One of the highlights of this year’s festival so far was the performance of South African pianist Nduduzu Makhathini and his trio who played at the Madeira hall on Saturday afternoon. Together with bassist Dalisu Ndlazi and Cuban drummer Lukmil Pérez Herrera, this 75-minute set was deeply spiritual, soulful, and full of sweet surprises. Mostly…
So here we are again at this monster festival. This is the 49th edition of North Sea Jazz, with more than 150 acts on 13 stages and around 70.000 annual visitors. I started out with Jamila Woods, a singer, songwriter and poet from Chicago whose album “Water Made Us” (2023) made some noise when it…
This year’s Jazzfest Bonn, which started out in early May, is at the beginning of its third block with two acts playing at the inner city Kreuzkirche last night. The venue participated for the first time. And even though it is always difficult to stage concerts in churches, both shows came across pretty well. Starting…
One of our early 80s heroes, the one and only Howard Johnson, just announced two shows in the UK this October, with more shows possibly in the can. Howard was the co-founder of the group Niteflyte, which recorded two albums in 1979 and 1981 before he went solo with his still totally impeccable “Keepin’ Love…
Sam Wills, the UK-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose debut album “Breathe” garnered a five-paw review back in 2021, is back with a new single and the announcement of his first headlining tour throughout Europe. His “We Both Know”, released last week, is in heavy rotation here. The smooth and subtle track with its poignant…
Lots of great new music out there from our favorites: Durand Jones & The Indications will release their new LP “Flowers” on June 27th. Two singles are already out in the spheres and both sound promising and refine their highly original sound: the easily flowing midtempo soul swayer “Flower Moon” and the equally soothing “Been…
Our sweet and lovely Gina, the puppy who was the inspiration behind this blog’s name, went on her last walk this past Wednesday. Gina had accompanied us for the last 15 years of our lives and she was the greatest companion you could wish for. She had chosen to live with us when she frequently…
So here we are again at the world’s biggest jazz fair in Bremen. We’re looking forward to meeting lots of old and new friends, live showcases, the club night, and so much more. This year, there is going to be an evening with Dutch LGBTQ+ artists at Himmelssaal. Presented by Buma Cultuur and That Jazz…
I still remember seeing singer/songwriter Ledisi perform for the first time. It was way back in 2000 in San Francisco at a tiny little bar/café. At the time, she had just released her debut album “Soulsinger”, a set of brilliantly executed neo soul songs which still resonates up to this day. On April 25th, Ledisi…
One of the most pivotal moments last Monday at Amsterdam’s Paradiso happened during a guitar solo medley by guitarist Jubu Smith: among the three tracks he played was “Sweet Thing” by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. And the whole crowd sang the lyrics out loud. No offense here but this is something that would never ever…