His songs have this special quality of staying in your head for a long time. And he has the wit and humor in his songwriting that is something of a rare thing these days (“I’d Sleep With Your Cat But I’m Scared He Might Bite”). Add to this his virtuosity as a pianist. And voilà…
Trombonist Jeff Bradshaw, who has worked with Patti LaBelle, Kindred The Family Soul, or Jill Scott, and who released the wittily entitled “Bone Appetit” a couple of years ago to great acclaim (the album featured Maysa, Raheem DeVaughn, and Marsha Ambrosius), has assembled an all-star cast for one special night at the Kimmel Center for…
It is an incredibly sad week with so many of our good ones leaving us. Louis Johnson, one half of the Brothers Johnson, passed away yesterday at only 60 years old. My first encounter with his amazing slapping technique was with their hit song “Stomp”. But that wasn’t the only one of course. “Strawberry Letter…
He worked with Donald Byrd and the Mel Lewis Orchestra and as an artist, was influenced by the great Gil Evans. The saxophonist and arranger was artistic director for Blue Note Records and has rearranged the music of Prince, Carole King, the Beatles, and others for a Jazz orchestra. I had the privilege and honor…
“Playing By Ear” is the name of Bruce Lundvall‘s biography which came out last year, written by Dan Ouellette. And that’s what Bruce did when he started a marketing job at Columbia Records back in 1960. He was later responsible for signing acts like Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, and Wynton Marsalis and in…
Rhodes Ahead Vol. 1 was released by pianist Marc Cary in early 2000 and I’m still going back to that album with its amazing Rhodes and Moog sounds of “Making Love, Making Music” (destined to become a Fusion classic), the housey “Inside Yourself”, the dreamy “Home Comin’”, or my favorite from that album, the irresistible…
I have always admired the voice of singer Victor Fields who was born in New York and currently lives in Oakland. His warm and soulful timbre is gracing five records up until now and his latest is dedicated to the great Lou Rawls, himself a one-of-a-kind singer with a distinctive baritone who had an extremely…
Gina took a couple of days off and visited her friend Baldur, an Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. She is now back in Berlin and ready for the next adventures. Coming up here on these pages: reviews of new records by Ben Williams, Julia Hülsmann, Celia Berk, Shelby Lynne, Victor Fields, Perry Beekman, Bugge Wesseltoft,…
This year’s ECHO Jazz Award celebration will be held in Hamburg on May 28th. The two hosts for the event will be Gregory Porter and Roger Cicero. And there will be a lot of live music on stage: Stacey Kent, Michael Wollny & Vincent Peirani, Gregory Porter, Branford Marsalis, Klaus Doldinger’s Passport, Nils Wülker and…
The album “Songs In The Key Of Life” shaped and formed my taste in music. The songs on the album were unlike anything I had heard before and ever since. It was on my wish list for Christmas 1980. I was fourteen years old. The album was already out for four years and it was…