15.“So Glad To Know You” – Avery*Sunshine Her recent show at London’s Soul Mama during the EFG London Jazz Festival simply proved that she is certainly an artist born for the stage. And of course, her voice comes smashing at you in some cases. In others, like on the slower piece “So Glad To Know…
16.“Today” – Relyae Brooklyn based artist Relyae, known for his “blissful melodies, uplifting grooves and addictive atmospheres”, released his utterly mellow “Unknown” EP in late September. The five tracks all ooze with a perfect neo-soul/funk/r&b blend. Relyae released his first single back in 2018 with “Be Sad” and there was also a brilliant 7-song album…
18.“Bloom” – Natty Reeves/Jackson MathodThe second track in our list by Natty Reeves came out in early June as a preview to his wonderful “Mist Over Water” EP. The soulful “Bloom” with its bossa-ish sound has some distinctive rhythmic percussion work weaved together with a gentle guitar and some very heartwarming horns, courtesy of Jackson…
19. “Live For You” – Thee Sacred Souls Thee Sacred Souls, a trio from San Diego cleverly and fascinatingly mixing old school Soul of the 60s with the more sophisticated sounds of the early 70s, released their debut album in 2022. To much critical acclaim and praise. In early October, Josh Lane, Sal Samano, and…
20.“Everlasting” – Jody Watley The year started out on a mellow, groovy note with Jody Watley‘s “Everlasting”. Her genuine and encouraging lyrics are supported by a fancy remix from Alex Di Ciò. “When I was a girl, I believed in fairytales and fantasies/As I got older, I realized nothing is ever easy/I found that sometimes…
21.“Working It Out” – Myles Sanko Soul and jazz singer Myles Sanko, born in Accra, delivered several singles from his new and excellent album “Let It Unfold”, starting in early February all the way through the year until the release of his LP in early October. All of them very personal, deep, and intense. And…
We’ve recently been asked by several of our music industry peers to come up with a list of our Top Songs of the Year. Our dear friend and regular reader Marcus came up with the idea to post them day by day, one song each day. Starting with Number 25 on December 1st and thus,…
He’s on a short tour through the UK and the Netherlands and after a stop at Groningen’s Spot on Saturday, singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Jarrod Lawson was playing LantarenVenster in Rotterdam on Sunday night. Backed by a superb rhythm section which he met in the UK a few days prior to this performance, and a…
On Thursday night, I headed out to Kings Place, London’s music hub near King’s Cross in the heart of town. Playing that night was South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini who released his third Blue Note LP “Unomkhubulwane” earlier this year. Most songs of the set were from this fascinating album which is full of trance-like…
This year’s EFG London Jazz Festival is my first. I always wanted to go since there is so much to be liked about this festival. First of all, obviously, the programming. This year is another one with an extremely diverse, versatile and eclectic array of artists too numerous to mention here. But what is also…