Now that he was strangely left out in the latest Grammy Awards “In Memoriam” segment to make way for pretty dull and lacklustre performances by so-called top acts, the one and only Mark Murphy will be celebrated on March 14th, which would have been his 84th birthday. Mark died last year on October 22nd and…
New Orleans-native Herlin Riley has played with Ahmad Jamal in the 80s and on a lot of recordings by Wynton Marsalis. The drummer is also a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and played on albums by George Benson, Harry Connick Jr., Cassandra Wilson, Marcus Roberts, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and a lot of…
In 2007, trumpeter Paolo Fresu (Italy), accordionist Richard Galliano (France), and pianist Jan Lundgren (Sweden) released their first “Mare Nostrum” album to great critical acclaim. Over 150 concerts and nine years later, the three musicians have finally come up with the second installment of their working group: “Mare Nostrum II” will be released this Friday. The…
At the end of “Miles Ahead”, writer, producer and actor Don Cheadle has various artists, both ex-accompanists and the new generation, celebrate a sort of comeback for the trumpet meister: musical director of the movie Robert Glasper, Antonio Sanchez, Esperanza Spalding, Kendrick Scott, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter all play a short part in this…
It’s really funny and interesting: all the scenes where a lot of blood was involved in all of the movies I saw at this year’s Berlin Film Festival so far had the same problem: they were not authentic. Whereas other viewers had awkward feelings because of what was going on on screen, I either had to…
The more interesting and fulfilling movies on day 5 of this year’s Berlinale were once again programmed in the Panorama section. Rebecca Miller‘s “Maggie’s Plan” is about 30-something single woman Maggie (Greta Gerwig) from Brooklyn (craft bier and Bavarian pickles say hello) who wants to have her first child but after a series of bad…
And finally there is a really strong German movie in the competition of this year’s Berlin Film Festival. And it is the only German movie participating. And it deserves at least a prize for best actress. Julia Jentsch is going through hell and back with playing Astrid, a young mother who finds out that her…
It’s funny that some people ask, “Excuse me is this seat free?”, while others prefer to use the “excuse me is this seat taken” variation. It is also interesting to note that there are many people, at least in the press screenings, who always want the same seats. Still others are trying everything they can…
On Friday, “Midnight Special” by Jeff Nichols had its premiere at this year’s Berlinale. Alton is a child with extraordinary abilities who has to wear special glasses. He can only live at night. His father tries to protect him from a religious cult in a US province town and at the same time from the…
It is a sinister black & white movie shot in 70s Czech Republic. Olga is bullied by everybody: her mother who won’t tell her who her father is, the other children, the inmates of a boarding school. She thinks that everyone is picking on her without any real reason. So she flees into her own world,…