Two years after his “Deadpan Love” debut, Joshua Karpeh, or Cautious Clay, returns with his Blue Note debut “KARPEH”. The Cleveland-born multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer, has come up with a genre-defying album which spans everything from jazz to indie pop and beyond. Cautious can be heard on the album’s 15 tracks on flute, bass…
There was a time period from the late 70s to the late 80 when looking at album credits was at least as important as the music of the main artist. Background vocalists were especially important to me when picking up records from formerly unknown artists. Paulette McWilliams was singing lead and background vocals on albums…
New York-based singer, songwriter and pianist Jon Regen has come up with “Satisfied Mind”, his most well-rounded set which has become a highly entertaining 10-piece since its release on July 11th. I’m sitting in our tiny little house in the Dutch countryside in the middle of nowhere, listening to “Son Rise” (Jon is father of…
Combining hip-hop beats with neo-soul, funk, and all sorts of soul, LA-based producer, songwriter, and Grammy Award winning performer Shafiq Husayn has come up with a brilliant melange on “So Gold”, four years after his equally fantastic “The Loop”. Collaborating with The Dove Society, a collective of artists, musicians, and creative-minded individuals located in the…
40 years into his career, singer, percussionist and guitarist Nanny Assis recently released “Rovanio” (which is his real first name) on In+Out Records. The St. Petersburg Orchestra and Randy Brecker on flugelhorn open up the subtly swinging “No Agora”, an excellent introduction to Nanny’s Brazilian-flavored influences. Ron Carter originally wrote the tune (as “Mr. Bow…
Tom Findlay (of Groove Armada) and James Alexander Bright have finally released “Everything Is Slow” on Athens of the North, their debut album after teasing it with several singles in the past months. The ultra sexy “Slow Dance” is featured here as well (it already came out in late 2021). I think this is the…
It was during Samora Pinderhughes‘ set when the thunderstorm hit. You could hear the thunder inside the hall while he was just announcing his next song. Samora played tunes from his formidable album “Grief” and he had the pleasure of working with the North Sea String Quartet which happened to be special guest for several…
It was even hotter on Saturday than the day before and there were a lot of weather warnings on and off stage. But I had a good shot of freshly squeazed juice out of spinach, celery, fennel, lemon, and cucumber which easily got me through the day. Newcomer Jalen Ngonda opened the Congo tent in…
So here we are again. North Sea Jazz in Rotterdam has started on a sweltering day. My first show of the festival was a classic: pianist Kenny Barron, who recently turned 80 and who remembered the days at The Hague and couldn’t really tell when he first started to play at North Sea, played a…
Italian jazz artist, composer, remixer, producer, and DJ Nicola Conte has just released his latest album called “Umoja”. The guy who presented Rosalia De Souza back in 2002 with “Garota Moderna” and who also released an album on Blue Note, the still brilliant “Other Directions” in 2004, has come up with a pretty sophisticated, both…