It was the final night of this year’s highly entertaining XJAZZ Festival – the area in Friedrichshain was run over by people visiting the Village Market, a weekly streetfood festival catering to all kinds of foodies, food junkies, and everyone else in between. But on the night before, artistic director Sebastian Studnitzky played his latest…
One of the nice things about the XJAZZ Festival is the fact that almost all participating clubs are in walking distance to each other and that most of the shows actually start on time (is that really a German habit?). The cozy FluxBau with direct access to the Spree was hosting young singer, pianist, and…
Sun slowly setting, trains of the U1 subway constantly moving into the Kottbusser Tor station, cold beer flowing, and some warm electronic, housey Jazz tracks coming from the stage of Kreuzberg’s Monarch club early Thursday evening where Samuel Rouanet opened his 50-minute set together with Anthony Malka. XJAZZ 2015 has arrived. Sam’s latest project is…
For the sixth time, Hamburg harbour will be the stage for the ELBJAZZ Festival, taking place May 29th and May 30th with over 50 bands in various extraordinary locations. Festival organisers have made sure once again that there is something for everyone during those two days. Dee Dee Bridgewater will perform with the Finnish UMO…
It is only three days away: Germany’s newest and coolest and most relaxed festival will once again help make Kreuzberg in Berlin the most attractive neighborhood. The festival focuses again on the ever growing German Jazz scene with most of the bands (50 in total) coming from Germany. Also, like in the first edition last…
He is one of the hottest tickets this year, and deservedly so. His debut album last year was clearly my favorite Soul album of 2014 and he’s without a doubt one of the best Soul singers to come on the scene in the last 20 or so years. I had the chance to see Jarrod…
Marcus Miller is wrapping up his first part of his European tour in Amsterdam tonight. He’ll be back over here for the festival season at the end of June with performances at Northsea Jazz or Jazz Open in Stuttgart. Yesterday, he played Berlin’s Postbahnhof. Earlier that day, I had the chance to talk to him…
On Saturday, I was invited to come on board De Liefde (“The Love”), a sailing ship which was the stage for several showcases for the New York-based Dot Time Records. I was in for a few surprises there: pianist and singer Theo Jackson opened the evening with tracks from his new album “Shoeless And The…
Singer Kellylee Evans rocked the Schlachthof last night during the jazzahead! overseas night in Bremen showcasing tracks from a forthcoming album. She’s a very energetic performer with a lively stage presence and sometimes reminded me of Janelle Monáe, not genre-wise, but in her overall stage persona. Otherwise, the Canadian singer offers a very distinctive mix…
I finally arrived in Bremen on Thursday after I had to cancel my train ticket. Turned out that the guy I contacted via blablacar was a bassist from Poland who drove us to Bremen on a smooth ride. Participants were getting ready setting up their booths, there were a lot of familiar people and friends…