Many of Chicago's blues clubs could be described as "blues and soul clubs" because that's exactly what they are. Although blues is the main focus of those West Side, South Side, and North Side venues, so many of the artists they book include a lot of R&B in their sets. One of those soul-minded bluesmen who lives in Chi-Town is Detroit native Quintus McCormick, whose Put It on Me is a perfect example of an album that has one foot in electric urban blues and the other in soul (specifically, old-school soul of the ‘60s and '70s variety). Actually, McCormick's résumé says a lot about his musical outlook; he has been a sideman for both James Cotton and Otis Clay, and that explains why he handles blues and soul equally well on this 2010 recording…
In 2009, together with Moroccan oud and guembri virtuoso Majid Bekkas and Spanish percussionist Ramon Lopez, Joachim Kühn recorded "Out of the Desert", the follow-up to their celebrated debut "Kalimba" which was described as "pure magic" (Jazzthetik). "Out of the Desert", praised for its "previously unheard sound" (Kulturspiegel) went on to win the German Record Critics Award. It was this "desert jazz", which culminated in 2011 with the powerfully organic and incredibly intense "Chalaba", that Stötzler suggested that Kühn transpose this to a greater dimension, that the trio’s African inspired improvisations should fuse with the diverse sound repertoire of the big band. Kühn was immediately taken with the idea of playing with the Frankfurter big band because, as he says, "they put their whole heart and soul in it"…
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