It was Sunday, July 12th, 1992, when I first saw Gladys Knight live in concert. The Northsea Jazz Festival in The Hague (now in Rotterdam) and its biggest location, the Statenhal, was packed to the roof. I was pretty close to the stage witnessing a flawless, charming, entertaining, rousing set by one of soul music’s…
The Family of Jazz is the subtitle and theme of the next Jazz Connect conference, to be held on January 5th and 6th at Saint Peter’s Church in New York City. And a family gathering it is indeed. It is always a blast seeing so many of our peers and being around people who are…
It’s that time of year again where I wish I could be at several places at the same time: the annual JazzConnect Conference (January 5th and 6th), the 13th annual Winter Jazzfest (January 5th to 10th) at 14 venues across the Village (with an unbelievable lineup), and the annual APAP conference and showcases (January 6th…
After a short break, the Elbjazz Festival is back in 2017 and yes, part of the venues will be the new queen of the city, the Elbphilharmonie. Hamburg harbour will act as the dramatic stage for two days of jazz and jazz-related genres with over 50 acts performing. On June 2nd and June 3rd, acts…
The book I’m currently reading is “My Life with Earth, Wind & Fire”. Founding member Maurice White‘s autobiography was published in September and written with Herb Powell. I’m still in the early years of his life when he was working as a drummer, long before Maurice started his groundbreaking, award-winning supergroup. Maurice White died much…
I know that the Grammy Awards are not as important today as they used to be and I also know that I’m not the only one who thinks that Adele is unbelievably overrated with her pretty blood-, soul-, and lifeless singing that leaves me totally cold, but still, a Grammy nomination and a Grammy win…
One of my all-time favorite vocalists, Carol Sloane, returns to New York for a one-night only duo performance with her longtime pianist Bill Charlap on January 11th. Carol started her professional work as early as 1951 (she turns 80 next March) and worked with the Les and Larry Elgart Orchestra before she occasionally stood in…
Tony Monson did it again. Compiling a superb collection of “deep laid-back soulful grooves” pretty much exactly a year after the first volume came out (see review on these pages). And once again it is a brilliant mix of songs from the 70s and today’s cream of the crop. Some of the tracks already belong…
It was exactly 32 years ago today when I bought my first Matt Bianco album “Whose Side Are You On”. At the time, it was something totally new and fresh, with the signature vocals of Mark Reilly and Basia Trzetrzelewska and the keyboards of Danny White and hits like “More Than I Can Bear”, “Half…
I can’t help comparing singer, songwriter, actress, and producer Rhonda Ross to her mother, the great Diana Ross. After all, their voices are surprisingly similar. But this is where the similarities end. Thankfully, Rhonda refrains from simply copying her mother’s work so this isn’t another Motown record or a Supremes best-of kind-of collection. No, Rhonda…