The third album by tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis explores the hip-hop period of the late 80s/early 90s when bands like A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, or Pete Rock & CL Smooth were big. What he tries here is to emulate the style and technique of the rappers of that time and translate it…
Ever since her Grammy-winning album “I Am Shelby Lynne” (1999), I’ve been following her career right on to her latest “I Can’t Imagine” which came out last month. “But Blue Is How I Paint Myself Today” she sings in the opening track “Paper Van Gogh” and even though most of her songs actually tend to…
It has become a nice tradition for LA-based singer, songwriter, composer, producer Chris Bennett to visit Berlin for a week in the summer months. She’s been doing that since about 20 years now and she will be back this week for four consecutive nights at the A-Trane with two sets each night. Chris, who started…
The man who invented free jazz music with his groundbreaking 1960 album “Free Jazz”, a controversial saxophonist and composer who released many innvovative records over several decades like “This Is Our Music” (1961, notable at least for the brilliant “Beauty Is A Rare Thing”), “Science Fiction” (1971, with poetry recitations by David Henderson and vocals…
The Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, whose solo piano Xmas album “It’s Snowing On My Piano” is the commercially most successful album for the Munich-based ACT Music label, has gathered some of his friends for his latest recording into Bugges Room, his own recording studio in Oslo, and Nublu in New York. The electronic album which…
New York’s Vision Festival for Free Jazz, Dance, Visual Art, and Poetry, celebrates its 20th year from July 5th-12th. In various special concerts, there will be a lot of experimental, free, avantgarde, whatever-you-want-to-call-it Jazz at the Historic Judson Memorial Church at the beautiful Washington Square South. The opening night performances are dedicated to the AACM,…
One of my all-time favorite records is a duo album by the magnificent Irene Kral and the equally brilliant Alan Broadbent from 1974 called “Where Is Love?”. So I was pretty curious to listen to Lauren White‘s new album which was inspired by the recordings of Irene Kral. Lauren is a Los Angeles-based vocalist performing…
One of the most consistent R&B/Funk bands of the 70s and 80s, ConFunkShun, is back with its first album after the 1986 release “Burnin’ Love” (there was an additional live album in 1996) which had been recorded without songwriter and singer Felton Pilate who, together with Michael Cooper and Louis McCall, was part of the…
Lee Morgan, the trumpet champ from Philadelphia with his fiery and exuberant style, is celebrated by Terell Stafford on his latest album. Even though Morgan died at the young age of 33 (he was shot dead by a woman friend in a New York nightclub), his output remains vast and influential. His early style is…
It’s festival season in Europe and each year, there are more and more coming up – even in the smallest cities and towns you’ve never heard of. One of the biggest and oldest celebrates its 40th anniversary this year: the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam. I’ve been visiting this one since the late 80s…