Candy Dylfer Candy Strore

True to the cute, winking title of her Heads Up debut, the glamorous and funky Dutch sax superstar offers a tasty little bagful of everything to please the funky, smooth, and exotic taste buds of jazz and R&B fans around the world. There's feisty, blistering jamming with multiple horn textures and jangling guitars (the sizzling opening track "Candy"), easy grooving, melodic old-school soul ("L.A. Citylights"), raw and thumping, brassy party singalongs ("Music = Love," the buoyant and breezy "Summertime"), and even a scorching Latin/Caribbean island dance-along ("La Cabana") and a jaunt to Jamaica (the jumpy, lilting "Smokin' Gun").

Is Candy Dulfer a jazz saxophonist with a feel for funk or a funk player with a jazz side to her musical personality? On FUNKED UP, she leans toward the latter. While there is some smooth melodious jazz here, most of this set is geared to paying tribute to old-school funk–Parliament, Funkadelic, James Brown, and the earliest efforts by Kool & the Gang and Rick James. There’s some rapping along with overtones of reggae rhymes and Latin rhythms, but for the most part FUNKED lives up to its title, with Dulfer’s heated sax shining throughout. This special edition of FUNKED UP! also includes a second disc of Candy Dulfer "chill-out" instrumentals.

I write from the perspective as a Candy rather than Hans officianado and therefore assume that the direction on this album comes more from father than girl. As such we get Euro-dance flavours enhanced by the dualled horns (of every voice) of Hans and Candy in various combinations. Very hard to tell whether the Student has become the Master, but DD allows you to explore the possibilities. It also explains why Hans and Candy haven't recorded before, the latter being clearly derivative of Dad spearated only by her own influences.

In the summer of 2002, with the help Eagle Records - Candy was given total creative freedom to create the CD of her dreams, giving her the opportunity to push the boundaries with her seamless fusion of R&B, Drum `n Bass, Funk, Jazz and Ambient sounds. Right In My Soul marks Dulfer's first studio album in four years. Right In My Soul has all the trademark riffs, solos and that fit in with the new Candy Dulfer but still instantly recognizable to her legions of fans.

Finally, a new full-length Candy Dulfer album called ‘We Never Stop, A party platter of stanky jams, silken R&B, jazz, and pop-funk, ‘We Never Stop’ features several guest appearances by Chic guitarist, producer, songwriter, and three-time GRAMMY Award-winner Nile Rodgers. Take a listen to the first single “Jammin’ Tonight (feat. Nile Rodgers),” a bold injection of party pop-funk with a slick jazz overlay that recalls Rodgers’ 1970s “Good Times” finery.

If you think of funk and sax, Candy Dulfer is one of the first names that comes to mind. Her breakthrough came in the late 80s and early 90s, initially with her 1989 single Lily Was Here from the soundtrack of the film of the same name, which she recorded with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, reaching number 6 in the UK singles charts. Ever since then, this charming Dutch lady has been an ambassador for funk all over the world. And having worked with the greats such as Prince, Van Morrison, Maceo Parker, Dave Stewart, Beyoncé, Pink Floyd, Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Cliff, Tower Of Power, Angie Stone and Alan Parsons, she can quite rightly call herself a star. On the album Crazy, Candy Dulfer once again shows her creativity and ambition as a musician.

The sound of Rock Candy Funk Party is as celebratory as the band name suggests. Spinning a fresh take on classic ’70s and ’80s funk and jazz, RCFP is powered by a lineup of world-class players collaborating for the sheer joy of making music, and a mutual love of genre-blurring grooves. A jazz-funk fusion revival supergroup, Rock Candy Funk Party grew out of an instrumental album recorded by drummer and producer Tal Bergman and guitarist Ron DeJesus in 2007 called Grooove, Vol. 1.

Candy Dulfer is a Dutch smooth jazz, funk alto saxophonist and occasional singer who began playing at the age of six. She founded her band, Funky Stuff, when she was fourteen years old. Her debut album Saxuality (1990) received a Grammy nomination. Dulfer has released eleven studio albums, two live albums, and one compilation album. She has performed and recorded songs with musicians including her father Hans Dulfer, Prince, Dave Stewart, Van Morrison, and Maceo Parker, and has performed live with Alan Parsons (1995), Pink Floyd (1990), and Tower of Power (2014). She hosted the Dutch television series Candy meets… (2007), in which she interviews fellow musicians. In 2013 she became a judge in the fifth season of the Dutch version of X Factor.