And so, the 69th Berlinale has started. “The Kindness Of Strangers” by Danish director Lone Scherfig has opened the festival which seemed to have a rather tumultuous start because everyone wanted to comment on the fact that this would be Dieter Kosslick‘s last edition after 18 years. But rather than glorifying the past and bathing…
It was a “long time no see” setting since Holly Cole‘s last visit to Berlin was a pretty long time ago, but it felt like a true homecoming once she started with a sort of condensed introductory version of “Take Me Home”, from her beloved 1995 album “Temptation” with the songs of Tom Waits. There…
The winner of the 2015 Montreux Guitar Competition, Pedro Martins was heavily featured on guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel‘s “Caipi“, the first for his own Heartcore Records label, in 2017. The 25-year old Martins is now releasing his second album, a collection of thirteen Brazilian-flavored pop and rock songs with a heavy jazz input, not only from…
Following Danish Jazz singer Caecilie Norby ever since her 1995 Blue Note debut has always echoed my attitude towards repertoire. I think if you’re not choosing to record your own original material, it is utterly important to come up with the right combination of cover tunes and not simply an amalgamation of songs from the…
Just a few days after the legendary Michel Legrand left this earth, we have lost James Ingram who graced the Quincy Jones album “The Dude”, one of the best albums ever, with the two gorgeous ballads “Just Once” (written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill) and “One Hundred Ways” (written by Kathy Wakefield, Ben Wright…
Earlier today, the first 35 acts for this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival have been announced. We’re planning on visiting Rotterdam again for the weekend of July 12th to 14th. Confirmed are superstars such as Diana Krall, Bobby McFerrin, Jamie Cullum, and Burt Bacharach. Also on the agenda, man of the moment Kamasi Washington, Joshua…
The full programme has been announced earlier today after festival director Dieter Kosslick’s last programme press conference before Carlo Chatrian takes over in 2020. 17 movies will compete in this year’s main section and jury president Juliette Binoche and her team will present their prizes on February 16th. I already had the chance to see…
There simply can not be enough live music in town so here comes a very welcome new little festival at a location which is one of the nicest and charming in the city. Diversity and equality is the name of the game for Berlin Jazz Experiment, to be held May 31st to June 2nd at…
And here’s another great indie soul compilation which we’re also looking out for at the beginning of each year: Luxury Soul 2019 is another 3-CD box with 35 indie and modern soul tracks, with 21 tracks released last year or this year and the remainder going as far back as 1981 with a can’t-do-wrong classy…
Gina knows exactly where she gets her treats in the neighborhood. On a recent walk through Prenzlauer Berg, we stopped at our favorite cheese dealer. Gina ordered a piece of 16-month old Chällerhocker from Switzerland, but of course graciously handed it over to me because she knew that she’s not allowed to eat cheese. We’ve…