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…
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…
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,…
It is always interesting to know where and when a recording career actually started. Singer Roseanna Vitro‘s first album was recorded in 1982 and is now available on CD for the first time (but who listens to CDs anymore when vinyl is still available and striving?). Roseanna has recorded several artist-based albums over the years,…
What a nice surprise! Singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli has come up with solo takes on more than a dozen Pat Metheny compositions. As they both show deep respect for each other in a recent JazzTimes interview where John was asked to talk to Pat about his new “Road To The Sun” album, recorded by…
Born out of the dire situation of not being able to perform or make music per se during last year’s lockdown, Swedish singer, songwriter, and pianist Ida Sand has come up with a stylish pop/soul album called “Do You Hear Me?”, to be released on the German ACT Music label this Friday. And on vinyl…
Every few years, there is a guitarist popping up which garners more attention than your regular player. Dan Wilson, who started out as a guest on organist Joey DeFancesco‘s group, later joined Christian McBride‘s trio and has now released his debut on Christian’s Brother Mister label, called “Vessels Of Wood And Earth”. The bass man…