I’ve waited a bit with this review because there was something in the air after the first listen. And one of the wonderful things about this solo piano album is that there is so much more to explore with each new listen. There is this profound aura of beauty surrounding the 18-track album by pianist…
So when Madison McFerrin told the audience about her brandnew Christmas tune last Saturday, she said that she was inspired by Mariah Carey who keeps on topping the charts every year since her Xmas “classic” “All I Want For Christmas Is You” came out and earning 2.6 million Dollars on average. Each year. On this…
There we are again: Too Slow To Disco is back with another wonderful compilation, the second in the Yacht Soul series. R&B and soul artists covering the songbooks of their white contemporaries. Starting out with the 1973 Mel & Tim track “Keep The Faith” from their self-titled Stax album. A song written by Mark James,…
Stacey Kent just released an album of songs which she has performed live over the years, but never recorded. During three recording sessions, she has come up with 11 songs, two each by Michel Legrand and Jacques Brel, three new compositions by her husband Jim Tomlinson, Kazuo Ishiguro and Cliff Goldmacher, two standards and a…
Saxophonist Joshua Redman released his first album for Blue Note back in September. Called “Where Are We”, it is also his first where he has worked with a singer. Gabrielle Cavassa is featured on most of the tracks on the album where all of the songs refer to a city or state in the US….
I still remember my surprise when I first heard singer Maya Delilah on the second version of the Blue Note compilation series “Blue Note Re:Imagined”. It came out in September of last year and featured Maya with her brilliant take on Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”. Since then, she has released some beautiful folk-induced singles like…
Gina’s favorite singer José James returns with a fantastic new song, preceding his album “1978”, due out on his own Rainbow Blonde Records on April 5th. With production nods to Quincy Jones and Leon Ware, José has worked with Brazilian rising star Xênia França and Congolose/Belgian rapper Baloji. His band on the album also includes…
Lizz Wright is back with new music. She has just released a cover version of Candi Staton’s “Sweet Feeling”, which Candi recorded for her debut album “I’m Just A Prisoner” in 1970. Lizz’ version is a wonderful, bluesy treat with church-like organ and a relaxing drum beat. Her voice is a wonder, again. The track…
Brazilian pop star Ed Motta is back with his 14th studio album. Inspired by movies (George Cukor, Jacques Tati) and old TV series (“Barnaby Jones”, “The Streets Of San Francisco”, “Colombo”), his psychedelic soul, as he himself calls his music, has reached another level. Recorded in Brazil (his main band), Detroit (brass) and LA (singers),…
UK-based indie/neo soul chanteuse Natasha Watts is back with her fourth album “Music Is My Life”. The singer and songwriter, who had huge success back in 2009 with Cool Million, opens her 11-track album with “I Am Me”, a shining and sophisticated soul number which already had remix treatment by Atjazz. She follows it up…