Kaz Hawkins Full Force Gale

When she sings, Kaz Hawkins takes us into her vast and colourful universe, simple words express the strong emotions she writes about in an artistic universe that matches her endearing and free personality.

If there is one place where Kaz Hawkins' talent is perfectly expressed, it is the stage. This album recorded at the Summer Camp Festival in Brezoi, Romania is irrefutable proof. Having become one of the most important blues festivals in Europe, Brezoi has long crowned Kaz Hawkins as one of its queens, with the Northern Irishwoman being one of the headliners of the event each year. This public recording of 12 tracks is a new stone in Kaz Hawkins' musical edifice which is growing day by day to now approach the summits of the genre. A pure treat.

If there is one place where Kaz Hawkins' talent is perfectly expressed, it is the stage. This album recorded at the Summer Camp Festival in Brezoi, Romania is irrefutable proof. Having become one of the most important blues festivals in Europe, Brezoi has long crowned Kaz Hawkins as one of its queens, with the Northern Irishwoman being one of the headliners of the event each year. This public recording of 12 tracks is a new stone in Kaz Hawkins' musical edifice which is growing day by day to now approach the summits of the genre. A pure treat.

Ex-boxer Screamin' Jay Hawkins' live show, full of on-stage coffins, skulls, and toilets, prefigured the extravagant concert productions of later artists like Alice Cooper and George Clinton, and Hawkins' full awareness of the visual aspect of rock music extended even to his lyrics, which were purposefully graphic and surreal. In essence, Hawkins was a one- or two-trick pony, but boy, those ponies could run. His masterpiece was "I Put a Spell on You," which he originally recorded for OKeh Records (supposedly while extremely drunk) in 1956, and while Hawkins' version was never even close to being a commercial hit, the song has been covered so many times (most notably by Nina Simone) that it has deservedly been certified as a rock and R&B classic.