One of the most important trumpeters on the European scene, Gerard Presencer, at age 18, played the trumpet on US3’s groundbreaking success record “Cantaloop”, the remake of Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island”. Since then, he has released several records, one of which is the 2003 release “Chasing Reality” on ACT Music. Gerard has also played with Charlie Watts…
At home in Norway, pianist Eivind Austad is a household name in the young jazz scene in Bergen. Eivind is originally from Trondheim, way up north, but has made Bergen his home for the past 20 years. With “Moving” (out March 18th), his trio is now ready for an international career as well. And you…
Australian producer Inkswel has come up with an eclectic new solo effort which has a lot of those cherished 80s production sounds to it. 80s soul, hip hop, r&b, house, and even disco all find a home here on this very entertaining set. Except maybe for the hip-hoppy rap “Smarter”, which features Tableek and Misumami,…
New Orleans-native Herlin Riley has played with Ahmad Jamal in the 80s and on a lot of recordings by Wynton Marsalis. The drummer is also a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and played on albums by George Benson, Harry Connick Jr., Cassandra Wilson, Marcus Roberts, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and a lot of…
In 2007, trumpeter Paolo Fresu (Italy), accordionist Richard Galliano (France), and pianist Jan Lundgren (Sweden) released their first “Mare Nostrum” album to great critical acclaim. Over 150 concerts and nine years later, the three musicians have finally come up with the second installment of their working group: “Mare Nostrum II” will be released this Friday. The…
It is a sinister black & white movie shot in 70s Czech Republic. Olga is bullied by everybody: her mother who won’t tell her who her father is, the other children, the inmates of a boarding school. She thinks that everyone is picking on her without any real reason. So she flees into her own world,…
There are many little highlights in the Coen Brothers’ “Hail, Caesar!”, which opened the 66th Berlinale last night (out of competition). My favorite is a tiny little scene where Frances McDormand plays a film cutter and almost strangles herself. Josh Brolin plays a movie executive who has to come to grips with various problems, many of them…
South African musician and producer Greg Dean, who lives in New York, had already released the first single from his album last October; the soulful title track features the brilliant Jarrod Lawson and Chantae Cann on vocals. So here is the full-length album, an 11-tracker brimming with soul, fancy production, and superb guest vocalists. It…
UK-based trio GoGo Penguin had a surprisingly fast start after their last album “V2.0”, touring the world’s clubs and festivals, fully using the momentum and finally landing a three-album deal with Blue Note Records. This is the first of those three albums and the jazz-meets-electronica moniker is only partly true I think. And the hype…
This is Brazilian singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist Ed Motta‘s 12th album, produced by Kamau Kenyatta (producer for Gregory Porter and an upcoming project by Detroit singer Kathy Kosins) in Los Angeles. The similarity to both Donald Fagen and Frank McComb, especially in the opening midtempo, swaying track “Captain’s Refusal”, is enormous. Ed and Kamau came…