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…
This new electric band led by trumpeter Terence Blanchard came together last October and then went on a two-week European tour. Terence himself said that he thought the audience at Milano’s Blue Note were a little shocked since most of them had expected an acoustic set. But then everything clicked and they received a standing…
August 27th to 30th will be this year’s dates for the Jazzfestival in Saalfelden in Austria. Among this year’s acts is Chris Nightcap‘s “Bigmouth” with Tony Malaby, Chris Cheek, Matt Mitchell, and Gerald Cleaver. The American/Brazilian project “Return the Tides: Ascension Suite & Holy Ghost” by Rob Mazurek and Black Cube SP also promises to…
Ola Onabule, the brilliant Soul and Jazz singer from the UK, has signed with Dot Time Records. His new album “It’s The Peace That Deafens” will be released in the fall. In the press release statement from the label, Ola is quoted as saying that “It’s The Peace That Deafens is as much a work…
Guitarist Dave Stryker met the legendary saxophonist Stanley Turrentine back in 1986 and has toured with him for over a decade and recorded with him twice. I vividly remember the day Stanley died, driving in my rental car from San Francisco to Monterey to visit the Monterey Jazz Festival when the news came on the…
The new album from singer Mario Biondi is a pretty mixed affair. Actually, it really doesn’t say anything anymore after the fourth track, except maybe for the Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick-penned and -produced “Another Kind Of Love”. I have always admired the Barry White-ness in his voice, so natural and without coming over like a cheap…
The second album by bassist Ben Williams could also be called “State Of The Art Vol. 2” relating to the name of his first one. There is some Miles Davis/Lonnie Liston Smith vibe on the funky opener “Black Villain Music” (more of that!), finest modern jazz with some great guitar playing by Matthew Stevens (who…
It is really a spectacular location – in the middle of huge cranes and machine halls on the grounds of the Blohm & Voss shipyard. You can only get there by walking through the tunnel which connects the harbour with the dockyard and which runs under the Elbe river. Shuttle buses are connecting the different…
It was a smooth show last night at the Blohm & Voss shipyards in Hamburg. The ECHO Jazz Awards 2015 were hosted by Gregory Porter (who also won one trophy and performed “Liquid Spirit” and “Brown Grass”) and Roger Cicero. Entertaining, no awkward lenghts, very good live performances, and short acceptance speeches from all winners…
I’m travelling to Hamburg tomorrow for this year’s ECHO Jazz Award celebrations. Today, awardees Branford Marsalis and Johanna Borchert together with jury member Karsten Jahnke, announced those artists who will give the laudations during the ceremony tomorrow. Among them are Klaus Doldinger, Pepe Lienhard, who served as musical director for Udo Jürgens for many years,…