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