The best record to dance to and do your work out while staying at home is the second compilation of Swiss DJ Alex Attias‘ club series from his Lausanne stint, called LillyGood Party! The twelve tracks feature Peven Everett, Louie Vega, David Murray, Glenn Underground, Yam Who?, and Daymé Arocena, among many others and offer…
Dire times indeed. Jazzahead in Bremen, due April 23rd to 26th, has been postponed to April 29th to May 2nd, 2021. The wonderful XJazz Festival in Berlin, May 6th to 10th, has been cancelled. The 21st Capetown International Jazz Festival, which was scheduled to run this upcoming weekend and usually draws over 40.000 attendees, will…
Vocalist and pianist Kandace Springs has recorded twelve songs of her idols for her third project “The Women Who Raised Me” on Blue Note Records. The swinging “Devil May Care”, inspired by Diana Krall’s version, features some very lively and astute bass playing by Christian McBride and subtle drum work by Clarence Penn. Kandace shows…
So many concerts, shows, and festivals have been cancelled or at least postponed these days (that’s why we’re currently not updating our events calendar), but nevertheless, the Detroit Jazz Festival has announced the line-up for the 41st edition. And yes, maybe the timing for the announcement does look strange (yesterday) in these troubled times, but…
Manu Dibango, saxophonist from Cameroon, best known for his 1972 worldwide hit “Soul Makossa”, has died from complications of Covid-19, aged 86. After forming his own band in Cameroon in 1963, he moved to Paris a couple of years later before he finally made his breakthrough. Manu released his first album “Saxy-Party” in 1969. Three…
Israeli tenor saxophonist and composer Oded Tzur has released his first album on the prestigious ECM label. Oded, who is working in or from New York since 2011 (where else?), debuted in 2015 with “Like A Great River” which was followed in 2017 with “Translator’s Note”. It seems as if his new-found home at ECM…
In these uncertain times, it’s always a good thing to fall back on household names, to old habits, to vinyl, to Stephanie Mills who turns 63 today. Happy birthday! And I wanted to take this opportunity and remind you of another album in our new category of LPs you won’t find on Spotify. Stephanie recorded…
When I went to Bremen for the annual Jazzahead convention in 2015, there was this big hype about 12-year old pianist Joey Alexander who was about to release his debut album “My Favorite Things”. Alas, I wasn’t impressed and his showcase left me cold. But he wasn’t really to blame for it. After all, when…
As nobody knows where exactly the current corona crisis will lead us and since official warnings change every day, I just wanted to copy the latest info from two of New York’s West Village clubs, the Blue Note and Le Poisson Rouge, about their precaution measures etc. I went to see Baby Rose in concert…
Luxury Soul 2020, your reliable source for the best indie soul, has finally arrived and the three-disc collection is once again the best overview of quality modern-day soul that you can get. Lots of familiar names on this one, like Glenn Jones, featured with a 2009 recording by producer and writer Herb Middleton (“Better Man”)…