It is going to be the first edition for Richard Williams, the new artistic director for the prestigious festival for the next three years. Like he says in the welcome notes, he wanted to present performers “…who have one thing in common: the desire to move forward.” So we’re moving again to the Haus der…
He opened with a blues (“Ray Blues”) and from the very first notes, you could tell that 83 year old Michel Legrand still has the guts and the ability to play the piano and lead a classic jazz trio with just bass and drums. On stage at Berlin’s Konzerthaus last night, the maestro also added…
Esperanza Spalding presented her alter ego Emily last night at Berlin’s UdK main hall. Her new show, called “Emily’s D+Evolution”, is part theater, part musical, and autobiographical. Emily is Esperanza’s middle name and D+Evolution refers to, according to an interview she did earlier this year with the Village Voice, “the nonsense notion that organized education is…
Singer Lizz Wright waited until the third song last night at Neukölln’s Heimathafen before she started to feature a song from her recently-released new album, “Freedom & Surrender”. As if she wanted to make sure that the audience recalled her signature, thick and dark and powerful vocals. So after her “Old Man” interpretation, one of the…
Even on his first sides, recorded for Decca in 1956 with the Ralph Burns Orchestra, you can hear traces of the typical Mark Murphy characteristics that would define his long career: On “Fascinating Rhythm”, done at fast tempo, you can clearly hear and understand every single word; Mark has the ability to delve so deep…
FAVO is a project that was founded in 2009 by soprano saxophonist Volker Schlott as a chamber music “group” with bass clarinetist Falk Breitkreuz. They interpret music by Astor Piazzolla, the Beatles, or Puccini and easily morph from classical to jazz and back. For their latest endeavor, the two get together with one of the…
It was a full hour after the scheduled time that the five-piece band of Saun & Starr, singers Saundra Williams and Starr Duncan Lowe, entered the stage at Bi Nuu to play a couple of soul tracks harking back to the 70s, circa early Philadelphia International Records. Trumpet and sax guaranteed some crisp and tight harmonic…
I went to the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on Friday. New artistic director Richard Williams talked to the press and the public about his first edition. But before he did, pianist Julia Kadel performed three outstanding solo pieces. The young German musician who was born in Berlin, released her first Blue Note Records album “Im…
Just shortly after the release of their new album “For Individuals Facing The Terror Of Cosmic Loneliness”, Stein Urheim and Mari Kvien Brunvoll played a cute “living room” concert at Lieschen Müller in Prenzlauer Berg. The café is not only known for its delicious tartes and cakes, but also for its weekly live music. And…
Ever since the release of the 2008 album “I Learned The Hard Way” by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, vocalists Saundra Williams and Starr Duncan Lowe remained in the background. During the ensuing years, the two singers were featured as opening acts to Jones shows and now, earlier this year, their debut album “Look Closer”…