domenica 20 aprile 2014

KENT BURNSIDE "MY WORLD IS SO COLD"

Kent was born June 10, 1971 in Baptist Hospital, Memphis, TN to Mildred Jean Burnside and Joe Eddie Johnson. He grew up in North Mississippi in the Holly Springs area where he was influenced by his grandfather, RL Burnside, at a very young age. RL started teaching Kent how to play guitar at 9 yrs. old telling him, "you gotta take a groove and just keep on driving it til you come up with your own style." In the beginning, Kent felt more comfortable playing the bass guitar but would eventually move on to lead and slide after watching RL, also being influenced by Duwayne, Gary, & Cedric Burnside. Some clubs and festivals Kent has played includes the Telluride Blues Festival, Minnesota Blues Festival, Buddy Guys, House of Blues, and received #1 at the Battle of the Blues Bands at Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero. The first record Lucky13 Recordings will be releasing for Kent is a compilation of two unreleased albums. The first, 'Never Again', features the entire Burnside family including Duwayne, Gary, RL Jr., Cedric, Joseph, Dexter & Calvin Jackson (Cedric's father). The second is a mix that produced by James Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers) including artists Eric Deaton, Lightening Malcolm, & Gary Burnside. Lucky13 Recordings then plans to have Kent travel to Los Angeles to record a studio and a live album with documentary footage produced by Jimmie Wood and Scott Hatch. Kent has 6 children, his oldest daughter Keanna attending college in California. KENT BURNSIDE
 

QUASAMODO & THE Q ORCHESTRA "THE BIG PICTURE"

Although he's previously dropped albums for the likes of Freestyle, "Big Picture" cements the new bond between Quasamodo and Jalapeno following a tester EP release last year. Boosted by the positive reaction to the EP, he's back and he's got both the Q Orchestra and long time vocal collaborator Thaliah covering his back. It's an explosive team, delivering 13 old school funk bombs, some of which are even peppered by the occasional rap! Every once in awhile the right combination of artists come together to create something that drips with the soul of pastime funk and the flare of contemporary grooves. Quasamodo meets up with the massive Q Orchestra from Freestyle Records, to bring you a new album that embodies the classic sound of the sultry disco days, in a fresh perspective. Eleven tunes featuring Thaliah, Jedi Scar Tissue, Theo Goutsidis, Valia and the unmistakableCoppa compelete this work of modern day funk mastery. QUASAMODO & THE Q ORCHESTRA
 

martedì 15 aprile 2014

PHATFUNK CLIQUE "PHAT JAZZ"

Several venues have experienced the funk/jazz sounds of Da Phatfunk Clique. In September of 1998, violinist Darrell “D-Funk” Looney began collaborating with several musicians on what would be the first release in 1999, Pandemic Love. The sound is unique as the violin is the lead instrument. Da Phatfunk Clique was formed as a band by January of 2000, utilizing local talent in support of the album release. Out of this effort came development of a unique sound, both jazzy and funky, that has been described as an amalgamation of jazz from Mahavishnu Orchestra and funk ambience of George Clinton's P-Funk. True to form, these are among the group's influences as are artists such as Jean Luc Ponty, Herbie Hancock, George Duke and Noel Pointer. Da Phatfunk Clique has morphed into a musical collaborative concept with varying members, still under the direction of violinist Darrell Looney.The current release entitled “Phat Jazz” builds upon the concept of funky jazz to elevate the mood and is our 4th CD! Darrell “D-Funk” Looney takes the vibe to the next level with 11 new all original tracks. "I am happy to get back to playing a little keyboards and even some bass guitar for this project", says Darrell Looney. There is very notable collaborating going on with several fine musicians including jazz luminary Bob Baldwin who brings his own brand of funky jazziness on the track entitled “For Sake Of The Art”. This is a serious vibe to experience! PHATFUNK CLIQUE
 

lunedì 7 aprile 2014

NICKY EGAN "THE 45 HOMESTEAD PROJECT"

Spent four years in Boston, MA at Berklee College of Music where I received my degree in Contemporary Writing and Production as a vocal principal. While there I met and befriended a bunch of insanely talented and inspiring people who have helped me in finding and continuing the musical journey I'm currently on. I will forever hold these people dear to my heart. In my senior year of college, I ran The Berklee Entrepreneur Action Team. Inspired by a performance my band had participated in at Penn State's THON, I founded and directed an 8-hour dance marathon dubbed "Keeping the HeartB.E.A.T." The event and our team brought over 600 people to the House of Blues Boston and generated over 12,000 dollars, which was donated towards pediatric care and research at the Jimmy Fund.I released my debut album, Good People, a 12 song LP, I co-produced with my band-mate and dear friend, Johnny Simon Jr, on January 7th, 2011 independently. There are a lot of really special people who both played and worked on the album with me and I'm pretty sure I won't experience making another album quite like that one.I've seen about 55% of the country touring and playing music, both with my band and bands I've played in. Between traveling from show to show and taking pictures on my iphone of sunsets and sunrises and yelping the best local breakfast spots, I've been fortunate to meet and/or share the stage with other soul/funk acts like, Charles Neville, Eli 'Paperboy' Reed, Jesse Dee, The Funky Meters and Nigel Hall, in places like The Whisky a Go-Go, World Cafe Live, Brooklyn Bowl, Hotel Cafe, and Bear Creek Music Festival.I hope to see the rest of the country and travel overseas, playing sweet soul tunes and traveling with people I love for a long time. NICKY EGAN

ROBIN BANKS "MODERN CLASSIC"

A master of tone and phrasing, Robin Banks has a vocal style, strength and clarity that has been compared to Etta James and Dinah Washington. But match that with the charisma and boldness of a Tina Turner and you'll understand why Robin Banks has the world on a string!Robin Banks has her roots deeply dug. Born in Canada a mere 50 miles from Detroit, then transplanted to Dallas, and then Jamaica, Banks is a diverse, international artist who is clearly comfortable with Jazz, Classic R&B, Soul, even Reggae. She’s often lauded for her captivating live performance, her confident ability to connect and affect each member of her audience, her sincerity and certainly her authenticity. Robin Banks has established herself as a fearless, female force in International Blues circles recording and performing with the likes of Duke Robillard, Doug James and a long list of legendary Texas, West Coast and Chicago musicians. A powerful songwriter as well, Tom Hyslop of Blues Revue Magazine was quoted as saying Banks writes compositions "that lyrically echo the song craft of Cole Porter and the Gershwins". ROBIN BANKS
 

KAREN VRIJBURG "LISTEN TO A STRANGER"

Karen Vrijburg is a jazzvocalist/composer based in The Netherlands. A collision with jazz early in life ignited a lifelong journey of free exploration which she describes as ”a long and turbulent but very satisfying love affair” with music. She occasionally performs in the Amsterdam area in an intimate high voltage setting. She lives with her family near the coast of the North Sea.Karen Vrijburg voice compositions ( track 1,2,3,5,9,11)
Dirk Balthaus piano, string arrangements Marco Zenini bass,
Etienne Nillesen drums
Natalio Sued tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute Jasper Le Clercq violin Jeffrey Bruinsma violin Oene van Geel viola Emile Visser cello.
Recorded at Powersound Studio, Amsterdam, Sound Engineer - Paul Pouwer Producer - Karen Vrijburg Label-Distribution- Berthold Records, Germany, Photograpy - Keke Keutelaa. KAREN VRIJBURG

 

HILDEGARD LERNT FLIEGEN "THE FUNDAMENTAL RHYTHM OF UNPOLISHED BRAINS"

Founded in 2005 by singer and composer Andreas Schaerer, this Swiss sextet has already grown a beard and started to stay out late. Schaerer’s compositions slip through any easy attempts at categorization as easily as a trout squirms free of a fisherman’s hands. The group was finally brought ashore in 2007, when they released their first album for the Swiss label Unit Records. The reviews were glowing, sales were brisk, and the album had to be re-released after being sold out in a couple of months. Since then, the band has traveled thousands of kilometers on the Autobahn, drank many a liter of gas station coffee, and played more solos and refrains than they care to remember — on tours in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. They’ve tickled the fancies of audiences and expert juries alike. In May 2008 the group won the ZKB Jazz Prize. The long and storied list of stages where Hildegard Lernt Fliegen has performed include many a jazz club and cabaret, but also festivals such as Jazznojazz Zürich, Cully Jazz, BeJazz Winterfestival, Offside Festival Geldern, Suisse Jazz Diagonales, Langnauer Jazz Nights, Dresdner Jazztage, and the Stanser Musiktage.November 2009 was no time for putting their feet up and relaxing by the fire. Au contraire, Hildegard had a date with destiny and was beaver-busy preparing their second album — Vom fernen Klang der Sache — appeared as a CD/picture-book designer by the Zurich-based illustrator Peter Baeder. Hildegard made her music video debut with the song “Seldom was Covered with Snow and an Old Oak,” in a charmingly surrealist staging directed by Maria Sigrist.Hildegard Lernt Fliegen made Russia their home in the fall of 2010. The group toured for two weeks through a landscape which seemed to have been painted just for them. Two stowaways on board — the filmmaker Michelle Brun and sound editor Martin Ruch — recorded the highlights of this Swiss-Soviet summit before locking themselves for a few months in an editing studio… Meanwhile, Hildegard continued touring, returning to Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. The following fall the band returned to their ursine hometown (Bern) to release the CD Live in Moscow and their concert tour film Tales Wander. HILDEGARD LERNT FLIEGEN 
 

domenica 6 aprile 2014

EMILIA MARTENSSON "ANA"

Emilia Mårtensson moved to London in 2000 to study at Trinity College of Music. In 2010 she joined Kairos 4tet as vocalist and lyricist and was a key factor in helping the group win Best Jazz Act at the 2011 MOBO Awards. In 2012 she released the duo album And So It Goes... with pianist Barry Green, and was described by The Observer as The New Face of British Jazz. “Mårtensson invests every sound with a skimming, rapturous lightness and clarity.” (Jon Fordham, The Guardian) Pianist Barry Green has played with a wide-range of British jazz stars including Don Weller, Bobby Wellins, Christine Tobin, Ian Shaw, Dave Green and others, and is a regular member of groups led by Ingrid Laubrock and Larry Bartley. He leads a quartet featuring Mark Hanslip, Oli Hayhurst and Tim Giles, which plays his own compositions, and he co-leads the quartet Babelfish, with singer Brigitte Berha. “A cerebral swinger with a liking for unexpected harmonic turns.” (The Independent} Sam Lasserson is a London-based bassist who is part of New York drummer Jeff Williams’ powerhouse UK quintet, and has played with Bobby Wellins, Anita Wardell, Martin Speake, Frode Kjekstadt and others, “Lasserson... exhibit[s] a hard-driving resourcefulness ... to rival some of the world’s best-known post- bop practitioners.” (The Guardian Online) Brazilian percussionist Adriano Adewale moved to London in 2000. He has performed with his own bands Sambura and the Adriano Adewale Group, which released an acclaimed debut album, Sementes in 2008, and has played with Latin jazz legends including Airto Moreira, Flora Purm and Seu Jorge. EMILIA MARTENSSON
 

JOHANNA GRAHAM QUARTET "DON'T LET ME BE LONELY"

Recently signed by the 33 Jazz label, the Johanna Graham Quartet comprises the elegant and hugely accomplished guitar phrasing of Martin Bowie, an exciting and vital drumming talent in Damian Rodd, brilliant and sensitive double bass from Tim Greenhalgh and Johanna herself on vocals. The journey began in 2005 when Johanna discovered Martin as he was completing his jazz degree and the pair began to work together as a duo. In 2008 Johanna incorporated Tim Greenhalgh on bass, with Damian Rodd completing the quartet two years ago, forming a tight and enthusiastic team. The band are extremely popular in Cornwall having entertained audiences in the south west for many years, and with the release of their new album, they have been venturing further afield. Johanna's captivating stage presence and emotive style puts a fresh spin on jazz standards, with original compositions and modern classics arranged in her own unique way, and together the group produce a passionate and exciting sound. The quartet won the ‘This Is Cornwall Best Jazz Act’ in 2012, and were nominated for Best Jazz Act in the South West Music Awards.Johanna Graham is an emotive and accomplished singer and a dynamic performer. Originally training and working as an actress, her passion for jazz started with a love of old movies whilst growing up. Her Thespian background lends sincerity and a sense of drama to her live shows. Her sweet and mellow voice is Influenced by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day and Julie London, and her vocal interpretation makes every performance special and very personal.Martin Bowie is a Bachelor of the Arts in Contemporary World Jazz. An accomplished guitarist with roots in blues, funk and acid-jazz and over 20 years experience, his influences include Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Tal Farlow and George Benson. Martin has worked with artists including New Orleans jazz ambassador Lillian Boutte, trumpet player Damon Brown and saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft, flamenco guitarist Esteban Antonio and Marty Wilson-Piper (guitarist in The Church and All About Eve).Tim Greenhalgh, At age 17 Tim discovered the music of Joni Mitchell and Jaco Pastorius, which inspired him to the fretless bass, During his 20’s he performed in a wide genre of music and worked extensively in both the festival and club scene. Tim has 25 years experience as a bassist, performing with renowned jazz artists including Damon Brown and Brandon Allen. He is strongly influenced by the work of John Taylor, Palle Danielsson, Dave Holland, Charlie Haden and Scott LaFaro.Damian Rodd is son of pianist Viv Rodd. His musical career started at 14. Whilst a member of trip hop band Lowpass, Damian toured with Lamb and Tricky, refuelling his love for electronic music and crossover styles. Since moving to Cornwall, Damian has set up a production studio (Big Milk) and teaches jazz to degree level. He produced the album 8am (named album of the week in the London Evening Standard) with his father and vocalist Kris Gayle. Damian’s influences include Vinnie Colaiuta, Buddy Rich, Tony Williams & Jojo Mayer.The Johanna Graham Quartet have performed at the Barbican International Jazz & Blues Festival, Birmingham International Jazz & Blues Festival, Bude Jazz Festival, Teignmouth Jazz Festival, St Ives Jazz Club, the Groucho Club, London, The National Trust, RNAS Culdrose - HMS Seahawk, the Headland Hotel, Newquay and the Daphne Du Maurier Festival as well as extensively across the South West of England. JOHANNA GRAHAM QUARTET
 

mercoledì 2 aprile 2014

WOIMA COLLECTIVE "FROU FROU ROKKO"

Woima Collective follow up their first album with their Frou Frou Rokko LP, and delve even further into the African rhythms that inspire them. Building on the ground work that Woima Collective's debut LP Tezeta laid down, this collection of tracks goes even deeper to exploring the interlocking cross­rhythms that abound on the African continent. That's not just a figure of speech: many of the songs were composed while band leader Johannes Schleiermacher traveled Africa over three months last year. Passing through Morocco, Mali, and Senegal, Johannes discovered many new grooves and dance moves on his journey, which have all played their part in the developing Woima sound. The title Frou Frou Rokko comes from Johannes' Bamako base, a friendly community house. "The people are very hospitable, and because I came as a musician, I had a very good connection with them. Then when I played with them, it just got better. They were really happy when I adapted to their style, and they loved it when I caught some phrases of theirs!" Johannes explored new rhythms as he went, using them as inspiration to create his own grooves. "For me, the groove's the most important thing," he insists. "Melodies are always pushing the tracks forward, but the groove is what gets you in the mood! The music in Mali often has no climax, it can go on for a very long time, repeating yet it doesn't get boring. It's a different approach to what we might be used to in Europe. I think you can hear those longer, more hypnotic influences on this record." Some of the tracks are dedicated to specific events, like the song that Johannes wrote while he was dosed­up on Malaria medicine, or Brain Clear Heart, about the incurable romantic he met on the border to Senegal, who dreamt of all cultures around the world playing music together. The line­up is almost exactly the same as the previous album, with a couple of extra guests for good measure. Also the band had some time to play around with the new material before recording at Berlin's Lovelight facility ­ a luxury they weren't afforded on the first LP. Combine this extra testing time with the fact that the band have settled into their own skin, and the result is a lot more open, with longer solos and improvised passages. Upfront, yet stretched out, Woima Collective have put another twist on their modern day african­influenced ensemble, and dive even further into their own sound. WOIMA COLLECTIVE