The great Arthur Blythe has passed. The alto saxophonist was 76. Arthur was founder of the Underground Musicians Association and over the years has recorded dozens of great albums, often with unusual instrumentation. He was also known for group counterpoint and his expressive and swinging way of playing, both in the bop and the avant-garde…
Already lined up for this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam is an amazing group of artists which you will never see anywhere else over a three-day period I think. Friday, July 7th will feature Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles, Usher & the Roots, Wayne Shorter Quartet with Casco Philharmonic, Steve Winwood, Makaya…
I’ve been listening to a lot of new music recently. Actually I’m constantly listening, the first thing in the morning after getting up is not walking into the kitchen to make a coffee and it is not going into the bathroom, but it is always putting on the stereo. You will only see me with headphones…
Now it’s Patti Labelle‘s turn. Nine years after her “Back To Now” album, which had her reunited with Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx as Labelle, the legendary singer will release an album of standards. With the occasional song from the Great American Songbook on her individual albums and by including songs like “Over The Rainbow”…
We just wanted to thank Tommy LiPuma for playing such a vital part in the soundtrack to our life, bringing us unforgettable albums and songs from Natalie Cole, Barbra Streisand, Patti Austin, David Sanborn, Brenda Russell, Miles Davis, Bob James, George Benson, Michael Franks, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Al Jarreau, Michael Brecker, Randy Crawford, Joao Gilberto,…
At first I thought I was listening to a new Donald Fagen album – the similarities are really significant on the opening title track to Raul Midón‘s new album where he plays guitar, sings, raps, plays percussion and is responsible for some programming, too. Except for the rap in the middle of the song, that’s…
Growing up with “We Are Family”, “He’s The Greatest Dancer”, “Got To Love Somebody”, “Lost In Music” and dancing to those tracks in various clubs around Cologne, the music of Sister Sledge has played an important part in our lives. My favorite track is “Thinking Of You” from their 1979 “We Are Family” LP, produced…
Here is another great example of genre-crossing music where it really doesn’t matter how you want to call it. There is a lot of jazz, soul, funk, r&b, gospel, and spititual included in the new album by Jean and Marcus Baylor. I had the big honor and pleasure of seeing Jean perform live during last…
Everybody has his or her favorite Abbey Lincoln tune of course. And for me, there are dozens of it. So the question with interpreting the Abbey Lincoln songbook always has to be if the artist has something new to add to Abbey’s timeless repertoire. Atlanta-based vocalist Virginia Schenck succeeds in most parts on her new album…
Bronx-born flutist Dave Valentin, who started out playing percussion before he taught himself to play the flute after listening to Herbie Mann, died much too young yesterday. He was only 64. Dave had suffered a stroke and heart attack in 2012 and another stroke in 2015. Dave Valentin studied with Hubert Laws and was the…