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…
There has been a big void ever since Mark Murphy‘s death in late October of last year. There is really no other male singer around with his skills, talent, style, and character. His ability to put words to well-known tunes from the jazz canon, his love for Brazilian music, his vast amount of unpredictability when…
Backed by a Chic groove reminiscent of “Chic Cheer”, Chanté Moore opened her set at B.B. King’s last night with a medley of a couple of songs from her early 90s records when she started her recording career, most notably with “Love’s Taken Over”. It was a perfect start for a pretty groove-oriented show which…
The cozy little club on Broadway and 106th Street had singer Lezlie Harrison on Wednesday night, the night before Thanksgiving when 243 million turkeys that had been raised in the US this year, will be prepared by millions of chefs and wanna-be chefs around the country. And yes, we are treated to a Turkey dinner,…