Millions of people are out on the streets this weekend to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. Gina of course was among the crowd – she walked all the way through Mauerpark and back trying to catch the balloons….
August 7th would have been Rahsaan Roland Kirk‘s 80th birthday. The original and highly influential saxophonist who was probably best known for his ability to play various instruments simultaneously, is feted at San José’s 3rd Annual Rahsaanathon at Café Stritch. His biographer John Kluth will open the celebrations when he joins New York-based baritone saxophonist…
I came across an interview in The Vulture magazine, published yesterday, where saxophone giant Sonny Rollins was in a reflective mood with interviewer David Marchese who talked to him on the phone. “…my life has been in a reflective mode for some years now…It’s gotten more that way since I became unable to blow my…
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…
So Gina took some days off and when we came back, we were delighted to see this year’s Enjoy Jazz Festival line-up. The Festival for the Mannheim-Ludwigshafen-Heidelberg area (Rhein-Neckar) runs from October 2nd until November 14th and features – again – a lot of acts and something for everyone. The opening concert will feature South…
Brazilian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and arranger Joyce Moreno was in town yesterday. The legendary artist, whose first album “Joyce” from 1968 was recently re-released, and who is clearly one of the most important figures in the Bossa Nova, Samba, and MPB scenes of the last 50+ years, performed parts of her lengthy repertoire last night…
One of our favorite pianists around, Kiefer, who studied with Kenny Burrell at UCLA, has come up with a new track “Dreamer”, released today. It sounds like a perfect addition and progression to his fantastic work on albums like “Superbloom” (2019) and “When There’s Love Around” (2021). Check it out here: https://kiefer.bandcamp.com/track/dreamer