“Are you ready or not, it’s only up the street, everybody’s dancin’, and everybody’s on the beat”. The famous and most popular song by The B.B.& Q. Band from their 1981 debut album, produced by Jacques Fred Petrus, still ranks high among my all-time favorite soul/funk tunes. And with “Time For Love” and “Starlette”, there…
The ever-reliable folks at Expansion Records have come up with another cool compilation, put together by DJ Tony Monson. Released between 1973 and 2019, the double-disc starts off with the 1980 disco funk of “Dance Freak” by Chain Reaction, an 11-piece band which never released a proper LP, but singles only. A lost groove indeed….
For the third edition of Jazz Across Borders (JAB), the president of the forum and festival, jazz musician Igor Butman has divided the event into five parts: the JAB conference which will include panels, workshops, discussions, and meetings with industry professionals. The JAB showcases will present Russian and foreign musicians and bands to promoters, labels,…
It is hard to believe that 20 years have gone by since the release of “Soul Organic”, the debut of London-based duo Hil St. Soul featuring singer Hilary Mwelwa (originally from Zambia) and producer, songwriter, and musician Victor Redwood-Sawyerr. The 20th anniversary edition of the album is now out on Dome Records, released in a…
Apologies from our end here for not posting regularly over the past few months. We’ve successfully ended our open-air concert season with a packed terrace witnessing the great singer Siri Svegler on September 15th, celebrating the release of her new album “Awake”. It was the sixth and final concert of the 2019 season and we…
Our first Fete de la Musique in Gina’s beer garden Alte Baumschule was a big success. We started out early afternoon with smooth grooves from singer Siri Svegler and guitarist Thomas Guitar Walter, then onward with singer Dana Shanti, duo gig from singer Maiko Andreo and Joel Holmes, solo performance by violinist and singer Roland…
So it’s been a while since my last post here, but I had to get started for the 2019 open air season at our cozy little beer garden in Berlin-Pankow. We opened the “Live On Terrace” season on Easter Sunday with a magnificent concert by the great Desney Bailey and her trio and last Sunday,…
Berlin’s new Jazz Festival, Berlin Jazz Experiment, has announced more acts yesterday. In addition to the already confirmed artists which have been announced in late January, the Festival will now also host Mokete Mokete, Y-Otis, Katharina Ernst, Glass Museum, Anna VR, Aron Ottignon + Special Guest “Cutie Pie”, Allysha Joy, Nardeydey, and the Etuk Ubong…
Joni Mitchell turned 75 last November and her birthday was celebrated in fancy fashion with a concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles with a number of artists paying tribute to Joni and her songs, among them James Taylor, Chaka Khan, Seal, Diana Krall, and Norah Jones. The concert was recorded and the…
When Roy Ayers released “Silver Vibrations” on his own, newly formed Uno Melodic Records in 1983, he had just ended an incredibly successful decade with Polydor. The albums “Lots Of Love” and “Silver Vibrations” both came out in 1983 and the latter now gets reissue status from the great folks at BBE Music, including a…