Billie Holiday at 100
Listening to Billie Holiday today and forever. April 7th, 1915 – July 17th, 1959.
17th jazznojazz Festival in Zurich
More and more Jazz festivals are releasing their schedules for the season and beyond. There is a nice and sympathetic festival in Zurich at the end of October which will stage its 17th edition this year. The jazznojazz festival will take place October 28th to 31st at the Gessnerallee and the ZKB Club at the…
Artist in Residence for Detroit Jazz Festival: Pat Metheny
This year’s Detroit Jazz Festival, the world’s largest free Jazz Festival, will take place September 4th-7th on four stages and with more than 100 performances. Just recently the artist in residence for the 36th edition has been announced: Pat Metheny can be seen in different collaborations. As the festival’s ambassador, he will headline the second…
Herb Alpert at 80
Over 72 million records sold, 28 albums making the Billboard charts, co-founder with Jerry Moss of A&M Records, nine Grammy Awards, a new album last fall (“In The Mood”), and a recent 12-day run at New York’s Café Carlyle – Herb Alpert celebrates his 80th birthday today. The last time I saw him perform live…
Remembering Teddy Pendergrass on his Birthday
It would have been his 65th birthday today. While writing this, I am listening to his brilliant 1988 LP “Joy” which sums up the amazing artistry of Teddy Pendergrass. Eight classic tracks, mostly mid-tempo swayers with extraordinary background vocals and tight production. Even though the album was recorded in the late 80s when bizarre keyboard…
Lizz Wright is back in the Recording Studio
The last time I saw the amazing singer was in a duo setting with Raul Midón at New York’s Highline Ballroom. And her last album is the 2010 release “Fellowship”. It’s about time that Lizz Wright is coming up with something new don’t you think. Concord Records announced yesterday that she now has signed with…
Natalia Mateo – Polish Singer presenting her “Heart Of Darkness”
Here comes a singer who defies categorization, who doesn’t want to sing the usual standards because “everything has been said”. That’s what she told me during our meeting on a late Sunday afternoon in a Kreuzberg café. But she does include one or the other better known song in her repertoire, albeit not really what…
First Jazz Festival Esslingen
International stars and members of the young German Jazz scene are among the artists programmed for the first ever Jazz Festival in Esslingen, near Stuttgart. On two full weekends there will be concerts, workshops, or a Jazz & Dining special. The Festival will run June 19th-21st and from June 26th to the 28th. The first…
Top Model Gina
Gina is getting ready here for her stroll through the Prenzlauer Berg Green Market where she usually collects her groceries, fish and meat for the week. She recently changed her diet to fresh meat and additional carrots, salad, cucumber, or parsnip with a dose of oatmeal and a little cotton cheese thrown into the mix….
Pop Bliss in Neukölln: Rumer
There were many moments during singer Rumer‘s show on Thursday night at Neukölln’s Heimathafen where I was wondering if this voice was really coming from a human being. She sings like an angel, crystal-clear, with perfect pitch and flawless intonation and she writes songs in timeless and majestic Burt Bacharach style. Rumer is currently on…