As this year’s outdoor and garden season comes to a close, we’ve moved back in to our apartment in Prenzlauer Berg which, I have to admit, also does have its charme (yes, a real kitchen, bathrooms, big TV, even central heating!). Gina though was a bit reluctant at first since she really enjoys being outside…
Scope is a new festival presenting Finnish musicians in various, hip Berlin-Kreuzberg venues. The people responsible for the extremely successful XJazz Festival, now in its fourth year and scheduled for May 3-7, 2017, have chosen a lot of future and some established Finnish musicians to perform. Together with We Jazz Helsinki, an event first held…
The German label Pirouet Records will release two more albums before it will take a break after 13 years. Ralph Bürklin, the label founder and manager, said in a statement that the label started out by releasing great pianists and that he wants to wrap it up with a piano-led album, too. Frank Kimbrough‘s “Solstice”…
In its fourth year now, the JazzKorea Festival edition 2016 will bring four Korean jazz bands to Europe, with the opening concerts scheduled in Berlin on November, 17th. Asian Scholars is a young group of Korean musicians under the leadership of Yechan Kim who is using traditional, Korean instruments like the piri (woodwind) in his…
When Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson were ready to record the epochal “Thriller” LP, Quincy called the best of the best, among them, songwriter Rod Temperton. In his autobiography “Q”, Quincy says that Rod was “one of the best songwriters who ever lived, with the melodic and contrapuntal gifts and instincts of a classical composer…He…
I still can’t believe the sudden passing of legendary producer, writer, musician, and author Kashif on September 25th. I have grown up with his solo records and all the great songs and albums he wrote and produced for other artists. I wanted to share this article from December 21st which was published on this site…
Toronto-based guitarist Galen Weston and his band are currently touring Europe with their acclaimed debut album “Plugged In”. In addition to his ten originals on the album, Galen with his yellow Stratocaster also plays arrangements of Keith Jarrett‘s “Country”, and the standard “Like Someone In Love” by Jimmy van Heusen. You can hear a lot of…
In 1962, Toots Thielemans wrote “Bluesette” which has become a standard now. He worked on many film scores, has recorded dozens of albums, has played with Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker and George Shearing in the early 50s and received countless awards. I first heard him on the 1981 Quincy Jones LP “The Dude” on “Velas”,…
One of the newer contemporary jazz festivals in Berlin in recent years is called Serious Series. Contemporary jazz as in modern, avantgarde, and experimental. This year’s line-up features musicians from Germany, the UK, Sweden, and Finland. The festival starts with a duo concert of two of Germany’s most promising, interesting, and imaginative performers: Christopher Dell on…
I remember a concert at Cologne’s Subway club back in 1990 with an elegantly dressed Bobby Hutcherson who seemed to echo his taste in clothes with what he was playing. Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to dwell in a lot more concerts by this master musician. I first came across his music on…