The angel on her shoulder must have been gone. In her autobiography, “Angel On My Shoulder”, released in 2000, Natalie Cole said that there had been several instances in her life where she thought she would die. “Each time, someone had intervened when I otherwise should have been dead. Make that Someone with a capital “S”….
She liked long walks in Central Park and was very proud of her “Cole Porter” view in her Manhattan apartment. A singer’s singer. Equally potent in the Great American Songbook as in contemporary material. Her love for Brazilian music was endless. The best songwriters were sending her their material so that she could give it her…
“Fresh Horizons” is the theme for the Jazz Connect Conference in New York next month. Held at Saint Peter’s Church in Manhattan on January 14th and 15th, it once again brings together the international jazz community for workshops, sessions, and get-togethers. I was on a panel titled “Spolight on Germany” in 2014 and the 2016…
We’re back from our annual Xmas holiday and enjoying the sunny weather here in Berlin where the city is preparing for its grand 2015 finale. Over a million visitors are expected to join the major festivities at the Brandenburg Gate on New Year’s eve. Gina will make sure not to even come close to the party,…
On her special day, Gina underwent a great wellness treatment and she was treated to some pig’s ear. Thank you all for your wonderful messages and greetings – she woofs back at cha!
Gina thinks that the posters for next year’s Berlinale are especially beautiful. And it promises to be another exciting affair, with “Hail, Caesar!”, the new Ethan and Joel Cohen movie opening the festival. It features a stellar cast, with Ralph Fiennes, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, and Scarlett Johannsen, among others. Jury president Meryl Streep won’t have an…
One of my favorite singers is Carol Sloane. She recorded a Frank Sinatra tribute album in 1996 called “The Songs Sinatra Sang” and in the liner notes to the album, we learn that she was an avid radio listener while growing up in Providence, Rhode Island. “Every one of his albums was something to look…
One of the earliest, and certainly one of the best, festivals of the year is the Winter Jazzfest in New York. Manhattan’s Greenwich Village will once again be the heart and soul of live jazz on 12 different stages. I remember last year when I attended the festival that it was necessary to decide to either just…
I think it’s great that Jazz is represented in the Best Children’s Album category this year – thanks to the wonderful album “How Great Can This Day Be” by singer Lori Henriques (see also my review from January 8th): http://www.ginalovesjazz.com/lori-henriques-catches-ginas-attention-on-new-album The 58th Grammy Awards show will run on February 15th and today, the nominees have…
When Jazz Institute Berlin director Peter Weniger and journalist Wolf Kampmann spreaded word that they want to organize a concert for the Flüchtlingsrat Berlin e.V., which supports a vast number of refugees coming to the city, the reaction of the Berlin musicians was overwhelming. And so, the concert which is called “We Insist! Solidarität mit…