And so the trend continues: HMV reports that they were selling up to one turntable a minute in the weeks before Christmas and now Amazon follows suit with news that their best selling audio product of last year was – drum roll – the turntable! Even though the seasonal hit was a relatively simple Jensen…
The folks at Real Side Records did it again. Number 3 was reviewed on these pages in early March and here comes Volume 4. The 20-piece collection once again focuses on rare and obscure cuts mainly from the 70s, but also some late 60s gems and a couple of newer tracks. The one song that…
The angel on her shoulder must have been gone. In her autobiography, “Angel On My Shoulder”, released in 2000, Natalie Cole said that there had been several instances in her life where she thought she would die. “Each time, someone had intervened when I otherwise should have been dead. Make that Someone with a capital “S”….
She liked long walks in Central Park and was very proud of her “Cole Porter” view in her Manhattan apartment. A singer’s singer. Equally potent in the Great American Songbook as in contemporary material. Her love for Brazilian music was endless. The best songwriters were sending her their material so that she could give it her…
“Fresh Horizons” is the theme for the Jazz Connect Conference in New York next month. Held at Saint Peter’s Church in Manhattan on January 14th and 15th, it once again brings together the international jazz community for workshops, sessions, and get-togethers. I was on a panel titled “Spolight on Germany” in 2014 and the 2016…
Independent soul singer and songwriter Trish Andrews from Charlotte, North Carolina, has come up with her second album after her 2008 debut “These Five Words”. Her new one “Love Story” continues her sexy melange of Jazz, Soul, and R&B, wrapped in silky smooth, sometimes stunning performances. The solid 11-track collection starts off with the catchy “Feed…
We’re back from our annual Xmas holiday and enjoying the sunny weather here in Berlin where the city is preparing for its grand 2015 finale. Over a million visitors are expected to join the major festivities at the Brandenburg Gate on New Year’s eve. Gina will make sure not to even come close to the party,…
On her special day, Gina underwent a great wellness treatment and she was treated to some pig’s ear. Thank you all for your wonderful messages and greetings – she woofs back at cha!
Kashif, responsible for dozens of timeless soul songs of the 80s (Evelyn “Champagne” King, Melba Moore, Dionne Warwick, George Benson, Howard Johnson, Meli’sa Morgan, Whitney Houston) releases an expanded version of his “Who Loves You” CD which originally came out in 1998. The new disc comes with five bonus tracks, three of which had been…
Gina thinks that the posters for next year’s Berlinale are especially beautiful. And it promises to be another exciting affair, with “Hail, Caesar!”, the new Ethan and Joel Cohen movie opening the festival. It features a stellar cast, with Ralph Fiennes, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, and Scarlett Johannsen, among others. Jury president Meryl Streep won’t have an…