Summer 2020
In our new backyard
A portrait of resilience from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens to the COVID-19 pandemic » More ...
Music
Summer 2020
Butterfly Launches from Spar Pole
Krist Novoselić, Ray Prestegard, and Robert Michael Pyle
Murky Slough Music: 2019
This eleven-track acoustic folk offering celebrates the natural world with profound but approachable spoken-word verse inspired by the cycles of life and sciences of ecology and geology. Armed with a PhD from Yale University and sense of curiosity about and reverence for the biosphere, Robert Michael Pyle—a lepidopterist, naturalist, and award-winning writer—presents compelling poetry that explores the intertwined fates of humans and nature.
Pyle, largely considered the godfather … » More …
Spring 2020
Volume 2
A review of Volume 2, an album by Giants in the Trees » More ...
Winter 2018
Eyes Wide Open
Jazz singer and composer and arranger Jamie Shew’s new album Eyes Wide Open is reviewed by Kristina Ploeger. » More ...
Fall 2017
Cougtunes
Recent releases from the WSU School of Music:
Gator Tail, faculty jazz quartet (Brad Ard, David Jarvis, Brian Ward, Greg Yasinitsky) (contemporary hard bop—even a classic Hammond B-3 organ can be found on the album)
YAZZ Recordings
Singular … » More …
Spring 2017
Briefly noted
No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon
Erik Weihenmayer and Buddy Levy
Thomas Dunne Books: 2017
After Weihenmayer became the first and only blind man to reach the top of Mount Everest, he decided his next adventure would be to traverse the treacherous Grand Canyon by kayak. He and Levy, a Washington State University instructor, chronicle the turbulent whitewater journey, and the insights gained by Weihenmayer and other trailblazers he has met.
Unusual Punishment: Inside the Walla Walla Prison, 1970–1985
Christopher Murray
WSU Press: 2016
Murray was an employee of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services … » More …
Spring 2016
Lowell Liebermann: Complete Works for Two Pianos
88 Squared Piano Duo
Albany Records: 2015
WSU piano faculty members Jeffrey and Karen Savage are the formidable pianists of 88 Squared, a critically acclaimed piano duo. This remarkable recording of Liebermann’s music for two pianos will only add to their international reputation. Liebermann’s piano music requires keen attention to color, texture, balance, and lyricism. His ample use of counterpoint requires absolute precision between the four hands.
88 Squared … » More …
Summer 2015
Key to My Cage
Michael Kirkpatrick ’01
2014
The human voice is our oldest acoustic instrument and it’s still one of the most captivating. Add a few well struck strings—just a few chords even—and you have a remarkable symphony of bass, harmony, lyrics, and emotion.
This is the beguiling formula of Michael Kirkpatrick ’01. He’s a troubadour, both self-described and according to the 2014 Telluride Troubadour Competition, which he won. Performing some 150 dates a year from his Fort Collins, Colorado, base, he writes his own tunes and for the most part plays all the … » More …
Summer 2013
Chicago, Barcelona Connections
Greg Duncan ’98
New Origins Records, 2012
The Latin-themed recording is one of the great subgenres of jazz, going back at least as far as Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” and running through the likes of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Manteca” and the Getz/Gilberto collaboration that brought “Girl from Ipanema” to hi-fi consoles across the land. Greg Duncan is stepping up with his own contribution, marshaling an Illinois Arts Council grant and Kickstarter funding to bring us an … » More …
Winter 2011
Montaña y Caballo
Yarn Owl, Montaña Y Caballo, 2011
Tyler Armour ’10, Tim Meinig ’10, Ted Powers ’09, and Javier Suarez ’10
For fans of earthy, Northwest indie-folk in the vein of Seattle’s Band of Horses and Fleet Foxes, Pullman’s own Yarn Owl delivers a lush and satisfying debut. Montaña Y Caballo, the band’s first full-length album, was recorded in a barn just south of Moscow, Idaho, and every song evokes the varied scenery of the Pacific Northwest. The … » More …