…Gina. And congratulations to all the Grammy nominees: In the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance Category: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Annie Lennox, Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand. (To me, both the Bennett & Gaga and Lennox albums were a total disappointment, so my favorite is Barbra Streisand.) Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: Mindy Abair,…
Congratulations Cassandra Wilson on her 59th birthday. She is in the midst of her German tour playing Baden-Baden tomorrow, Munich on Saturday, St. Polten in Austria on Sunday and Frankfurt next Tuesday before winding it up in Bratislava on December 11th and Verona on the 13th. Cassandra is currently preparing the release of her next…
At this year’s JazzConnect Conference in New York, I was asked to participate on a panel which was supposed to put a spotlight on Jazz in Germany. When the question came which artists I thought are the most important musicians deserving wider attention, my immediate response was Michael Wollny. The critics of the British Jazzwise…
While Gina is watching over the turkey for our annual Thanksgiving dinner, we are listening to newly released Christmas records from Michael Feinstein, Anthony Hamilton, Maysa, Earth, Wind & Fire, a Mack Avenue compilation, Shakatak, Nils Landgren, and Dave Koz and also putting on our favorite holiday music. Happy Thanksgiving weekend!
This year, the number of releases of biographical or autobiographical books is pretty strong. I only want to focus on four of them which more or less came out in the last couple of months and which I’m planning to read during the winter season. “Is That All There Is? The Strange Life Of Peggy…
She just started her European tour which will also bring her to various German cities (see also my Events Calendar). Now, Legacy Recordings just announced that they’ve signed a new deal with Cassandra Wilson. “Coming Forthy By Day” is going to be a musical homage to Billie Holiday whose 100th birthday would be on April…
In 2000, trumpeter Roy Hargrove toured and recorded with Neo Soul singer D’Angelo. The result was the groundbreaking “Voodoo” album, the second album after his debut “Brown Sugar” which had been released five years earlier. Roy Hargrove is in Berlin with his Quintet, performing three nights from Sunday to Tuesday. Justin Robinson accompanies him on…
It is going to be a change of directions in more ways than one for singer Sachal Vasandani. Not only has he officially dropped his second name, he has changed record companies and has more or less re-invented his sound and approach. And it was a good move to do so. His three records on…
One of the great soul singers, older brother of one-time Temptations lead singer David Ruffin, Jimmy died last Monday in a Las Vegas hospital at the age of 78. Probably best known for his big hit “What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted” in 1966 (the song went to Number 7 in the Billboard Pop Charts), he…
After three records for the Mack Avenue label, the singer and songwriter who has worked with the legendary Jon Hendricks and who has won the Downbeat Critics Poll Rising Star Award in 2010, is now moving to Okeh Records for his next release due out in spring: “Slow Motion Miracles” is the title of his…