She got all dressed up yesterday for her birthday celebration at one of Berlin’s Christmas markets. She also had an extra sausage and a slice of meat from an organic corn chicken. Earlier that day, she met a lot of her friends while she went for an extensive walk.
Not a lot of really interesting new records out lately, so I’m filling the gaps in my vinyl collection with the help of the brilliant Discogs online marketplace. I recently found two Lani Hall LPs there after reading James Gavin’s profile of the singer in the December JazzTimes magazine: the 1975 “Hello It’s Me” and…
His love for the music of Stevie Wonder was on display last night at Loci Loft in Berlin: Frank McComb opened his unscripted, one-man solo show with “Golden Lady”, a song that truly sums up his forte when he easily managed to soar through the verses without ever losing grip, style, and power. His permeating voice…
Here is another artist to watch out for: singer Jalen Ngonda, originally from Maryland in the US and who moved to Liverpool in 2014, has already had headline shows in London and Geneva and supported Lauryn Hill, Martha Reeves, and Laura Mvula. His voice both rich and tender, with a falsetto sound reminiscent of Russell…
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…
Singer, songwriter, producer, engineer, and former Kiss FM breakfast show producer Nathan Thomas has come up with a refreshingly modern R&B meets neo-soul meets hip-hop beats meets jazz collection of tunes with “Still Water”, opening with the way too short, but pretty sexy “Resilience”, with an urgency in his vocal style that is quiet impressive….
One of my all-time favorite vocalists, Carol Sloane, returns to New York for a one-night only duo performance with her longtime pianist Bill Charlap on January 11th. Carol started her professional work as early as 1951 (she turns 80 next March) and worked with the Les and Larry Elgart Orchestra before she occasionally stood in…