At first I thought oh no not another version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and “Amazing Grace”. But then after I listened to the first few bars of the opener “Truth In Blue”, she already had me convinced. Alicia Olatuja’s strong, robust and yet crystal clear voice had changed my mind. Her debut album “Timeless”…
Pianist Jerry Léonide is from Mauritius, a place not necessarily associated with Jazz. But there has always been a pretty active and lively music scene and yet, the young Léonide decided to move to Paris at age 17. Léonide says of his home turf: “Mauritius is a country of many different ethnic influences and that’s…
Esther Phillips was one of the first female superstars of R&B. She had seven Top 10 hits on the R&B charts in 1950 alone. In 1972, Creed Taylor took her to his newly created Kudu Records label, a subsidiary of his main CTI Records. On Kudu, Grover Washington, Jr. recorded his first highly acclaimed albums….
Recently, while walking with a friend in the beautiful park of the Schloss Charlottenburg, Gina spotted a squirrel which ran up a big tree. Within seconds, Gina was up the tree as well. It didn’t take long until we had a bunch of people watching this scenario taking photos and videos while shaking their heads…
Bert Noglik, the artistic director for the Berlin Jazzfest, now in his third year, loves irritations, as he said last night during the press conference where the anniversary edition was presented. And so, there actually are a lot of irritating moments, at least on paper, but I’m sure on stage as well, when you look…
Did you make your plans for 2015 yet? If not, maybe these two calendars will help you make at least some of them. Sven Thielmann produced two beautiful calendars with pictures of pianists and saxophonists he has made over the years. “Jazz Saxophonisten 2015” is not only a beautiful work of art for jazz enthusiasts, but…
For the fifth year, Hamburg will have its Überjazz Festival in late October this year. The weekend of October 24th to 26th, Hamburg’s Kampnagel will have four stages under one roof with a very diverse program me which I’m sure will attract a lot of out-of-towners as well. Blue Note Records is celebrating its 75th…
The release of the new Diana Krall album, “Wallflower”, has been postponed worldwide to February 2015. Krall has recorded her newest CD with producer and Verve chief David Foster. The album features songs from the 60s and 70s like “California Dreamin’”, the Eagles’ “I Can’t Tell You Why” and “Desperado”, “Sorry Seems To Be The…
The UK based Soul/Funk/Jazz combo Shakatak were at the forefront of a new music movement in the early 80s. Bands from the UK were experimenting with Fusion sounds and incorporating Soul into their Jazz act or Jazz into their Funk acts. One group who can still stand the test of time is Light Of The…
It is hard to believe that Michael Franks is already 70. The singer and songwriter with the unusual and high voice has been making music since 1973. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform last October at B.B. King’s in New York and his charming and witty attitude and his formidable musicianship were truly amazing. From…