During a period when The Guardian asks if you should get rid of your CDs and a phenomenal resurgence in sales of vinyl nobody expected, I have come across dozens of reasons in the past month why CDs are dead. Three of those reasons for not hanging on to my CD collection: Number One: the…
If you need your vocal jazz pure and hip, look no further than “Old Friends”, the new album by singer Mark Winkler and longtime friend, pianist David Benoit. Having known each other for 37 years now, you might think that they are using some sort of safety net for their joint collaboration (they have worked…
I remember the final days of 2020 when we all thought that things can only get better in 2021. So far, we’ve lost my mother-in-law at the very beginning of this year. Also, Mary Wilson left us recently and now it was time for Chick Corea to pass on. My earliest memory of hearing the…
During my studies of American History and Journalism in the mid 90s at Berlin’s Freie Universität, I was also working as a bartender at one of Kreuzberg’s Mexican restaurants until a friend of mine one day told me about a new, small, commercial radio station playing Jazz 24/7 and if that’s something I wanted to…
Gina enjoys the snow. She is burying her little ball in the snow only to dig it up again as fast as she can. She especially seems to enjoy those snow spots where nobody has walked before. There is also no danger at all that she’s getting lost during the current winter weather. At home,…
So everyone is talking about the debut of London-born singer Arlo Parks these days. I have to admit that I didn’t really become interested in her at first because the press release states that Billie Eilish is a fan. So what? Seriously, why is there such a hype about Billie Eilish? I just don’t get…
Our Record of the Year artist Jarrod Lawson has released another single from his world-class “Be The Change” LP: “Love Isn’t Always Enough”. In my review of the album in late October, I mentioned the fact that “gracefully opulent” ballads like this aren’t made anymore. To further enhance Jarrod’s deeply moving soul balladeering, the new…
After two albums with Durand Jones & The Indications, vocalist and drummer Aaron Frazer has just released his debut album, produced by Dan Auerbach, frontman of The Black Keys. One of the rare treats of this album is that it actually works from start to finish. I mean, you can really listen through both sides…
The guys at UK-based Futuristica Music who gave us the brilliant Nathan Thomas and the equally mesmerizing Georgie Sweet albums last year, also released singer Deborah Thomas‘ third album, called “See In The Dark”. It’s been out since a few months but I wanted to share it here because the double vinyl version is now…
Voice and piano. One of the most intimate situations. Executed to perfection back in 1975 by Irene Kral and Alan Broadbent on “Where Is Love?”, still one of my alltime favorite albums. Janis Mann, the Brooklyn-born, California-based singer, has some of Irene’s features. Her instrument can be equally warm and cool at the same time,…