Blue Coup

Nesby proved during her time with The Sounds of Blackness that she could operate with a group that brought contemporary R&B production techniques to the brand of music she performed as a member that ensemble, and as a solo artist. What Nesby never tried to do is cater to the younger demographic by changing her vocal delivery, dumbing down her lyrics or embracing the excessive materialism and explicitness found in much of contemporary music. Nesby remained Nesby, and it worked to the tune of multiple Grammy wins and nominations. That’s what makes the title of her latest album, Living My Life, a description of her life’s philosophy as well.

The MPS label scored a coup when they were able to set up a recording date with the Basie orchestra. It took place on October 20th, 1969 at Universal Studios in Chicago. As agreed upon, the band brought along standards from the Basie book, and the Count fulfilled MPS head Hans Georg Brunner-Schwers wish that Basie play longer piano passages than usual; normally Basie limited himself to a short riff here and there. The way Basie and his orchestra played reminded me of a top long distance runner, producer Sonny Lester commented in the liner notes to the album. He went on to say that the bands playing was, disciplined, clean, with such a feel for timing and teamwork that you had the feeling that every band member was guided by the same brain. The best-known names in that particular group were tenor saxophonist Eddie Lockjaw Davis and guitarist Freddie Green, a Basie mainstay over the decades.

I heard about Seif Abu Bakr and The Scorpions for the first time maybe 3-4 years ago. Their album “Jazz, Jazz Jazz” ended up on my radar because of an eBay auction; it might have been the first auction for this particular album on the platform. While the bids kept on rising daily up to a staggering 1000$, if I recall correctly, I was intrigued about the snippet preview bits of the music on this album as well as by the impressive artwork. This album happens to be my first conscious connection with Sudanese music. Habibi Funk must have already existed for a year or so but I had not yet come across any recording from Sudan that I felt fitting in the context we set for our self. I remember I did some quick research in the aftermath of the auction (which I obviously did not win) to gather some information about the band but apart from some vague bits and pieces I could not find anything.

Calm, cool and collected, this is swinging modern jazz bolstered by congenial interplay and an exotic, Yiddish patina. Devoid of the histrionic fervor of Zorn's original Quartet recordings, Stolas: Book of Angels, Volume 12 is the Masada Songbook's most mainstream offering to date.

"My face isn't able to smile," Brian Wilson confides to collaborator Van Dyke Parks in one of this comprehensive double-DVD set's poignant bonus interviews, "but my heart does. "Using vintage clips and the frank insights of Brian's friends and colleagues, writer/producer/director David Leaf (a longtime Wilson confidant and author of the pioneering history The Beach Boys and the California Myth) charts the music legend's spectacular rise to stardom and the troubling gestation and subsequent abandonment of the 1967 album widely anticipated as Wilson's artistic coup de grace…

This band is hot. Very, very hot. And those aren't just empty words. After all, the Blues Company from Osnabrück, Germany is neither a hodgepodge of rank beginners nor - to borrow business lingo - a group of new business starters. Rather, they are a team of artists who have made their mark, musicians with experience and know-how aplenty. The musicians at work here have long since ensured that the name of their “company” is a recognised “seal of approval”. In a nutshell, “Blues Company” stands for German's longest-running and most successful blues band. And with each new recording, with each concert, these pros underscore that their passionate love affair with the blues is burning brightly as ever.