The 28-year old Norwegian bassist and singer Ellen Andrea Wang is currently on tour with her new album “Diving”. It reminds me a lot of the genre-crossing Becca Stevens in her compositions which can be at times jazzy, then again more rock-oriented, singer/songwriter-like or on the folky side. Ellen recently joined drummer Manu Katché‘s band…
Portuguese fado singer Mariza releases her new album “Mundo” this week and will showcase her new material on a tour through the US, Canada, and Europe. I had the pleasure of meeting her in Berlin last August and we talked about her new album and the brilliant work of her producer Javier Limón. The new…
German singer and guitarist Torsten Goods who studied at the New School in New York, has come up with a strong new album that focuses on soul songs and spirituals and puts him clearly in the George Benson category, most evident on the Oscar Brown Jr. tune “Brother, Where Are You” where he amazingly sounds…
There is clearly no shortage of good jazz festivals the world over – Germany for example has dozens of high-quality events in all parts of the country; from January to December, you can tour the country and find a lot of worthy live jazz events. But I think it is always worth a mention when…
After the disappointing album with Lady Gaga which went to Number 1 and won a Grammy Award, Tony is back with a set of songs from one of the most important composers of the Great American Songbook: Jerome Kern. His impeccable swing and sure-fire intonation still brilliantly intact at 89 years old, Tony is accompanied…
Alto saxophonist Phil Woods died on Tuesday in Pennsylvania from emphysema. He was 83. The winner of the 1956 Downbeat International new star division, the Springfield, Massachusetts born Woods spent many years in Paris where he played at the Cameleon club in April, 1968 with George Gruntz, Henri Texier, and Daniel Humair: Phil Woods and…
Drummer Kendrick Scott, who turned 35 last summer, is probably best known for his work with Terence Blanchard. But he also made a lasting contribution with his own group Oracle which released its debut album almost 10 years ago and which featured Robert Glasper, Aaron Parks, Lionel Loueke, and Gretchen Parlato. He is now back…
Texas-born saxophonist and bassist Wilton Felder formed The Crusaders together with Joe Sample and Stix Hooper. Together, they became one of the most revered jazz fusion groups of the 60s and 70s, with several major international hits, like the immortal “Street Life” (1979). But Wilton was also a sought-after studio musician and played on hundreds…
German jazz and pop singer Roger Cicero, who has worked with the Horst Jankowski Trio in the past, has come up with a new album with his quartet that has been working together for about two years. Maik Schott on piano, Hervé Jeanne on bass, and Matthias Meusel on drums accompany the singer on a…
It really came as a surprise when I found out that singer Karrin Allyson would choose the songs of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein as the theme for her first Motéma Music album. At the end of the day, hasn’t the Rodgers & Hammerstein songbook been recorded already with the definitive versions? Wasn’t Karrin more…