It’s as if Tommy Flanagan and Bill Evans are coming together as one and meet Hank Jones, each time that I hear pianist Bill Charlap play. The last time he was heard on record was on the brilliantly relaxed and elegant Tony Bennett album with the songs of Jerome Kern. I was lucky enough to hear…
Legendary saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, who was certainly more than a blind musician who could play three horns at once, is the topic of a documentary called “The Case Of The Three Sided Dream”. The streaming of the movie and the download on vimeo on demand will be available on May 1st, with iTunes coming later…
Cheryl Bentyne has recorded a lot of solo albums over the years, in addition to her work with the Manhattan Transfer. Most notably among those, a superb duo recording with the equally impressive Mark Winkler (“West Coast Cool”, 2013). This new compilation with hand-picked songs include tracks that have only been released in Japan. It…
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will produce the Jazz Masters Tribute Concert on Monday, April 4th at 8pm ET. This year’s recipients are vibraphonist Gary Burton, saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, saxophonist Archie Shepp, and musicians’ advocate Wendy Oxenhorn. Participating musicians are Randy Weston, Jimmy Heath, Ambrose Akinmusire, Lakecia Benjamin, Stefon Harris, Justin Kauflin, Rudresh Mahanthappa,…
Legendary singer Sarah Vaughan‘s image will grace postcards and envelopes in the form of a “Commemorative Forever Stamp” beginning March 29th, two days after what would have been her 92nd birthday. Thus, the U.S. Postal Service honors the famous singer with an unveiling ceremony at the Sarah Vaughan Concert Hall at Newark Symphony Hall in…
The Spinners were an R&B vocal group from the Detroit area and were first known as the Domingoes. Discovered by producer and singer Harvey Fuqua, they started to record and perform as the Spinners (later they called themselves simply Spinners) in 1961 with their first charted single being “That’s What Girls Are Made For” which reached Number 27…
Now that spring has finally arrived, at least on our calendars, live concert season picks up again as well with a lot of must-see acts coming to town (Berlin that is) this week. Not that there is nothing going on here during the winter, but it seems as if more and more people are willing…
Tenor saxophonist, composer, and educator Tom Tallitsch who has been around performing and recording for about 25 years now, puts a lot of personal grief and joy into his latest recording “Gratitude”. During the process of recording and writing this album, his father died from a brief illness and Tom himself became a father at…
One of my favorite pianists, Kenny Barron, now 72, has finally recorded his own trio with Kiyoshi Kitagawa, with whom he has worked for the past 20 years, and drummer Jonathan Blake, in his trio since about 10 years. And “Book Of Intuition” starts off with a piece from his ever-evolving list of original compositions,…
Her godmother Dema Aikens entered young Ernestine in a talent contest at the age of 12 in Houston, Texas. And she won. Soon she started to play with Quincy Jones and Ray Charles before she was 18. She continued to work with Lionel Hampton, Gigi Gryce, and Johnny Otis. After her debut “It’s Time For…