Chicago-based singer Elaine Dame‘s cover of Donna Summer’s disco classic “Last Dance” is worth the trip alone here. The way she phrases the first words is simply stunning. And she keeps the vulnerability and the strength and the longing of the song for a total of six and a half minutes. She tackles the disco…
We have lost three major major voices of soul music in the last several days. This morning, the iconic Roberta Flack passed away en route to a hospital. The cause was cardiac arrest. Just a couple of weeks ago, she celebrated her 85th birthday. Just last Friday, Gwen McCrae passed on at age 81. She…
We’re still playing his amazing tracks from last year’s “1978” LP when singer José James just announced his next album “1978: Revenge Of The Dragon”, slated for release on his own Rainbow Blonde Records on May 9th. The first single, a tribute to Erykah Badu, whom he calls “one of the greatest living artists of…
Latvian saxophonist and composer Toms Rudzinskis received the annual Latvian Music Records Award for Best Jazz Album of 2024 for “Interception”. The album on Jersika Records, run by Mareks Ameriks, who also produces most of the label’s albums, came out last October and is now finally available on vinyl too. There is this special dynamic…
Trumpeter Brandon Woody is set to release his Blue Note debut “For The Love Of It All” on May 9th. The Baltimore-based artist’s six original tracks will be available on colored vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and all digital platforms. The first single off the album, “Real Love, Pt.1”, out since yesterday, sounds exceptionally promising. Brandon…
Tunisian oud player and composer Anouar Brahem, with his brilliant mix of Arab classical music, Jazz, and Folk, will play three exclusive concerts in Germany as part of the successful JazzNights series, organised by Karsten Jahnke and now running for 25 years. Anouar has released his first album on the legendary German-based ECM label back…
After two brilliant albums on Edition Records, “Midnight Shelter” (2021) and “Still Life” (2022), both with pianist Romain Collin (who also just released his five-paw reviewed “Dust” LP), singer and songwriter Sachal Vasandani has moved on to Patron Saint International for “Best Life Now”, his seventh album. Produced by the great drummer Nate Smith (we…
Finnish soul singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer Bobby Oroza was in town yesterday. On a pretty cold Sunday night, Bobby played music from his two albums “This Love” (2019) and “Get On The Otherside” (2022), both released on Big Crown Records, the Brooklyn-based label which was started back in 2016 by Leon Michels of El…
French pianist Romain Collin, a graduate of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, has released his first solo album last month. Entitled “Dust”, the album came out on the UK-based Edition Records, where Romain already released two wonderful albums with singer Sachal Vasandani and which is one of the most reliable and interesting labels around….
LA-based ASHRR, consisting of Ethan Allen, Josh Charles, and Steven Davis, released their second album “Sunshine Low” on 20:20 Vision last September. Their not easily describable sound, a mix of Electronic, Alternative Soul, 80s New Wave, and Indie dance, was a pretty mixed affair on those 14 tracks. Enter Ron Trent, the now almost legendary…