There are a lot of positive and good things to say about Diana Krall‘s new album “Turn Up The Quiet”. First and foremost, the title says it all: she DOES turn up the quiet, with ample help from legendary engineer Al Schmitt and equally legendary producer, the late Tommy LiPuma. Diana’s voice is recorded with…
His love for the music of Stevie Wonder was on display last night at Loci Loft in Berlin: Frank McComb opened his unscripted, one-man solo show with “Golden Lady”, a song that truly sums up his forte when he easily managed to soar through the verses without ever losing grip, style, and power. His permeating voice…
With “Soulmate: Another Love Story”, singer, producer, composer, keyboarder Frank McComb has released another masterpiece, full of deep soul tracks like “Feelin’ Some Kinda Way”, the title track, or the 3-part “Mustard Seed”. He also has a number of special guests on his latest, like singers Maysa and Avery Sunshine as well as David P….
Singer and lyricist Mark Winkler is back with his 15th CD as a leader, but chances are that you have a couple of his songs in your record collection at home since over 250 of his songs have been recorded by a phenomenal list of artists. “The Company I Keep” features duets with five different…
It has been a tough month with a severe water damage in our Prenzlauer Berg apartment and thus, negotiating with a lot of craftsmen, caretaker, and property management. Thank heaven my vinyl record collection survived all the mess. But thankfully, the open-air season at our little Pankow hideaway has started successfully and with lots of…
I’ve been following Kathy’s career since the late 90s and already had the pleasure of hearing her new album which will surely be her best recording up to now. The quality of her singing, the production, and the choice of material, including a couple of originals, are top-notch. Too bad I can’t make it to…
The fascinating aspect of the Eurovision Song Contest, one of the world’s biggest music events, is not only the highly competitive and enthralling nature of competitions like that, but also the somehow inexplicable joy of being tortured by an immensely huge amount of so-called artists whose unbelievable lack of talent is unsurpassable. Needless to say…
This year’s French/German Jazz Festival Jazzdor Strasbourg-Berlin will take place at Berlin’s Kesselhaus from May 30th to June 2nd. Once again, there will be a lot of French/German collaborations and a lot to explore. Part of the extravaganza is a record release concert for the ACT outfit Out Of Land, consisting of Michael Wollny (piano),…
Both singer/songwriter/guitarist Rebecca Martin and pianist/vocalist/composer Guillermo Klein have settled in upstate New York; hence the title of their first ever collaboration. I’ve always been a fan of Rebecca’s voice, phrasing, songwriting and playing – her solo projects and her work with Becca Stevens and Gretchen Parlato in the group Tillery still stand out. It…
This is Joey DeFrancesco‘s personal take on what’s going on in the world and his plea for freedom. With a song by Sam Cooke and a Traditional, he also wrote seven new pieces and recorded the album with his new band, comprising of Troy Roberts on tenor and soprano sax, Dan Wilson on guitar, and…