The Five Corners Quintet - Chasin' The Jazz Gone By (2005)

The Five Corners Quintet is a Helsinki-based postmodern jazz outfit influenced by early sixties straight ahead and latin jazz. Led by producer Tuomas Kallio the Five Corners Quintet is a new extension of the highly acclaimed Nuspirit Helsinki collective.

The two innovators behind Five Corners Quintet, composer, producer and arranger Tuomas Kallio and the band's benevolent svengali and record label manager Antti Eerikäinen initially were simply set out to release a few vinyl singles of stylish jazz music tailored for the dance floor. As the first three vinyl single releases received a huge response among the press and international taste makers and at the same were all sold out, The Five Corners Quintet project slowly evolved into an established and more serious phase. This meant two things: setting up a live band and a CD-album project.
The debut album Chasin' The Jazz Gone By came out in September 2005, spent 11 weeks in the Finnish album TOP-40 chart and has been released in Europe (SonyBMG and Ricky-Tick Records/Timewarp), USA (Milan Entertainment/WEA) and Japan (Columbia International). The album and the vinyl singles preceding it have already sold more than 40.000 copies in total. Not bad for a jazz recording in 2005.
In musical terms the goal of TFCQ is to set an example of how dance floor friendly contemporary production can fruitfully meet the musical craftsmanship of the past, creating music that sounds as hip as the classic jazz records but is at the same time structurally polished and easily accessible music of today. Not housey nu-jazz, but jazz in the classic modernist spirit.

The Official Five Corners Quintet page

Five Corners @ MySpace

Five Corners @ Last.fm

Jazzanova - Mwela, Mwela (Here I am)

German nu jazz collective Jazzanova redefined the 'nu jazz movement' with the excellent 2002 lp 'In Between'. In 'Mwela, Mwela' they recruit fellow London jazzheads Valerie Etienne and Rob Gallagher (both in Galliano and 2 Banks of 4) with extraodinairy results...

Bird (Clint Eastwood, 1988)

"Do you want a husband or a musician?" a mental-hospital official asks Charlie Parker's common-law wife, Chan, as they debate whether the fragile jazzman should get shock treatment. "They do not separate!" she insists. In this sensitive, sophisticated labor of love directed by Clint Eastwood--yes, Clint Eastwood--all the tangled wires that fired Parker's creativity get a careful examination. Unfairly dismissed by some jazz fans as just another doomed-junkie story, Bird is blunt about its subject's catastrophic heroin habit (when he died at age 34, the doctor who pronounced him dead guessed that Parker was about 65). But it's just one piece of the puzzle, along with Bird's prescient artistry; his keen intelligence; his mercurial emotions; his struggles with racism, finances, and the cops; and his love for challenging women, chief among them the free-spirited Chan (a snappy, sizzling Diane Venora). In the center of Bird stands Forest Whitaker, giving a towering, multilayered performance, breaking your heart but never losing his dignity. Best of all, this is one jazz movie that truly glorifies its music--Parker's own sax solos, dropped into modern accompaniment through the magic of technology, blaze in long takes at Paris theaters, Southern barn dances, Kansas City cutting contests, and Manhattan nightclubs. The movie makes a case for Parker as a unique artist who could not--or would not--create a better world for himself.

Charlie "Yardbird" Parker had been a hero of Clint Eastwood's since childhood, and Eastwood, having been disappointed in such jazz biopics as Young Man with a Horn, really wanted to make a true jazz fan's movie about the music. He cast Forest Whitaker as Parker, the legendary alto sax player, and Diane Venora as Chan, Parker's wife. The film shows how Parker, a genius who changed the face of modern music, was hampered and eventually destroyed by his appetite for women, food, and drugs. The two leads do a great job giving a recognizable human face to the characters' complex relationship. With wit and warmth, Bird tells the story in direct and honest terms, avoiding all sentimentality. Eastwood's love of Parker's music comes across in the tremendous care that he and composer Lennie Niehaus took with reconstructing it, using Parker's original solos. Eastwood and cinematographer Jack N. Green also patterned the dark, moody look of the film after old photos of musicians who used to appear in jazz magazines. Music lovers will be thrilled with the result, and movie lovers will find plenty to engage them in this moving tale of a great man battling his demons.

Baltimore City Paper -- October 24, 2000

(The Hardbop Page)

"Bird" @ IMDB

North Sea Jazz Festival

NORTH SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL - THE NETHERLANDS -
11, 12, 13 JULY 2008

Line Up: Bobby McFerrin, Omara Portuondo, Herbie Hancock Quintet, Al Jarreau, Sergio Mendes, Angie Stone, Bootsy Collins, Jill Scott, Mathew Herbert Big Band, Fink, Cassandra Wilson, Mark Murphy, Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, Paul Simon, Chaka Khan, Gino Vanelli, George Benson, Tower of Power, Deodato, Anjelique Kidjo, Soil & Pimp Sessions, Acoustic Ladyland, Freddy Cole, Charlie Haden, James Carter, Lou Donaldson, Stefano Di Battista, Paul Bley, Brad Mehldau, Branford Marsalis, Diana Krall, Etta James, Joe Jackson and more

North Sea Jazz Festival official website

Nicola Conte - Kind of Sunshine

Red Snapper - Prince Blimey (1996)

At a time when Warp Records was known as "the premiere electronica label," along comes another album from this mostly acoustic quartet to drop some jaws with good old-fashioned musicianship. Richly accomplished for a sophomore full-length, Prince Blimey finds Red Snapper expanding rather than floundering for ideas. In a time where acid jazz was busy developing by artificial (sampled) means, Red Snapper's musical prowess became a force to be reckoned with, and many of the tracks here place heavy emphasis on the group's secret weapon: the rhythm section. On a drawing pad, many of these songs would look like pyramids, with the base (bass) end getting most of the emphasis and the top corner crammed with little harmonic afterthoughts. The double bass is essential to the success of these tracks, featuring Ali Friend growling, slinking, and sliding on the frets as confidently as Zeus with a thunderbolt in his hands. Similarly, Richard Thair keeps his drums in time with Friend -- hopscotching, marching, and breakbeating from R&B club to jazz dub to acoustic jungle. Only a handful of bands can successfully reside in the category of "electronica" when so little of their material stems from it, so Warp gets points for pushing the envelope just enough. In terms of songwriting, Red Snapper might not live in a completely furnished house, but the foundation is rock solid.

(Text - Glenn Swan, AMG)

Red Snapper @ MySpace

Red Snapper @ LastFm

Idea6 - Metropoli (2005)

A brilliant session of Italian jazz -- recorded with the depth and spirit of some of the classics that were reissued years ago by the Right Tempo label, and soaring with that uniquely tight sound that was bubbling on the Italian scene of the 60s and early 70s! The groove here is a mix of modal and hardbop influences -- played by a sextet that includes Gianni Basso on saxes, Dino Piana on trombone, Guido Pistocchi on trumpet, and Andrea Pozza on piano. All tracks are originals -- and all are wonderfully fresh -- bristling with the kind of electricity that makes us love some of our favorite Blue Note albums of the 60s, especially work from Hank Mobley and Lee Morgan! CD features10 tracks in all -- including "Train Up", "Minor Mood", "Metropoli", "New Born", "Autumn In Milano", "Pittura", "Vivacita", and "Windy Coast". Japanese version features different mastering -- with a bit more of a "60s" feel!

(from JAZZIN blog)

DejaVu Records MySpace page

Idea6 @ Last.Fm

Elis Regina / Tom Jobim - Águas de Março

Cassandra Wilson - Loverly (2008)

Cassandra Wilson's Loverly is amongst the singer's most straight-ahead and stripped down albums since her debut for Blue Note fifteen years ago with Blue Light 'Til Dawn (Blue Note, 1993). Self-produced, and recorded in a rented house in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi with little artifice, simple arrangements and a great sound, Wilson and a core quintet of regular playing partners deliver ten standards, Robert Johnson's “Dust My Blues,” and one band original, the West African-derived “Arere."

Wilson hasn't sounded this good for some time—elegant, unforced and buoyant. And in the rhythm. Most of the tracks are underpinned by kit drummer Herlin Riley and Nigerian drummer and percussionist Lekan Babalola. Wilson calls herself the “unproducer,” but her decision to create Loverly's arrangements from the drums up, starting with rhythm patterns suggested by Babalola and Riley, contributes immensely to a set shot through with mettle.

Great songs, great singing, and a great band. Lovely indeed.

(By Chris May - AllAboutJazz.com)

Cassandra Wilson Official site

Cassandra Wilson MySpace page

Jhelisa: Friendly Pressure

Dr. Vodkatini

Dr.Vodkatini were formed by a handful of musicians already playing in other bands.
All of them being fans of feel-good and groovy music they found themselves jammimg endlessly in the studio and after a while they moved their sessions on-stage of a few of the most famous live spots of Athens. That was the time that other members joined the band and the sequence of live performances increased rapidly for Dr. Vodkatini to become one of the most frequently appearing live bands in the local music scene ever, some of the most important festivals
(International Lounge Festival, European Music Day Festival, Earthdance, among others) included.
Nowadays their sound has been developed to become what is commonly known as freestyle and raw groove or just feel-good-groove music as the band prefers to label themselves.
Influenced by the soul music’s standards as set by Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye and the latin feel of Tito Puente, implementing the smoothness of Burt Bacharach and Donald Byrd together, Dr Vodkatini are releasing 10 tracks that will make you party, sway, fall in love and all that with a big smile on your face.

Επίσημη Ιστοσελίδα Dr. Vodkatini

Dr. Vodkatini MySpace page

Miles & Coltrane - So What

Films: Round Midnight (Bertrand Tavernier, 1986)

A French music lover befriends a once-great American jazz artist and attempts to save him from self-destruction in this moody drama. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon portrays Dale Turner, a fictional musician inspired by a number of famed jazz figures, including Bud Powell and Lester Young. Largely forgotten in his home country, Turner has moved to Paris in search of a more appreciative audience. He finds it in the form of Francis Borler (Francois Cluzet), a bebop aficionado who befriends the expatriate player. Borler soon becomes familiar with Turner's darker side, including his struggles with alcoholism, drug addiction, and depression. Fearing for the musician's life, the fan becomes his caretaker, an arrangement that leads to a brief improvement in Turner's health and fortunes but places great emotional strain upon them both. Director Bertrand Tavernier pays great attention to the visual and aural details of the jazz world, with outstanding musical supervision provided by Herbie Hancock. 'Round Midnight's greatest asset, however, is Gordon's Academy Award-nominated performance, informed by his own life experiences. His naturally fascinating presence combines with the film's obvious love of the music and its milieu to provide what many have hailed as one of the more authentic and affectionate presentations of the jazz world on the silver screen.

(Κείμενο από All Movie Guide)

Φιλμογραφία Bertrand Tavernier - imdb

Σύντομο βιογραφικό και δισκογραφία Dexter Gordon - AMG

Στιγμιότυπο από την ταινία

United Future Organization - Loud Minority

R.I.P - Esbjörn Svensson

Pianist Esbjörn Svensson Dies in Diving Accident

Daily News Headlines

Pianist Esbjörn Svensson, leader of the Swedish jazz trio E.S.T. that appeared on the May 2006 cover of DownBeat, died Saturday, June 14 in a diving accident in Sweden. He was 44

When Svensson founded E.S.T. in 1993 with drummer Magnus Öström on drums and bassist Dan Berglund, little did he know that 15 years later the group would stand as such a major force in the European--and international--jazz scene. In fact, the group’s appearance on the cover of DownBeat marked the only time that a European band has appeared on the cover of the magazine.

Born April 16, 1964 in Västeras, Sweden, Svensson grew up in a musical family. His mother played classical piano, his father loved Ellington, and Svensson listened to the latest pop hits on the radio. In high school, Svensson played in his first bands, along with taking piano lessons for three years. He followed this with four years of musical studies at the University in Stockholm. As Dan Ouellette wrote in his cover story on E.S.T., Svensson developed a piano style that clearly showed the influences of Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk (including the album E.S.T. Plays Monk, while incorporating modern electronic and sampling elements to his music. Most importantly, he created his own voice on the piano, and led a band that had developed its own identity.

While E.S.T. did sign to Columbia Records in the United States and release two albums on the label, and occasionally toured the country, the group never reached the rock-star status that it achieved in Europe. Svensson did not alter his music to try to cross over to a U.S. audience. As he said in the DownBeat cover story: ”I don’t think that people who like the music care whether we’re from here or Sweden. They want to hear good music.”

"Esbjörn Svensson was the finest of all men I ever met, humble, modest, respectful,” said his manager, Burkhard Hopper. “His light truly lit the world and his music inspired people in all corners of this world.”

E.S.T. had recently finished recording its 12th album, Leucocyte.

Svensson is survived by his wife and two children.

Επίσημη ιστοσελίδα E.S.T Trio E.S.T MySpace page E.S.T @ YouTube

Yoko Kanno - Cowboy Bebop

Yoko Kanno (菅野 よう子, Kanno Yōko, born March 19, 1964 in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan) is a composer, arranger and musician best known for her work on the soundtracks for many games, seminal anime films, TV series, live-action movies, and advertisements. She has written scores for famous animated works, including Macross Plus, Turn A Gundam, Cowboy Bebop, Vision of Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Wolf's Rain, and is the most trusted composer by veteran and new-wave directors such as Yoshiyuki Tomino, Shinichiro Watanabe and Shoji Kawamori.Kanno has also composed music for JPop artists, the most notable being Maaya Sakamoto and Kyoko Koizumi. She is also a skilled keyboardist, and is the frontwoman for The Seatbelts, who perform many of Kanno's compositions on the various original soundtracks for which she is responsible.

(Κείμενο από Wikepedia)

The Yoko Kanno Project

Ακούστε το κομμάτι 'Autumn in Gannymede'

Twisted Jazz in Greece: "JAZZNOVATION"

The Sound Of Everything presents a new septet band call Jazznovation! Their sound is a mixture of latin rhythms & funky grooves with a jazz twist! Their repertoire consists of popular covers & jazz standards (revisited in their own unique way), but what makes them stand out is their original music (their debut album will be released soon by the sound of everything recordings). Even if you're not a straight jazzhead you are bound to enjoy this band and dance to their uplifting rhythms!
The first lp Jazznovation is out now on The Sound of Everything label
Catch them live on 21st June in Athens (MusicDay fest) and on 20th July in Santorini (Casablanca Soul). You've been warned! Don't miss it!

Jazznovation MySpage page

Ιστοσελίδα The Sound of Everything

Nuspirit Helsinki - S/T (2002)

Very 21st century, not at all cloying but easy on the ear and subtle as you could wish for, this debut might well become nu-jazz' flagship album. A potential archetype for the genre that crosses many genres and a highlight among this summer's releases, it also restores Guidance, a label that has been rather quiet of late, to the forefront of creative "dance-based" music. Even if the lounge bubble bursts or collapses under the weight of its own coziness, NuSpirit Helsinki will undoubtedly survive. Tuomas Kallio, DJ Ender, Kim Rantalla, and the rest of the players have put together a striking testimony to the new interdisciplinarity, but more importantly they have, by any reasonable yardstick, made some marvelous and, I suspect, timeless music.

(Κείμενο Maurice Bottomley @PopMatters)

NuSpirit Official

Ακούστε το κομμάτι "Seis Por Ocho" εδώ

4hero - Play with the Changes (2007)

4hero are that rare sort of group whose career refuses to be summed up in the narrow bounds of a 300 word review. Suffice to say, they were there at the birth of Jungle and have played the role of the scene’s eccentric uncles ever since, following their muses under a slew of aliases. Though they’ve been busy with other projects, this is their first new album since 2001’s Creating Patterns. Where that album alternated classic tunes with driving left-field instrumentals, Play With The Changes is much more straightforward.
The album bursts into life with a lightning break before acquiring strings, horns, harp and Carina Anderson, familiar to 4hero fans from the previous album’s standout cover version, “Les Fleur”. “Morning Child” is best described as anthemic soul. “Take My Time” continues in like fashion with a slightly more electronic, funkier edge. “Sink Or Swim” is all Fender Rhodes and a stop-start broken beat rhythm. Two exceptions to the album’s silky flow come towards the end with “Why Don’t You Talk”, a track that sounds surprisingly like jazz rock and the brief guitar-led finale, “Dedication To The Horse”.
Almost every track has at least one guest, including the likes of 70s superstar songwriter/producer Larry Mizell, broken beat musicians Bembe Segue and Kaidi Tatham, and street poet Ursula Rucker. The latter’s mother earth focus signals a rare moment of unease and echoes her lyrical contribution on “Loveless”, the opening track on 1998’s Two Pages. The ever-shifting personnel gives the album a sense of variety, both in terms of vocals and rhythms. However, there’s no loss of cohesion due to 4hero’s production skills and, in particular, their string arrangements. Play With The Changes is a breath of summer sunshine. Its sophisticated affirmation is welcome, though it’s difficult not to mourn the loss of 4hero’s experimental edge.

(Κείμενο: Colin Buttimer, BBC)

Επίσημη ιστοσελίδα 4Hero

4Hero MySpace page

Digable Planets - Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)

The Happy Dog Project - Doggy Style (2007)

Happy Dog Project is a Greek band formed in an appartment @ downtown Athens, Greece, during the summer of 2000. The band performs it's own music that incorporates elements from balkan/greek traditional odd meters and funky/hip hop beats, mediterranean/middle eastern echoes, jazz impro, noises, dub and electro ambiences. The band's style changed over the years. In the beggining, it was more rough and hip hop-ish with DJ Marble spining vinyls and the band improvising along with guitar, hammond and rhodes in the front row. After some time, thinking and concers, the band focused more to the music of our own region of the world: the mediterranean/balkan/greek music and the rhythm signatures that come form this area. Happy Dog Project performed so far in live various venues, clubs and open air festivals in Greece and in Turkey (15th Akbank Jazz Festival @ Babylon Club, Istanbul). The band's first CD entitled "Dog Days Are Over" was out @ April 2004 from Ankh Records and their second one, entitled "Doggy Style", is out now from Ankh Records as well. Both CD's produced by Manolis Angelakis (with Stathis Ioannou on the second release).

Catch them live @ Technopolis, Athens on 20th June and Hyde Park, London on 21st June

The Happy Dog Project MySpace page

Classics Corner: Jobim - Wave (1967)

When Creed Taylor left Verve/MGM for his own label under the auspices of A&M, he quickly signed Antonio Carlos Jobim and they picked up right where they left off with this stunningly seductive record, possibly Jobim's best. Jobim contributes his sparely rhythmic acoustic guitar, simple melodic piano style, a guest turn at the harpsichord, and even a vocal on "Lamento," while Claus Ogerman lends a romantically brooding hand with the charts. A pair of instant standards are introduced ("Wave," "Triste"), but this album is to be cherished for its absolutely first-rate tunes -- actually miniature tone poems -- that escaped overexposure and thus sound fresh today. The most beautiful sleeper is "Batidinha," where the intuitive Jobim/Ogerman collaboration reaches its peak. One only wishes that this album were longer; 31:45 is not enough.

(Κείμενο από AMG)

Antonio Carlos Jobim Fanpage

Ltj Bukem - Journey Inwards

Massive Attack's Meltdown

Οι Massive Attack επιμελούνται το φετινό φεστιβάλ Meltdown (14-21 Ιουνίου) που θα πραγματοποιηθεί στο South Bank Centre του Λονδίνου με εισιτήρια που κυμαίνονται μεταξύ 20-50 GBP (25-65 Euro). Το πρόγραμμα του Meltdown '08 περιλαμβάνει τους Massive Attack, Horace Andy, Yellow Magic Orchestra, The Heritage Orchestra, Shape of Broad Minds & Flying Lotus, Terry Calier & Aloe Blacc, George Clinton & Parliament. Εννιά μέρες γεμάτες φιλμ, συζητήσεις, συναυλίες, ομιλίες σε ένα από τα πλέον δραστήρια Πνευματικά Κέντρα της Βρετανικής μητρόπολης...

Ιστοσελίδα Meltdown @ South Bank Centre

Soil & Pimp Sessions - A.I.E (live @ Later)

PURE EXPLOSIVE JAZZ PUNK ASSAULT !!!

Ιστοσελίδα Soil & Pimp Sessions

S&P Sessions myspace page

Build An Ark - Dawn (2007)

Dawn is the follow up to Build An Ark's internationaly acclaimed debut full-length Peace With Every Step. Featuring an amazing cast of instrumentalist/composers including Dwight Trible, Nate Morgan, Adam Rudolph, Phil Ranelin, Derf Reklaw, Munyungo Jackson and nearly 30 others, and lead by producer Carlos Nino (Ammoncontact, Hu Vibrational, The Life Force Trio, The Sound Of L.A.) Build An Ark have created a modern masterpiece that tells of the coming age of transcendant consciousness and healing vibrations.
Celebrated for their collective creativity and ensemble improvisation, Build An Ark find themselves in that magical place where John & Alice Coltrane, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, and Joni Mitchell are one in a cosmic soul music that is both topical and metaphysical. From this mystical place, Build An Ark share a message of love for all life in the universe.
With 10 tracks total, 7 new originals flowing wonderfully with 2 classics by Pharoah Sanders and
the great "Love, Sweet Like Sugarcane" by living legend Big Black (who's played and/or recorded with everyone from Sun Ra, Quincy Jones, Bill Cosby, Marvin Gaye, Randy Weston, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and Muhammad Ali), who joins the group on vocals and djembe, Dawn is a release that will resonate with music lovers of all kinds. The die-hard aficionados and the fresh- eared unitiated will find themselves connected by this incredible genre-bending offering that revels in the glory of cooperative expression and positive, heart-felt intent.

(Κείμενο από το SoulSeduction)

Samples του άλμπουμ από την Kindred Spirits records

Build An Ark myspace page

Two Banks of Four - Junkyard Gods (2008)

(Sonar Kollektiv Records)

Two Banks of Four are producers Robert Gallagher a.k.a. Early Zinger & Dilip Harris a.k.a. Demus, two friends who have a long-standing passion of music, denim and Soviet constructivist design. Zinger was a former member of nu-jazz collective Galliano, who rode the wave of Gilles Peterson's wonderful Talkin' Loud label in the 90s, and more recently the force behind the many moods of Early Zinger, whose reggae rockers cover of Blur's "Song Two" was an underground hit on his own Red Egyptian label. Demus is a very respected London producer whose work includes the Young Disciples' debut LP, Ig Culture, Zero 7 and founding the Co-Op club.

It all started in 1997 in an unheated flat in West London. The first few sessions were interrupted by power cuts and the heavy noise of trains leaving the city. They enrolled Valerie Etienne (former Galliano stalwart and recording artist in her own right) to become the leader of the vocal troupe, and she promptly recruited Paul Jason Fredericks and Bembe Segue to create a powerful trio of voices who would command the front of any stage. Their first long player, City Watching, received props from the likes of Gilles Peterson and Jazzanova, and was remixed by class-A music producers such as Herbert and Derrick L. Carter. The critically acclaimed second album, Three Street Worlds, came out 3 years later on Red Egyptian Jazz. During this time, Valerie Etienne and Zinger got to know the Jazzanova crew, and sang on "Mwela Mwela (Here I Am)" from Jazzanova's illustrious In Between album. They became good friends and it seemed natural that they should release their 3rd album on Jazzanova's Sonar Kollektiv imprint.

Junkyard Gods is an epic tour de force that cruises effortlessly through the twisted labyrinth of modern music genres - from soul to funk over to house and broken beat. Demus and Zinger put the emphasis on interaction and improvisation between all the musicians involved in the project, peppering it with their own electronic experimentations. This mix of influences, individual ideas and collective thinking is centred by Valerie Etienne, whose presence shines through the record from beginning to end. The whole album is a wonderful journey made of quirky electronic beats and sounds, flute solos, saxophone, trumpet and piano, strangely chaotic harmonies and intricate drumming sequences. It's easy to listen to, yet extremely rich and complex in its structure, with uplifting and energetic tracks such as "Paper Planes" and "Flags and Words" that could easily make it into the box of many a club DJ, poppy numbers like "Dead Afternoons" and "Queen of Crows", and more experimental tracks such as "Wake Me 5.30" and "Go", where electronic beats and layers of warped, dirty synths challenge musical logic.

Junkyards Gods will teleport you kicking and screaming into another dimension of music. With Demus and Zinger as your space-captains and Valerie Etienne as your personal hostess, you can be sure you'll be taken on a trip that you've never heard before.

(Κείμενο από το επίσημο Δελτίο Τύπου)

Επίσημο site Two Banks of Four

Two Banks of Four MySpace page

Διαβάστε την κριτική του BBC για το προηγούμενο αριστουργηματικό άλμπουμ "Three Street Worlds" (2003)

Περισσότερα samples προς ακρόαση στο Last.fm

Mondo Grosso - Invisible Man (Live @ Paris, '95)

Wordwide Festival

Εντυπωσιακό το πρόγραμμα και για το φεστιβάλ του Gilles Peterson, Worldwide, που σκαρώνει ο δαιμόνιος dj στο ψαροχώρι Sete στη Νότια Γαλλία. Το WWF 2008 θα πραγματοποιηθεί στις 3 - 5 Ιουλίου και περιλαμβάνει μεταξύ άλλων: Cinematic Orchestra, Laurent Garnier, Madlib, Sebastien Tellier, Pascal Comelade, Breakestra, Henrik Schwarz, Benga, Gilles Peterson, zero dB, Pilooski, Little Dragon, Dynamax, Marathon Men, Toshio Matsuura, L'Aroye and Ky ... με λίγα λόγια την αφρόκρεμα της παγκόσμιας Jazz, Hip Hop, Dub Step, Funk,House and Electro σκηνής.

Η επίσημη ιστοσελίδα του Worldwide Festival

42nd Montreux Jazz Festival

Ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα μουσικά γεγονότα της γηραιάς ηπείρου ανοίγει τις πύλες του από τις 3 έως τις 19 Ιουλίου. To 42o Φεστιβάλ Τζαζ του Μοντρέ φιλοξενεί τους σπουδαιότερους καλλιτέχνες της τζαζ και οχι μόνο.
Ενδεικτικά αναφέρουμε ορισμένα από τα ονόματα που έχουν ανακοινωθεί για φέτος: Abdullah Ibrahim, Al Jerrau, Alicia Keys, Anjelique Kidjo, Babyshambles (!!!), Belleruche, Billy Cobham, Buddy Guy, Chaka Kahn, Curtis Stigers, David Sanborn, Deep Purple, Eddy Grant, Erykah Badu, Etta James, Fischerspooner, Gary Moore, Gilberto Gill, Gnarls Barkley, Herbie Hancock, Interpol, James Lidell, Jill Scott, Joan Baez, Joe Jackson, John Mayall & The Blues Breakers, K. D. Lang, Katie Mehlua, Lenny Kravitz, Leonard Cohen, Luciano, Madness, Mick Hucknall, N.E.R.D, Nana Mouscouri, Nazareth (!!!), Paolo Bolognesi, Paolo Nuttini, Paul Simon, Petula Clark, Quincy Jones, Richard Galliano, Saxon, Sheryl Crow, Talib Kweli, The Kills, The National, Tower of Power, Travis, Underworld...

Ολόκληρο το πρόγραμμα σε pdf

Επίσημη ιστοσελίδα του Φεστιβάλ

Nostalgia 77 - Hope Suite

The Cinematic Orchestra - Live @ The Royal Albert Hall

(Ninja Tunes, 2008)

One of the most revered and versatile live bands from the UK, The Cinematic Orchestra have toured the world, headlined festivals, and even performed a party for Stanley Kubrick. On November 2, 2007 they played at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London accompanied by the 24-piece Heritage Orchestra. This release highlights the best moments from the night, including songs from the band's most recent album "Ma Fleur", as well as favorites from previous albums. Featuring "To Build A Home", "Breathe", "All That You Give", "Flite", and more. Guest vocalists include Lou Rhodes, Grey Reverend, and Heidi Vogel.

Quasimode

On the club jazz scene, quasimode has introduced itself as one of the best band all over the world.
In 2006, the first album "oneself-LIKENESS" was released. It acquired 1st place across the board with the club chart of the foreign-affiliated CD shops in Japan.
In 2007, the second album, "The Land of Freedom", was released and it was ranked at the 4th place for 2007 BEST JAZZ RECORDS chosen by the J-WAVE'S radio program hosted by Gilles Peterson.
The album became worldwide sensation; it was ranked at the top of club as well as Jazz charts of not only CD shops but also iTunes Store in Japan and SONAR KOLLEKTIV, Germany label led by JAZZANOVA, licensed the album and released it worldwide.
A live album, "Straight to the Land of Freedom", which recorded the live featuring the second album at LIQUIDROOM was released in March of 2008, becoming a smash hit.

Book: Blue Nippon

Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan (Duke University Press, 2001)
by Taylor Atkins

Japan’s jazz community—both musicians and audience—has been begrudgingly recognized in the United States for its talent, knowledge, and level of appreciation. Underpinning this tentative admiration, however, has been a tacit agreement that, for cultural reasons, Japanese jazz “can’t swing.” In Blue Nippon E. Taylor Atkins shows how, strangely, Japan’s own attitude toward jazz is founded on this same ambivalence about its authenticity.
Engagingly told through the voices of many musicians, Blue Nippon explores the true and legitimate nature of Japanese jazz. Atkins peers into 1920s dancehalls to examine the Japanese Jazz Age and reveal the origins of urban modernism with its new set of social mores, gender relations, and consumer practices. He shows how the interwar jazz period then became a troubling symbol of Japan’s intimacy with the West—but how, even during the Pacific war, the roots of jazz had taken hold too deeply for the “total jazz ban” that some nationalists desired. While the allied occupation was a setback in the search for an indigenous jazz sound, Japanese musicians again sought American validation. Atkins closes out his cultural history with an examination of the contemporary jazz scene that rose up out of Japan’s spectacular economic prominence in the 1960s and 1970s but then leveled off by the 1990s, as tensions over authenticity and identity persisted.
With its depiction of jazz as a transforming global phenomenon, Blue Nippon will make enjoyable reading not only for jazz fans worldwide but also for ethnomusicologists, and students of cultural studies, Asian studies, and modernism.

Real Blues People: Jazz in Japan by Wayne Zade /AllAboutJazz.Com (book review)

Buy the book from Amazon