Pianist Aaron Parks, who released his latest Blue Note Records album “By All Means” at the beginning of November, played a short set on Thursday afternoon at the Jazz Social, the pop up venue which offers live performances, interviews, live radio, a record shop, and more during this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival. The record…
The Jazz Social, the EFG London Jazz Festival hangout just a few steps away from the Barbican, is now in its second year. This pop-up live venue, with live performances, one-off events, live radio broadcasts, interviews, and family-friendly events, and a specially curated Blue Note Records pop-up store, has proven to be a big success….
It was a Gondwana Records night on Tuesday at Hackney Church, the East London live venue which has hosted a lot of great artists in the past and which is one of the hosts of this year’s EFG London Jazz Festival. Gondwana Records, an independent label based in Manchester and founded by Matthew Halsall in…
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sam Wills had his first headline show last night at Kreuzberg’s Privatclub. Sam, who just recently released his second album called “Speak”, nonchalantly walked on stage, dressed in a plain plaid shirt and black jeans, opened his set with the first tune off that album. After the brief “Hallway”, he breezed…
“Songbook” is the very first Kenny Barron album with vocals. Can you imagine? There have been individual vocal tracks here and there on past albums, but this is actually the first all-vocal album. And it’s out on double vinyl too! And it features a great crew of contemporary vocalists, both established and at the start…
As you probably know, Gina has left us on April 30th. Six months later, we thought it was time for a new doggie and here she is: two year old Gustel, originally from Turkey, was looking for a new home and she has finally settled in now, after about five days. She is a cuddle…
And so now it’s official: summer is over. Al Sunny, singer/songwriter from Nimes in France, released his third album “Summer End” last month. The album is available on vinyl too on the credible and trustworthy Légère Recordings. One of the most striking features of the album is its immensely lush and sophisticated production work. The…
The prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival, which only recently revealed their spectacular, embroidered poster (created by Swiss fashion designer Kévin Germanier) for next year’s 60th edition (July 3-18), just announced the launch of their first ever African edition. The Montreux Jazz Festival Franschhoek will premiere March 27-29. Franschhoek, close to Capetown, has become known as one…
The seventh Rockit Festival last Saturday was a blast, once again. It was my third time in Groningen and the lineup was as promising as ever. I started out with a pretty intense performance by Immanuel Wilkins who was just nominated for a Grammy so this was, as he said from the stage, their Grammy…
So a very healthy looking 85-year old Gary Bartz took to the stage on Friday night in Heidelberg during this year’s Enjoy Jazz Festival, which ended on Saturday with a sold-out show by Anouar Brahem. The festival, which ran from October 2nd until November 8th this year, drew 22.000 visitors, with half of the concerts…