The highly anticipated show by the SOS Band last night at Paradiso in Amsterdam was truly remarkable. Not only because the two singers who had replaced the almost iconic Mary Davis several years ago, really delivered, but because the songs still sound really fresh after all these decades. Singer and trumpeter Abdul Ra’oof, the only…
Zacchae’us Paul, the multi-instrumentalist who released his debut album “Jazz Money” in the summer of 2024, is coming to Berlin for a rare performance on August 19th. His highly entertaining, very unique album, executive-produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, features an ingenious mix of hip-hop, jazz, gospel, Caribbean rhythms and so much more. With guest artists…
Now firmly established on Europe’s jazz festival circuit, this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival will run from November 14th to 23rd. Once again, global stars and emerging talent can be heard in various locations throughout the city. And that’s part of the fun of this festival: you get to see so many different parts of…
Coming up this fall, one of the most important jazz festivals which is now firmly established in the festival circuit, Enjoy Jazz will be back for its 27th edition. With over 20.000 visitors and journalists from around the world, exclusive venues will be in Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Ludwigshafen again. The festival will run from October…
Making a stop at Amsterdam’s Paradiso on his European tour, José James more or less had a homerun here. His live album which he released last year, was recorded right here at this wonderful venue. The packed crowd cheered the band up, sang along, and simply just had a good time. With band members BIGYUKI…
For the final day of this year’s festival, I was in for a few surprises. After a beer with my friend and colleague Serge, I went to see South London based singer Odeal who was born in Germany and raised in Spain, the UK, and Nigeria. And this nomadic life probably has more than an…
One of the highlights of this year’s festival so far was the performance of South African pianist Nduduzu Makhathini and his trio who played at the Madeira hall on Saturday afternoon. Together with bassist Dalisu Ndlazi and Cuban drummer Lukmil Pérez Herrera, this 75-minute set was deeply spiritual, soulful, and full of sweet surprises. Mostly…
So here we are again at this monster festival. This is the 49th edition of North Sea Jazz, with more than 150 acts on 13 stages and around 70.000 annual visitors. I started out with Jamila Woods, a singer, songwriter and poet from Chicago whose album “Water Made Us” (2023) made some noise when it…
The Dutch jazz scene has always been a pretty vibrant one, as documented over the past decades at the North Sea Jazz Festival, which begins next week Friday. So it is only reasonable to also have a festival which exclusively dedicates its programme to jazz artists from the Netherlands. The Orange Jazz Days, staged at…
It’s been four long years since the release of “Private Space”, the brilliant, five-paw rated LP by Durand Jones & The Indications. Singer and drummer Aaron Frazer also released his second solo album during this period, the wonderful “Into The Blue”, in 2024. And so here are the “Flowers”, ten new tracks plus a short…