Guitarist Julian Lage releases his fifth album for Blue Note Records, “Scenes From Above”, on January 23rd. After “Squint” (2021) with Jorge Roeder and Dave King, “Room With A View” (2022) with additional guitar from Bill Frisell, his solo album “The Layers” (2023), and “Speak To Me” (2024) with an extended band that featured Kris…
Flashback to 1982. When producers, writers, arrangers, and multi-instrumentalists Robson Jorge and Lincoln Olivetti started their solid partnership, writing songs for dozens of MPB artists during that era, they also received pretty critical reviews accusing them of turning the classic MPB sounds into lame and boring pop. Fast forward over 40 years, and all of…
Pianist Aaron Parks, who released his latest Blue Note Records album “By All Means” at the beginning of November, played a short set on Thursday afternoon at the Jazz Social, the pop up venue which offers live performances, interviews, live radio, a record shop, and more during this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival. The record…
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sam Wills had his first headline show last night at Kreuzberg’s Privatclub. Sam, who just recently released his second album called “Speak”, nonchalantly walked on stage, dressed in a plain plaid shirt and black jeans, opened his set with the first tune off that album. After the brief “Hallway”, he breezed…
“Songbook” is the very first Kenny Barron album with vocals. Can you imagine? There have been individual vocal tracks here and there on past albums, but this is actually the first all-vocal album. And it’s out on double vinyl too! And it features a great crew of contemporary vocalists, both established and at the start…
And so now it’s official: summer is over. Al Sunny, singer/songwriter from Nimes in France, released his third album “Summer End” last month. The album is available on vinyl too on the credible and trustworthy Légère Recordings. One of the most striking features of the album is its immensely lush and sophisticated production work. The…
If “Pretty Close” would have been released towards the end of the 70s, it would have been a hit immediately. Today, the songs and production almost sound like an outré attempt of keeping this golden age in music alive. And it works perfectly. Singer, songwriter, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Ethel Lindsey completely wrote, composed, and performed…
It’s been four years since his five-paw rated debut album “Breathe”. UK singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Wills returns with his sophomore LP “Speak” with 11 new tracks plus a semi-dramatic intro opening called “Hallway”. Four singles have been released between May and September, with the wonderful smooth ballad “We Both Know” leading the pack…
After her successful tribute to Nina Simone (“Ledisi Sings Nina”, 2021), singer Ledisi returns with a nod to the great Dinah Washington. Produced by Christian McBride and her longtime production partner Rex Rideout, she has come up with eight pieces more or less associated with the singer from Alabama. And she opens her set with…
Nala Sinephro, the London based Caribbean-Belgian producer, composer, and musician, has recorded her debut film soundtrack. It is for the movie “The Smashing Machine” which features Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson. The Benny Safdie-directed movie tells the story of the successful UFC wrestler Mark Kerr. It premiered last month at the Venice Film Festival and…