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….
It was in the late 90s when I had an interview appointment with the great Sheila Jordan at her West Village apartment. Sheila came to Berlin several years later to perform and the last time I saw her was this past January at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge (see picture). In all those years, Sheila…
It is supposed to be a tribute to her father João Gilberto. Singer Bebel Gilberto‘s new album, simply called “João”, has just come out and it is a return to her basic musical memories. The instrumentation on this nicely subdued and stripped-back album is actually quiet comforting. However, her voice is not. She has now…
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…
We’re really looking forward to our first live concert after such a long time. Benny Sings will play at Gretchen in Berlin on October 24th. Expect a review on these pages. Meanwhile, our 2020 Album of the Year artist Jarrod Lawson is starting his European tour at the end of the month too. Check out…
New jazz festivals have been founded aplenty over the years, but Philadelphia now has a unique one: America’s First Queer Jazz Festival called OutBeat. The Festival is set to take place from Thursday, September 18th to Sunday, September 21st. Starting the festival is renowned pianist Fred Hersch who will be interviewed by music critic Nate…
There is the annual Django Reinhardt Jazz Festival in Samois-sur-Seine in France (June 22nd-26th) and there is the Django Reinhardt Festival in Hildesheim in Germany (July 1st and 2nd). And then there is the Django Reinhardt NY Festival which will celebrate its 17th season this year at Birdland (August 2nd-7th). Among the artists performing at…