It’s her eleventh album to date and her first since “Homefree” came out back in 2010. Nnenna Freelon sounds as fresh and graceful, jazzy and soulful as ever and in most cases on her beautiful new disc, even better than ever before. Harking back to her “Listen” (1994), “Shaking Free” (1996) or “Soulcall” (2000) days…
Parisian producer and beat stylist As Valet released his new album “Virgo Stellar” back in July. The album on the brilliant London-based Futuristica label is one of the best contemporary electronica meets house meets soul discs around. The mellow soulful house beats open the album with guest vocalists LaNote (whose debut album features As Valet…
Gina spent a couple of weeks in the Netherlands recently. She had a lot of fun chasing mice, birds, and jackrabbits and jumping into creeks and small lakes. She is back in her garden now where she spends the last weeks of summer before moving back into her city apartment. Look out for more reviews…
Let’s all hope that tour schedules will stay safe during the upcoming fall and winter season. It is hard to believe, somehow surreal even, that the last concert I attended was way back in early March, 2020. But there are some good news coming in. New York’s famed and precious Village Vanguard resumes work on…
Jean and Marcus Baylor released their new album “Generations” back in June and it follows us ever since. Four years after “The Journey“, this new album is so rich and diverse and entertaining at the same time – a rare feat these days. Starting off with a Les McCann-like churchy blues organ on “Strivin’”, Jean…
We’re finally back on track here after a few incredibly busy months since businesses were allowed to open up again in late May. Gina enjoyed her holidays in the Netherlands and is now able to write again on a daily basis as the summer slowly but surely comes to an end. There has been a…
After preparing for the re-opening of my outdoor business in late May, things have now started to settle in again so I’ll be able to focus more on Gina’s page here. Lots of interesting music has been released in the past six weeks and there will be reviews of new and reissued albums by The…
Legendary keyboardist and pianist and NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis has just announced the second season of his online performance series called “Saturday Salon” on StageIt. The “Saturday Salon”, sponsored by Ariel Investments, will run on the last Saturday of each month and features a 60-minute performance at 1:00pm Central Time. A portion of the…
Another great re-issue from the guys at Mad About Records in Portugal. Singer Renata Lu remains a mystery to this day. She released three LPs in the 70s: her self-titled debut in 1971, now out on Mad About, “Sandália De Prata” in 1976, and “Tô Voltando” in 1979. Renata continued to sing backup vocals for…
Pascal Rioux a/k/a Charles Maurice did it again. Assembling incredibly hard-to-find soul gems from the glorious days of the past, 1977 to 1984. Running the fantastic Favorite Recordings out of Paris, this fifth volume in this wonderful series starts off with a track by the group Rhapsody, who released just one LP back in 1981,…