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Chalked up Reviews An online publication dedicated to covering the music scene. Our goal is to bring short and graded reviews to keep your homework to a minimum.

We focus specifically on: Blues, Classical, Country, Jazz, New Age, Pop, Rock and World.

Under a Lavender Sky stands out with its fusion of integrated musical landscapes where Afro-Peruvian rhythms, jazz harmo...
15/11/2025

Under a Lavender Sky stands out with its fusion of integrated musical landscapes where Afro-Peruvian rhythms, jazz harmony, and Latin American storytelling coexist organically. The record is rich with rhythms, arrangements, and phrasing. It’s emotionally resonant and beautifully performed. Cuellar inhabits the music fully, and the sky she paints is indeed lavender: the space between day and night, between cultures, where borders blur and music thrives.

Ermelinda Cuellar has released a world music project in cohesion with Under a Lavender Sky. This is an album where Afro-Peruvian rhythm, jazz harmony, and

The debut recording, Chopin, Liszt, by Sophia Liu, is superbly executed and artistically mature beyond what one might ex...
15/11/2025

The debut recording, Chopin, Liszt, by Sophia Liu, is superbly executed and artistically mature beyond what one might expect given her age. For the audience of classical fans, it offers a compelling artistic statement and a rich interpretation. Liu emerges as a pianist to watch, one whose technique is in service of musical thought, whose interpretative instincts are emotive, and whose future repertoire and recording projects will no doubt excite.

From the very first moments of Sophia Liu’s debut studio album, Chopin, Liszt, the listener is confronted with a pianist of remarkable poise and maturity. Liu

Silvano Monasterios stands here as an architect and storyteller, shaping the compositions and the air they occupy from t...
15/11/2025

Silvano Monasterios stands here as an architect and storyteller, shaping the compositions and the air they occupy from the piano. The River is a record where composition, performance, and ensemble chemistry merge into a single expressive continuum. It offers masterful examples of rhythmic layering and harmonic sophistication. It demonstrates how clarity, placement, and restraint can elevate a recording to art. And for listeners, it flows with feeling, like the river itself, carrying us forward while reflecting the world around us.

The River by Silvano Monasterios invites us to listen deeply to its rhythm, its space, and its carefully sculpted sound. It is a suite of seven compositions

Melt explores Zardoya’s artistry beyond The Marías’ brand identity. The album positions her as a producer’s vocalist and...
15/11/2025

Melt explores Zardoya’s artistry beyond The Marías’ brand identity. The album positions her as a producer’s vocalist and conceptual storyteller. A songwriter who believes independence means refinement, cutting away until only the essential frequencies remain.

By Amity Hereweard

Throughout Que Pasó, Cardona’s voice remains the connective thread, moving effortlessly between warm, conversational ver...
15/11/2025

Throughout Que Pasó, Cardona’s voice remains the connective thread, moving effortlessly between warm, conversational verses and soaring, emotive choruses, while the collective expertise of her collaborators transforms each composition into a vivid tableau of Afro‑Cuban rhythm, jazz‑inflected harmony and contemporary songwriting.

The result is an album that is crafted to give a genre‑spanning portrait of an artist who, while rooted in tradition, confidently charts her own world music course.

Victoria Cardona’s debut album Que Pasó is a richly orchestrated celebration of her Cuban‑American roots. The eleven tracks showcase her talents as a

Like Sugar is more than a nostalgic salute; it is an active dialogue between two tenor voices separated by half a centur...
15/11/2025

Like Sugar is more than a nostalgic salute; it is an active dialogue between two tenor voices separated by half a century. Eric Alexander speaks with a tone that is unmistakably warm and burnished, yet his phrasing carries the imprint of the modern improviser who constantly mines the past for fresh ideas. The album invites listeners to hear how a classic shout‑chorus can become a seed for new creativity, encourages pianists to blend vintage harmonic language with contemporary extensions, and challenges rhythm sections to listen deeply to each other’s nuances. For anyone invested in the ongoing evolution of bebop language Like Sugar deserves a prominent place on the shelf and repeated spins in the rehearsal room.

Eric Alexander’s newest outing, Like Sugar, captures the essence of Stanley Turrentine as a tribute with the poise of the seasoned tenor who has spent three

Emma King’s debut, Pocketful of Sun, is a collection of songs with narratives that weaves personal triumph, cultural exc...
15/11/2025

Emma King’s debut, Pocketful of Sun, is a collection of songs with narratives that weaves personal triumph, cultural exchange, and artistic integrity into a cohesive whole. King maintains her country roots while expanding the sonic vocabulary allowing her to capture authentic emotion within polished frameworks. King’s work is a compelling experience that resonates across continents, reminding us that great country music, at its heart, remains a story told with sincerity, regardless of where the storyteller calls home.

Emma King’s ascent from the modest streets of Hull, East Yorkshire, to the storied stages of Nashville reads like a modern‑day odyssey for anyone who believes

In an age where piano trios focus on a wide range, from cerebral to abstract. Pianist and composer Dave Palmer has chose...
19/09/2025

In an age where piano trios focus on a wide range, from cerebral to abstract. Pianist and composer Dave Palmer has chosen to reassert the elegance of swing as the language of a jazz piano trio.

In an age where piano trios focus on a wide range, from cerebral to abstract. Pianist and composer Dave Palmer has chosen to reassert the elegance of swing as

Wayne Alpern’s Modern Music, twenty miniatures for solo piano played with clear precision by Steven Beck.
19/09/2025

Wayne Alpern’s Modern Music, twenty miniatures for solo piano played with clear precision by Steven Beck.

Wayne Alpern’s Modern Music, twenty miniatures for solo piano played with clear precision by Steven Beck. The music is a stylistic tour in how a composer

The London Suede have always known that the heart of their art isn’t nostalgia but exploration.
19/09/2025

The London Suede have always known that the heart of their art isn’t nostalgia but exploration.

The London Suede have always known that the heart of their art isn’t nostalgia but exploration. Antidepressants, their eleventh album, continues that journey

Sydney’s merci, mercy makes her debut with Don’t Take It To Heart, an album of thirteen songs written with equal parts c...
19/09/2025

Sydney’s merci, mercy makes her debut with Don’t Take It To Heart, an album of thirteen songs written with equal parts confessional and cathartic, vulnerable yet always pulsing with beats that demand to be moved to.

Sydney’s merci, mercy makes her debut with Don’t Take It To Heart, an album of thirteen songs written with equal parts confessional and cathartic, vulnerable

Dave Sharp’s Worlds Quartet, joined by guitarist/arranger Elden Kelly, delivers a vibrant world music reimagining of Gre...
19/09/2025

Dave Sharp’s Worlds Quartet, joined by guitarist/arranger Elden Kelly, delivers a vibrant world music reimagining of Gregg Hill’s compositions on Catalyst: The Music of Gregg Hill.

Dave Sharp’s Worlds Quartet, joined by guitarist/arranger Elden Kelly, delivers a vibrant world music reimagining of Gregg Hill’s compositions on Catalyst:

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Music That Makes the Grade

Chalked Up Reviews is an online publication dedicated to covering the music scene with a strong focus on independent talent. Our goal is to bring short and graded reviews to keep your homework to a minimum. We focus specifically on: Blues, Classical, Country, Jazz, New Age, Pop, Rock and World.