3 January 2017
Jazzkeller Frankfurt / Kamasi Washington
Wolfgang Sandner writes about the legendary Jazzkeller club in Frankfurt, Germany, which was founded in 1952, and he talks to Eugen Hahn who has taken over the venue 30 years ago, has invested a lot of his time and efforts in order to make ends meet, and has managed to maintain the memory of Frankfurt's reputation as "Germany's jazz capital" ( Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ).
Nate Chinen talks to the saxophonist Kamasi Washington about the heavy touring schedule of nearly 200 shows last year having helped the working band cohesion of his ensemble, about the spirit of jazz which he says will always resonate with people, about plans for a new album after his debut "The Epic" in 2015, as well as about jazz being about searching and keeping an open mind ( New York Times).
21 December 2016
... what else ...
André Domes reports that the Rüsselsheim Culture Award will go to the saxophonist Stephan Völker ( Main-Spitze).
Mojo Mendiola hears the German drummer Eric Schaefer with The Shreds in Krefeld, Germany ( Rheinische Post).
Doug Newhouse reports about a new Montblanc Miles Davis pen inspired by the trumpeter's music ( TRBusiness).
Claudia Melénez Salinas talks to the pianist and educator Rob Klevan who was just named the recipient of the 2017 John LaPorta Jazz Educator of the Year Award by the Berklee College of Music and the Jazz Education Network ( Santa Cruz Sentinel).
Liza Batkin connects Damien Chazelle's new jazz-tinged movie "La La Land" to the present political situation in the USA ( Broadly) while Ruby Lott-Lavigna calls the film a "whitewashed musical" ( Wired), and Jack Mirkinson has his criticism as well (Fusion).
Michael J. Agovino reads Michael Heller's new book about New York's Loft Jazz scene of the 1970s ( The Village Voice).
Dawn Kendrick talks to the Cleveland trumpeter Kenny Davis whose instruments had been stolen in a car-jack four days before Christmas ( WKYC).
Andreas Collet talks to the German pianist Johannes Mössinger ( Badische Zeitung).
Claudia Wagner talks to the 86-year-old Swiss-German drummer Elsy Ballmann ( Südkurier).
James Karst tells the story of the clarinet player Sidney Vigne who was making a name for himself in his hometown of New Orleans when he was fatally hit by a truck on his way home on New Year's Day 1923 ( New Orleans Times-Picayune).
Hans Hielscher hears the new album of German saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen and is intrigued by the fact that there still is a scene for traditional jazz in Germany ( Spiegel Online).
Obituaries
We learned of the passing of the Hawaiian pianist Betty Loo Taylor at the age of 87 ( Star Adviser), the drummer Alphonse Mouzon at the age of 68 ( Inquisitr, Something Else, New York Times), the French singer Léo Marjane at the age of 104 ( New York Times), the pianist Kathryn Bailey at the age of 86 ( The Almanac), the German trombonist and singer Knut Kiesewetter at the age of 75 ( Lübecker Nachrichten, NDR, Frankfurter Rundschau), the German club promoter Eugen Hutter at the age of 93 ( Stuttgarter Nachrichten ), the singer-songwriter-poet and author of some several jazz books David Meltzer at the age of 79 ( San Francisco Chronicle), the Portland club owner Jimmy Makarounis at the age of 53 only one day after his club Jimmy Mak's closed ( KOIN), as well as of the German saxophonist Manfred Baierl at the age of 64 ( JazzZeitung).
