Berlin Concerts Archive

Jupiter & Okwess has been one of the highlights of the Womex 2016 and we are happy to announce his first show in Berlin at YAAM! With their mix of Afrobeat, Rock, Funk and different Congolese music styles, the band around the charismatic singer Jupiter Bokondji appears not only on world music festival but also on Rock & Pop Festivals.

Jupiter was born in Kinshasa and grew up in the former GDR, where his father worked for the Embassy of Congo. At that time, he listened to bands like The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and James Brown, who still influence his music. Since than several musical projects followed and he always developed his own style. He has been part of Damon Albarns “Africa Express” and will released his new Album “Kin Sonic” at Glitterbeat in July 2017.

OUT OF NATIONS lädt die Zuschauer ein auf eine Reise durch ein Zauberland der Alternative-World Music, dargeboten von Musikern von fünf Kontinenten, die funkige Grooves inspiriert von Arabischen und Lateinamerikanischen Rhythmen, mit Rock, Jazz-Fusion und Pop-Musik vereinen.

Zum Anlass der Veröffentlichung ihres Debüt-Albums im 2018, spielt die Band Stücke inspiriert von der Geschichte von Lety, einer Amerikanischen Musikerin mit Ägyptischen und Mexikanischen Wurzeln. Inspiriert von ihren kreativen Wurzeln und ihren Erlebnissen auf vier Kontinenten lud Lety ElNaggar den unkonventionellen Produzenten Khalil Chahine ein, zusammen ihre Kompositionen in eine musikalische Geschichte zu verwandeln. Kurz darauf schlossen sie sich mit ihren Mitreisenden und weltweit agierenden Künstlern Christian Tschuggnall, Ayman Mabrouk, Jonas Cambien, Charis Karantzas und Thomas Stieger zusammen.

Die Musik und das Band-Konzept sind vom Eindruck der Nachwirkungen des Arabischen Frühlings in den USA, Europa und dem Nahen Osten inspiriert – dem Erlebnis von globalen Wellen des Fremdenhasses, erhöhter Grenzsicherheit und Gewalt, dass den revolutionären Geist geschwächt hat, mit dem viele auf „Brot, Würde und soziale Gerechtigkeit“ gehofft hatten. Unsere Musik repräsentiert Hoffnung für eine zukünftige Welt, jenseits von Nationen, in der Menschen nicht in Grenzen eingeschlossen sind die das Reisen und die Kommunikation erschweren.

Unterstützt werden sie von JOHN KAMEEL FARAH: »Maximalismus« nennt der aus Kanada stammende Komponist und Pianist John Kameel Farah seine Art zu komponieren: Klaviermusik, live-produzierte Synthesizer-Klänge und Orgelsounds schichten sich in seiner Musik übereinander – und werden abgelöst von arabischen Melodiefragmenten. Minimalistische Arpeggien stehen hier neben Elementen aus Jazz, Drum & Bass und elektronischer Musik sowie Harmonien und Rhythmen aus dem Nahen Osten. Ausgangpunkt für John Farahs erstes Album »Time Sketches« war seine 12 Minuten lange Komposition »Fantasia«, die er ursprünglich als Auftragswerk der Western Front Society in Vancouver geschrieben und im Sommer 2016 in Berlin aufgeführt hat.

John Kameel Farah studierte Komposition und Klavier an der Universität von Toronto, wo er zweimal den Glenn-Gould-Composition-Award gewann. 1999 nahm er Privatunterricht bei Terry Riley und studierte später am Arabic Music Retreat in Hartford/Connecticut.

Maarja Nuut is a violonist and singer from Northern Estonia. Her music combines traditional dance tunes, songs, and stories with live electronics to create an intricate layered soundscape in a space where minimalism and experimental music meet the village musical traditions of pre-war Europe.

Maarja in performance searches for a lively and relaxed state like a cat poised to leap. She says this state "gives rise to music and makes me want to prolong being in the moment while altering ways of seeing, hearing and perceiving. It is always “now” and old tunes are as fresh as improvisations which were born a second ago”. This is how she tells us her intimate stories using fiddles, her voice and modern electronics. 

In 2013, Maarja released her debut album “Soolo” that generated a small buzz in Europe, including many glowing reviews as well as favorable comparisons to Czech avant-garde violinist Iva Bittová and a Twitter shout out from Duran Duran front man Simon Le Bon. Her second album, ‘Une meeles’ which reveals even more her minimalist approach, was released internationally in mid-2016 and got high-rated critical acclaim both in Europe and in North America.

Maarja has toured the USA, Canada and Europe, won the Artist Award at Tallinn Music Week, and made a very successful showcase at the WOMEX International Conference in Spain. Since then Maarja has been selected to play at various important showcase festivals such as Eurosonic Norderslaag, APAP, Mundial Montreal, Folk Alliance International, MENT Ljubljana, Lost In Music etc.  

Sting und Paul McCartney haben es vorgemacht > es kann fantastische Resultate hervorbringen, gleichzeitig Bass zu spielen, zu singen und eine Band zu führen. Auch Ellen Andrea Wang besitzt diese Talente, und ist dennoch eine Besonderheit im Pop – Business. Die junge Norwegerin, die im Oktober 2016 30 Jahre alt geworden ist, hätte mit ihrer glasklaren Stimme allein als Jazzsängerin eine internationale Karriere einschlagen können. Doch Wang lernte zunächst Violine, ehe sie sich als Teenager für den Kontrabass entschied und an der Norwegischen Musikakademie studierte. Genrebeschränkungen haben Wang nie interessiert, sie hat mit Bands aus allen Bereichen der norwegischen Underground – Szene gearbeitet. Übrigens auch schon mit Sting, sowie Manu Katché und Marilyn Mazur. Für ihr Solo – Debüt „Diving“ (2014) und ihre Genre – überschreitende Band Pixel erhielt sie einhelliges Lob der Kritiker. Nun folgt Ellen Andrea Wangs zweites Werk „Blank Out“. Mit einem unverhohlenen politischen Kommentar („Peace Prize“) beginnt das Album. Dies sind Songs, die Reue ausdrücken. Die Schwierigkeit, einmal getroffene Entscheidungen wieder umzukehren – eben Change of Heart“. Der vorab veröffentlichte Song klingt mit seinen locker schwebenden Melodien und Synthesizern wie ein Tribut an die Singer – Songwriter – Ästhetik der 80er Jahre.

Elemente von RnB und gut gelauntem Pop bestimmen „Bad Blood“ und „Feelings“, in „Electric“ kombiniert Wang ihren Kontrabass mit Synthie – Funk und treibenden Drums. „Blank Out“ ist vielfältig. „Heaven“ hebt in jazzige Sphären ab, während „Accord de Paris“ den akustischen Kern dieses Trios aufzeigt. Die Sängerin wird begleitet von Erland Dahlen, der als Drummer und Perkussionist auf Electronica/Jazz/Experimental spezialisiert ist, und Pianist Erlend Slettevoll. Die Songs des Ellen Andrea Wang Trios führen mit ihren slicken Grooves direkt auf die Tanzfläche. Und atmen doch die Sensibilität eines akustischen Jazz – Trios.

Besetzung
Ellen Andrea Wang (vocals, doublebass, composer)
Erlend Slettevoll (piano, keyboards)
Erland Dahlen (drums)

MUSIC SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS.. IT IS THE ONLY THING PEOPLE LISTEN TO

Born in Gainesville, Georgia (USA), Ingrid Arthur became one of the most powerful voices in the history of music. She is not a only a wonderful singer, she is the goddess of soul with her rich, powerful traditional gospel background with the soul of Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples, Mahalia Jackson!

Throughout her career, Ingrid worked together with many international stars. Her credits include singing background vocals with Grammy Award winning 1996 
and 1997 Cissy Houston (mother of Whitney Houston) “Face to Face” 
and “He Leadeth Me” and 1995 Grammy Award winning song 
of the year “From A Distance” for Bette Midler.

She performed on different stages in New York, Paris, London and Berlin as musical designer and was rewarded due to her professionalism, congenial appearance and unique voice always with standing ovations.

As the doors open Ingrid always takes the opportunity, if it meant growing in the music! She has shared stage with great pioneers Tramaine Hawkins, Shirley 
Caesar and Dorothy Norwood.

Her European invasion began with the ‘Golden Gospel Singers” combining her love for both music and theatre performance “Little Shop of Horrors” in German at the Metropol Theatre in Vienna; Performing with German “Dinglish” comedic sensation Gayle Tufts “Miss America” and touring with Polydor recording artist James Last and his Orchestra.

Since 2002 Ingrid Arthur now lives in Berlin, but is still touring the world with her amazing performances.

And from the safe orchestra to blazing up the stage with one of the hottest European duo “The Weather Girls” world renowned for their hit single “It’s Raining Men”,

Ingrid was the former singer of the Duo and has recorded 2 CDs as Weather Girl “Totally Wild” with Coconut records and “Woman I Am” with Sonic Nerve.

Ingrid has toured with Delle (from Seeed) enjoying the Raggae music side on his “BEFORE I GROW OLD” tour.

Since 2011 Ingrid is a successful Solo Artist.

Ingrid Arthur enriches the world of entertainment and music with her powerful voice and her profession. She has graced the stage and touched the hearts of many.

Whether it is for LIVE Band, Half Playback or just easy listening Piano Bar Music, you can be sure that Ingrid Arthur will set the tone and the mood.

Der Komponist, Songwriter und Instrumentalist Michael Landau wurde in Los Angeles geboren und wuchs dort auch auf. Er ist ein überaus produktiver Session-Gitarrist, der seit den 1980ern auf hunderten Platten gespielt hat. Die Highlights seine Sessions der letzten Jahre sind: Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, B. King, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Michael Jackson und Rod Stewart uvm.

1993 gewann er die Leserwahl für den besten Studio-Gitarristen im Guitar Player Magazine.

Im Jahr 2016 erhielt Michael eine Grammy-Nominierung als Mitglied der Steve Gadd Band und war im Laufe der Jahre in mehrere Bandprojekte involviert: Renegade Creation (mit Robben Ford), The Ringers (mit Jimmy Herring und Wayne Krantz), The Raging Honkies, Burning Water und sein eigenes Projekt The Michael Landau Group. Mit mehreren Veröffentlichungen unter seinem eigenen Namen, zuletzt dem von der Kritik gefeierten ‚Organic Instrumentals‘, fließt seine Musik weiterhin intensiv.

Michael wuchs mit der Musik der Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin und Cream auf. Sein Großvater war Arrangeur und spielte Holzbläser bei den Dorsey Brothers und Benny Goodman während der Swing-Ära. In seinen frühen Teenager Jahren, vertiefte sich Michael in Jazz und Electric Jazz Fusion: Weather Report, Pat Martino und Jaco Pastorius waren einige seiner frühen Obsessionen. Aus dieser vielfältigen Mischung von Einflüssen nahmen sein Klang und sein Weg Gestalt an. Seine aktuelle Gruppe konzentriert sich auf Improvisation und die Spontanität von Live-Performances.

„Ich lebe für diese Momente live, wenn der Klang und die Emotionen eine Kraft werden, die größer ist als die Summe der einzelnen Musiker. Die Musik wird zu einer einzigartigen Kreation mit einer eigenen Persönlichkeit, einem wahren Moment in der Zeit, aufregend und doch beruhigend. Es ist schwer, über Musik zu sprechen, aber ich bin sicher süchtig danach, ich wäre ohne sie verloren.“

– Michal Landau

Sein neuestes Projekt The Michael Landau Liquid Quartet ist eine Mischung aus mehreren Stilen, die von eindringlichen instrumentalen Balladen bis hin zu Blues-basiertem Soul-Rock mit Gesang reichen. Dien Verdienst von Landau aufzuzählen ist eine Sache die ihm nicht gerecht wird.

Es ist eine Sache, seinen Lebenslauf zu notieren, aber es ist eine ganz andere Sache, ihn live zu sehen. Das ist der Moment, in dem Du die ganze Bandbreite von Landaus Meisterschaft der Gitarre bekommst. Es ist eine spirituelle Reise, Musik für die Seele, und es ist überwältigend.

Diese All-Star-Band bietet Andy Hess am Bass (John Scofield, Gov’t Mule, The Black Crows) und David Frazee an Gesang und Gitarre (Burning Water).

Watch out! 47SOUL is one of the most promising rising stars from the Middle East and presenting the world their own and unique music genre called ‚Shamstep‘ - a powerful mix of traditional street music from the 'Sham'-region (Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria) combined with deep electronic beats and influences from funk, hip-hop and rock. 47SOUL connects melodies that have been echoing through the Arab World for centuries with analogue synthesizers, hypnotic guitar lines, and verses in both Arabic and English.

Their first hit single “Intro to Shamstep” reached over 4 million views on Youtube and also live 47SOUL are a unique experience since every single show ends in relentless and trancelike dances both on stage and in the (mostly young) crowd.

After founding the group in Jordan in 2013 and releasing the first tracks in the Middle East – the four talented musicians found their new home in London. They already completed four UK festival tours (e.g. Glastonbury, Womad, Boomtown Fair, Bestival) and sold out shows at some of London’s best music venues. In Europe too 47SOUL was able to convince crowds on festivals like Roskilde Festival, Esperanzah, Amsterdam Roots or c/o Pop. Now the first club tour through Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia is pending.

After the successful ‘Shamstep’ EP, their highly anticipated first album ‘Balfron Promise’ will be released in february 2018. The album and themes are inspired by both modern-day London and the 100 year-old politics of the Middle East which is still influencing 47Soul’s story today. Socially relevant and lyrically clever, ‘Balfron Promise’ covers all elements of a transboundary and pulsating freedom-of-movement music album. We invite you to join us and the band on this exciting journey!

“It all started as a hobby”, Marcus Strickland says of his beat making. “It was what I did after playing sets with Roy Haynes or Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts” or on a break between practicing saxophone etudes. It started separately, and naturally became one with my voice as a composer and saxophonist.”

Marcus Strickland’s debut Blue Note/ Revive Records release Nihil Novi (Latin for Nothing New) is about our relationship with time: how many things in the world can seem new, but are actually cyclical occurrences or developments from where the past left us off. From 2 Live Crew to Twerking, and Rodney King to Eric Garner, be careful what you call new. The multi reedist/ beatmaker made this record with a strong and inspiring urgency that is inclusive of, yet not exclusively from his jazz roots.

„A musician does not grow from forcing themselves into a vacuum. Genres eventually cross pollinate, making our ability to be in the present more relevant than the original given terms. Creativity does not stay within lanes, it feeds off of its surroundings.“ However, Strickland has a deep rooted respect and admiration for his predecessors, and it shows in his music. „One great tool that we have to navigate the present is culture. Culture, being the culmination of our triumphs and failures, gives us an advantage when dealing with similar situations, and it reminds us of what is important. So for me Nihil Novi is just a reminder to me of what’s mostly important to me, musically and emotionally. I just want it to feel good. When I made the beats that inspired this record I was entrenched in J Dilla, Mad Lib, Slum Village, D’Angelo. I learned from them how to add and subtract layers for an overall affect, how powerful even the most subtle melodic line is when it is absent.“

“The many layers, pre-production, and the need for fresh ears to this music were the reasons why I wanted to work with a producer on this venture.” Says Strickland. “It’s impossible to learn how to produce without working close with producers, so I mustered up the courage to ask one of the most well regarded of my heroines to produce this record, Meshell Ndegeocello.” The genre-less, bass guru, songstress, producer generously accepted and immediately allotted the tracking, mixing and mastering to highly regarded sound wizard, Bob Power.

„I could not have planned it any better, the way that things sprouted out when I first started introducing this music to drummer Charles Haynes, who co-produced on most of the tracks. He helped me put together the band, I already knew I wanted to work with him, Jean Baylor, Keyon Harrold (who I already worked with on previous Twi-Life projects) and BIGYUKI. Charles introduced me to Kyle Miles and Mitch Henry and a band was born.“

DownBeat Critic’s Poll winner Marcus Strickland has steadily proven to be an essential part of the jazz continuum since he stepped on the scene in the early 2000s. He presented his Twi-Life group at The 2013 NYC Winter JazzFest; a highly anticipated annual event which showcases over seventy new and established groups in tandem with the Arts Presenters (APAP) conference. Twi-Life, an electric band with its inception rooted in the soul music Strickland grew up listening to, is a testament to his irrepressible versatility. “It seems, so far, that every Twi-Life band will be significantly different than the next because it is my refuge for trying out my wildest ideas,” says Strickland, who is emerging as one of the most multi-faceted and prolific writers and performers of his generation.

His genre-bending propensity has produced fascinating and unconventional collaborations and this time around is no different; the members of this eclectic ensemble have worked individually with artists like Kanye West, Bilal and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. The group includes the wide-ranging talents of hip-hop lyricist, DJ and Berklee professor, Raydar Ellis; legendary trombonist, Frank Lacy; dexterous keyboardist Yuki Hironao; The Roots’ newest member, bassist Mark Kelley; dynamic drummer Charles Haynes; and special guest, singer-songwriter Jean Baylor, formally of the hit- making 90s R&B duo, Zhané.

Strickland’s development as a producer is the nexus of this project whose music comes mostly from taking his beats and applying acoustic instrumentation and improvisation. “Once you combine the many textures, layers and number crunching of [drum] programming with human spontaneity, the possibilities are infinite and it becomes yet another instrument for human invention.”

Pippo Pollina is, without a doubt, one of the biggest Italian Poets since the early nineties: Expressive and energetic, dedicated and lyrical - that's the way his voice, songs and lyrics enchant us on dozens of albums. In Germany, Switzerland and Austria he enjoys huge success, playing around 150 concerts per year! Pippo Pollina is with different programs on tour: “Solo with Special Guests" and “Acoustic Quartet”. An expressive and charming Italian singer songwriter who inspires his audience in clubs, theatres, concert halls and at festivals.

Since Omer Avital debuted as a bandleader in 1995, the Israeli-American bassist-composer has established himself internationally as a virtuoso practitioner of his instrument and a transformational composer and musical thinker. As a performer, Avital is a master of the various rhythmic and harmonic vocabularies that underpin 20th and 21st century hardcore jazz expression, which he approaches with a polyphonic attitude and articulates with prodigious technique. As a conceptualist, he is an avatar of musical multilingualism, as fluent carving out an erudite walking bassline as creating gorgeous melodies from percolating North African grooves, elemental vamps and Middle Eastern scales that descend from his Yemenite and Moroccan roots.

Born in 1971, Avital began his journey in Givatayim, Israel, a municipality that adjoins Tel Aviv’s eastern border. His father, Eliyahu, a photographer of Moroccan descent, introduced Omer to big band jazz, Frank Sinatra, European classical and Arab traditional music. His mother, Dalia, is descended from a Yemenite family. They met through their mutual love of dancing, and after their marriage, Eliyahu Hebraicized his last name, Abutbul, which means “father of the drum,” to Avital, “father of the dew.”

At 11, Avital won a children’s songwriting contest. He began to play guitar, which he studied at the Givatayim Conservatory and later Thelma Yellin School of the Performing Arts in Tel Aviv. His love of blues guitar opened a window into jazz; at 15 he heard Jaco Pastorius, got an electric bass and became involved in fusion and rock. At 17, he met bassist Emil Ram, once a student of bebop guru Barry Harris, who introduced him to the music of Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington. Avital bought an upright bass, and soon became a fixture on Tel Aviv’s jazz scene. After a year of mandatory military service, which he spent in the Israeli Air Force Orchestra, Avital flew to New York in 1992.

After a semester at the New School’s Jazz and Contemporary Music Program, Avital matriculated at Mannes College, and immersed himself into an emerging scene being created in various small venues in downtown Manhattan by a wave of musicians who would soon be household names. In 1993, alto saxophonist Antonio Hart took him on tour, and included him on the CD For Cannonball and Woody, along with NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Cobb. That year, he also toured with tenor saxophonist Bill Saxton, and encountered drummer Ali Jackson, a frequent partner now well known for his long tenure with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

In 1995, Avital formed a four-saxophone, bass and drums unit at Smalls, the now-iconic Greenwich Village jazz club that he helped to launch in April 1994 on a two-night gig by a Peter Bernstein-led quartet that included Brad Mehldau, and another night with Mehldau’s trio. As time progressed, Avital became a regular presence at Smalls, along with such gifted same-generation friends as pianists Aaron Goldberg and Jason Lindner, drummers Daniel Freedman and Jackson, and bassist Avishai Cohen and trombonist Avi Lebovich, both fellow first-wave Israeli emigrants. He received a one-night-a-week sinecure, and began composing for a rotating cast of saxophonists that included such masters-in-the-making as Mark Turner, Greg Tardy, Myron Walden, Jimmy Greene, Grant Stewart, Jay Collins, Charles Owens and Joel Frahm in ensembles propelled by Jackson, Joe Strasser, or Freedman.

As Avital evolved his singular corpus over the next five years, accolades accumulated. Time Out New York wrote: “Years from now, when folks are remembering the early days of Smalls, bassist Omer Avital’s name will be as synonymous with the club as Bill Evans’ is with the Village Vanguard and Thelonious Monk’s is with the original Five Spot Café.” His music was first documented on Jazz Underground: Live at Smalls (Impulse!), along with pieces by five other Smalls-associated bands. Avital signed with Impulse! as a bandleader in 1998, and recorded his debut studio album, Devil Head, which, due to circumstances beyond his control, was never released. His first leader release was the 2001 studio album Think With Your Heart (Fresh Sound), which Downbeat awarded a 4½-star review. Of the subsequently-issued location recordings Asking No Permission and Room To Grow, both on Smalls Records, which reveal the heights this band could reach in live performance, New York Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff wrote: “So we weren’t crazy: finally, here’s proof that Omer Avital’s sextet, which played at Smalls to a small but deep following in the late 90’s, really was good.” Avital also played in Lindner’s big band, and participated the collaborative OAM Trio, with Goldberg and Catalonian drummer Marc Miralta, which presented standards, bebop tunes and original music by each member on Trilingual, Flow, Live in Sevilla (with Turner), and Now and Here

Based in a small village near Jerusalem called Ein-Karem, he studied the Oud, and enrolled at Jerusalem’s Rubin Academy of Music, where he taught jazz and earned a degree in classical composition in 2004. He began to de-emphasize his bass playing and to investigate more thoroughly the various dialects he’d blended intuitively during the ‘90s. He studied counterpoint and Schoenberg; played Strauss, Mahler and Mozart in the school orchestra; studied Arabic quarter tone music in both its classical and folk forms; Israeli pioneering songs known as Zemer Ivry; and North African and Middle Eastern piyyut, Jewish traditions of sacred song, particularly of the Moroccan and Yemenite varieties.

On school breaks, Avital toured Israel with a groove-based unit propelled by American drummer Marlon Browden, that featured trumpeter Avishai Cohen and pianist Omri Mor, both Israelis. He also co-founded Third World Love, a collective quartet with Cohen, Israeli-French pianist Yonathan Avishai and drummer Freedman, described by Jazz Times as a “fired-up yet cozy admixture of jazz and global influences, hints of Middle Eastern melodies, Spanish accents and African rhythms.” Their ebullient lyricism comes through on Third World Love Songs (2003), Avanim (2004), Sketches of Tel Aviv (2006), New Blues (2007), and Songs and Portraits (2012).

In 2005, Avital moved back to New York, where he recorded Arrival [Fresh Sound] and The Ancient Art of Giving [Smalls], deploying, respectively, a sextet and quintet to document 18 tunes, some which he’d written during his stay in Ein-Karem. They document the beginning of a new compositional direction, synthesizing, in the words of pianist-journalist Ben Waltzer, “American jazz, Israeli, Yemeni, Moroccan, and other Arab styles into something genuinely new and vital for its connection to a shared Middle Eastern past.”

While ensconced in New York, Avital has fully engaged himself in the cultural life of Israel with a string of ambitious works that, Waltzer writes, “emerged in the course of his search to better understand his identity as a jazz musician, as an Israeli, and as an heir to a Mizrahi cultural tradition historically viewed as inferior by Israel’s Ashkenazi elite.”

One such project is Avital’s 2008 Bass Concerto (My heart is in the East and I am at the edge of the West)—A confession of an Arab-Jew in Eretz Israel, in which he refined and transformed into high art popular tunes written in Israel by Jews from the Arab-Islamic world. Another from that year is Debka Fantasia, on which Avital and Israeli musicologist Yisrael Borochov explored the Bedouin roots of Israel’s pioneer songs. Still another is Avital’s Song of a Land, an extended meditation on land and culture in the Middle East that refined and elaborated traditional Jewish, Arab and North African elements.

Also in 2008, Avital was invited to play at the Jerusalem Piyyut Festival with the Moroccan-born Israeli virtuoso singer and piyyut performer Rabbi Haim Louk, whose recordings Avital had admired for years. The success of that performance spurred Avital to broach the idea of expanding the context to a large ensemble, resulting in the New Jerusalem Orchestra (co-founded with Yair Harel), which performed the 2010 extended work Ahavat Olamim (“Eternal Love”), on which Avital arranged a suite of traditional Moroccan Piyyuts (released as a 2-CD set in 2011), and the 2012 project, Makam Yerushalem, performed at the David Citadel in Jerusalem.

In 2010, Avital co-founded and served as music director for Yemen Blues, a project conceived by singer-composer Ravid Kahalani (who Avital met at the Debka Fantasia project), that mixes Yemenite, West African, funk, jazz and blues flavors, as documented on the 2011 album Yemen Blues. In 2012, Avital began a project with Berlin-based, Israeli mandolinist Avi Avital (no relation), in which he displays his no-limits command of the oud towards articulating their shared interest in baroque, Moroccan and Israeli folk music. Avital Meets Avital’s August 2016 recording for Universal will be released on Deutsche Grammophone in June 2017.

But Avital—who earned Israel’s Prime Minister’s Award in 2008—still regards jazz as his primary vehicle of self-expression. His recent recordings of original music by his quintet with trumpeter Avishai Cohen and tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm include the 2011 CD Live At Smalls (Smalls Live) with pianist Lindner and drummer Jonathan Blake. Suite Of The East, with pianists Omer Klein and drummer Daniel Freedman, recorded in 2006, was released in 2012, when TSF Jazz (France) named it Album of the Year, and NPR Music chose it as a Top Ten Jazz Album. Jazz Times described the compelling 2014 CD New Song (Plus Loin/Motema), with pianist Yonathan Avishai and Freedman, as “fresh, sophisticated, authentic and—something that can’t always be counted on accompanying those other qualities—great fun to listen to… Avital’s melodies, as a rule, are remarkably singable. More power to him if his big-hearted music compels listeners to sing or dance along.”

For his summational 2016 CD, Abutbul Music [Harmonia Mundi], his tenth release as a leader, Avital recruited for the first time an all-Israeli band with pianist Yonathan Avishai, saxophonists Asaf Yuria and Alexander Levin, and drummer Ofri Nehemya. Pianist Eden Ladin comes on-board for an upcoming 2017 release by the Omer Avital Quintet, his working band for the foreseeable future. None of the musicians are over 30; each is following the example Avital set when he migrated from Israel to New York City to receive thorough seasoning in the art of jazz expression.

In their company, Avital, informed by his experience in the polyglot melting pots of his native and adopted homes, and by his deeply rooted blues sensibility, will continue to merge the streams of expression that permeate his sui generis musical production over the last two decades. Pragmatic and utopian, grounded and visionary, he’s a 21st century lodestar.

GRAMMY winner Kurt Elling is among the world’s foremost jazz vocalists. He won the DownBeat Critics Poll for fourteen consecutive years and was named “Male Singer of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association on eight occasions. An international jazz award winner, he has also been GRAMMY nominated a dozen times.

Elling’s rich baritone spans four octaves and features both astonishing technical mastery and emotional depth. His repertoire includes original compositions and modern interpretations of standards, all of which are springboards for inspired improvisation, scatting, spoken word, and poetry.

The New York Times declared, “Elling is the standout male vocalist of our time.” The Washington Post added, “Since the mid-1990s, no singer in jazz has been as daring, dynamic or interesting as Kurt Elling. With his soaring vocal flights, his edgy lyrics and sense of being on a musical mission, he has come to embody the creative spirit in jazz.”

Elling was the Artist-in-Residence for the Singapore and Monterey Jazz Festivals. He has also written multi-disciplinary works for The Steppenwolf Theatre and the City of Chicago. The Obama Administration’s first state dinner featured Elling in a command performance.

Elling is a renowned artist of vocalese—the writing and performing of words over recorded improvised jazz solos. The natural heir to jazz pioneers Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure and Jon Hendricks, Elling has set his own lyrics to the improvised solos of Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny. He often incorporates images and references from writers such as Rilke, Rumi, Neruda and Proust into his work. The late poet and Bollingen Prize winner Robert Creeley wrote, “Kurt Elling takes us into a world of sacred particulars. His words are informed by a powerful poetic spirit.” Said Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States, “In Kurt Elling’s art, the voice of jazz gives a new spiritual presence to the ancient, sweet and powerful bond between poetry and music.”

Kurt Elling has toured vigorously throughout his career, thrilling audiences throughout the world. In that time he has led his own ensemble and has collaborated with many of the world’s finest orchestras.

Passion World, Kurt Elling’s latest recording, culminates nearly five years of collecting and honing songs – and in some cases writing new lyrics – that express love, romance and heartbreak around the world. Throughout his travels, Elling has observed how deeply felt passions are shaped in countless ways by each unique culture. Those insights have guided the creation of Passion World, a tour-de-force project that is vibrant with diversity, celebrating what makes us all human. In concert Elling tells rich stories about the history and context of each of these songs to sweep you away on a grand tour of exotic places, cultures and times. Passion World is a musical magic carpet taking you on a fascinating journey through the realms of romance.

Tom Harrell’s Moving Picture Quartet

Tom Harrell: trumpet, fluegelhorn

Danny Grissett: piano

Ugonna Okegwo: bass

Adam Cruz: drums

„A supreme trumpet/flugelhorn player, Tom Harrell has an endless flow of bubbling, intricate ideas conveyed with an almost serene delivery. His equal ability as a formidable post-bop composer remains in full flower on this melodic, sharply conceived music. From dangerous tear-ups (Storm Approaching) to near abstract (Study in Sound) to conventional balladry (Roman Nights), Harrell is a master.“ – Mojo Magazine

Praised by Newsweek for his pure melodic genius, Tom Harrell is widely recognized as one of the most creative and dynamic jazz instrumentalists and composers of our time. While Harrell is a master of the jazz idiom, he constantly seeks new challenges and influences. He has written scores and arrangements for ballet and symphony and chamber orchestras. Even with a discography of over 280 recordings and a career that spans more than five decades, Harrell has managed to stay fresh and current as he continues to actively record and tour around the world. Harrell all but transcends musical labels. His music runs the gamut from the modal and melodic to uncommon modernisms that sonically broach the film soundtrack and/or the avant-garde. He is a frequent winner in DownBeat and JazzTimes magazines‘ Critics and Readers Polls and a multiple Grammy nominee.

His warm, burnished sound on the trumpet and the flugelhorn, and the unparalleled harmonic and rhythmic sophistication in his playing and writing, have earned Harrell his place as a jazz icon to aspiring musicians and devoted fans alike. His music is at once intelligent, soulful, fresh and accessible. No matter the size of the group he works with, the trumpeter-composer deftly weaves complex and innovative harmonies together with daring rhythmic concepts and unforgettable melodies while utilizing the available colors to full effect.

The last ten years have ushered Harrell through a singularly fruitful period. While continuing to tour actively around the world, he has produced an average of one album a year with each successive release markedly distinct from its predecessor.

SOMETHING GOLD, SOMETHING BLUE (September 2016) is Harrell’s first two-trumpet vehicle as a leader. The project features fellow trumpeter Ambrose Akimusire with a rhythm section comprising Charles Altura on guitar, and long-time cohorts Ugonna Okegwo and Johnathan Blake.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS (September 2015), is a chamber ensemble recording of Harrell’s own arrangements of (mostly) chansons by Debussy and Ravel. The album received a five-star review by DownBeat and was further honored by the magazine’s Best Albums of 2015 list.

TRIP (August 2014) is a piano-less quartet that was formed after Harrell was commissioned to write new music by Dave Douglas for the Festival of New Trumpet Music. Harrell describes the quartet as a chamber group, where each instrument plays an equally important role. TRIP features tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, Harrell’s long-time bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Adam Cruz. Harrell received his tenth SESAC Jazz Award for the album in January of 2016.

With COLORS OF A DREAM (October 2013), Harrell took the piano-less concept one step further, using two acoustic basses in a sextet with three horns (Jaleel Shaw on alto sax, Wayne Escoffery on tenor, and himself on trumpet and flugelhorn) and drums (Johnathan Blake). Esperanza Spalding, doubling on vocals, played acoustic bass together with Ugonna Okegwo, anchoring infectious grooves of the music Harrell wrote specifically for the group.

And now, for the first time in his career, Harrell has released a quartet studio album where he is the sole horn player – MOVING PICTURE (August 2017). Where such recent albums as COLORS OF A DREAM and FIRST IMPRESSIONS augmented Harrell’s ensemble with additional instrumentation, and the majority of his recordings feature (at least) a second horn in the front line, MOVING PICTURE specifically trains our ear to the tonal beauty and improvisational ingenuity of Harrell’s own horns. (In addition to trumpet, the leader also takes up flugelhorn.) “Being the only horn gives me the opportunity to take a different approach to phrasing. It allows for some freedom to embellish the melody,“ Harrell says. The horn and rhythm format also allowed Harrell, the composer, to investigate overlooked options. “As a writer, I wanted to explore the resources of the quartet with piano, bass, drums and trumpet,“ Harrell says, “I thought it would also be an interesting contrast and complement to a couple of the piano-less projects I’ve done recently, especially TRIP and COLORS OF A DREAM.“

A graduate of Stanford University with a degree in music composition, Harrell is a prolific composer and arranger. Carlos Santana, Cold Blood, Azteca, Vince Guaraldi, Hank Jones, Kenny Barron, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Danish Radio Big Band, WDR Big Band, Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra, Orchstre National de Lorraine and Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra are among the many who have recorded or performed his work. Harrell’s composition and arrangement, „Humility,“ was recorded for the latter’s 2008 release, SONG FOR CHICO, which won a Grammy for the Best Latin Jazz Album.

Some of Harrell’s notable RCA recordings include WISE CHILDREN, a project in which he combines woodwinds, brass, horns, strings, guitars, percussion and the vocals of Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Jane Monheit and Claudia Acuna; PARADISE and THE ART OF RHYTHM, both of which feature chamber groups with strings; and his Grammy-nominated big band album, TIME’S MIRROR.

In addition to the 32 albums and thousands of concerts worldwide as a leader, Harrell has worked with important figures in jazz history including Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Dizzie Gillespie, Horace Silver, Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Lee Konitz, Sam Jones (with whom he co-led a big band in the 70s), Jim Hall, Charlie Haden, Joe Lovano. Harrell also recorded on Grammy-winning albums by Gerry Mulligan and Bill Evans.

“Ever since the late 1980s Ed Motta is the reference for jazzy soul from Brazil.”, says Rolling Stone about The Colossus of Rio, who, in his 40s, is a living music legend in Brazil already. Amongst others, colleagues & friends like Gilles Peterson, Roy Ayers, Seu Jorge, Bo Diddley & Ryuichi Sakamoto worked with him in the past. AOR music has always been “his first love”, and so it’s quite evident that his upcoming album will be deep-rooted in this musical genre.

The internationally acclaimed singer, composer, entertainer & bon vivant has always had a soft spot for soul, jazz, funk & rock music and the songs on his early Brazilian albums outranged the complexity of his radio hits by far. “Dwitza” and “Aystelum” set standards, ranging from “space jazz to Broadway musical pastiche, throwing in ballads, funk, soul-dance & pop-samba” (The Guardian). Continuously working on his music, in 2016 Ed Motta released “Perpetual Gateways” in Europe. Produced by great Kamau Kenyatta, this album offered a perfect blend of modal jazz and soul. With his voluminous baritone, his amazing talent on piano & Fender Rhodes, his great sense of humor and his tight & funky band, Ed’s live shows always are an exciting journey through his boundless musical world.

Human Element is a collective of some of the finest musicians in the world, including keyboardist Scott Kinsey, bassist Matthew Garrison, percussionist-vocalist Arto Tunçboyaciyan and drummer Gary Novak who have individually performed and recorded with the likes of music giants Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Meshell Ndegeocello, Sting, John Scofield, Snarky Puppy, Alanis Morissette, Joni Mitchell, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Lalah Hathaway, among many others.

Human Element has a unique vision that is staking out a totally new corner of the musical map. Their electrifying performances and recordings speak of a forward-thinking tradition begun by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra to name a few, moving these traditions to a totally new place. They blend rhythms and feelings of Funk, Electronic, Improvisation and Folk to create a rich, new sound that ebbs and pulls on the very edges of the listening experience. Human Element is propelling music in a direction as fresh and historical as the musicians themselves.

“We decided that it should definitely be a band and that a record should be just the four of us,” says Kinsey. “There’s something special about that. We all loved Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra and we wanted that real band approach. So the four of us camped out for a couple of days and recorded all the basic tracks for this record. Everybody contributed tunes and we all had some input on how the songs were going to end up sounding. It was never really one guy’s vision, even if it was his tune we were recording. That’s why I really think in the end it does sound like a band record,” says Kinsey about their debut release.  

And while the Zawinul influence may be apparent at times, the four kindred spirits boldly stride into distinctly new territory on Human Element. “Language-wise, we all got so much from Joe,” says Kinsey, “and yet we wanted it to be different and about us. And as we got into it, I think it started to really take on an identity of its own. It spans a big area of music and yet it still sounds like one thing.” Adds Garrison, “As far as Joe’s influence on this band, that’s undeniable. He left such a large footprint that it’s pretty hard to escape his essence. And I personally consider Kinsey just about the only musician to really take on Joe’s mantle and bring that sound and vision into the future while still keeping that essence.”

“In the tradition of Weather Report and the Joe Zawinul Syndicate, two powerhouse pan-global bands that have greatly influenced generations of musicians around the world, Human Element is staking out a new corner of the musical map…Comprised of keyboardist Scott Kinsey (Tribal Tech), electric bassist Matthew Garrison (Zawinul Syndicate, John McLaughlin’s Heart of Things, Herbie Hancock), percussionist-vocalist Arto Tunçboyaciyan (Al Di Meola’s World Sinfonia, Joe Zawinul, Marc Johnson’s Right Brain Patrol) and drummer Gary Novak (Alanis Morissette, Sting, Chick Corea’s Elektric Band), Human Element incorporates elements of fusion, funk and Armenian folk tunes into a potent 21st century brew that defies easy categorization.” – BILL MILKOWSKI, DOWNBEAT

“The plan is to really go for it with this band. We all believe in it because there’s really nothing else like this band out there. Since Joe [Zawinul] passed, there’s just no one making music that’s really on that type of wavelength. So there must be a lot of people out there who would like to find music that speaks to them the way that Joe’s music did.” – SCOTT KINSEY

…Human Element definitely fills that void…

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble: Bad Boys of Jazz
Das Hypnotic Brass Ensemble ist ein Familienband, bestehend aus 7 Brüdern, die allesamt schon im zarten Alter von 4 und 5 Jahren von ihrem Vater, Jazz-Trompeter & Bandleader Kelan Phil Cohran (Earth, Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, Sun Ra), an diverse Musikinstrumente herangeführt wurden.
Später (1990) schuf Cohran aus seinen Kindern das Phil Cohran Youth Ensemble. Damit tourte die gesamte Familie durch die USA und präsentierte die komplexen Original-Jazzkompositionen des Vaters und anderer großer Künstler wie Duke Ellington und Count Basie, aber auch klassische Werke von Bach und Beethoven. Und obwohl sie ganz im Zeichen des Jazz aufwuchsen, interessierten die Kids sich trotzdem auch für die Musik ihrer Zeit wie HipHop, Rock oder Reggae. Und das fließt auch in die Präsentation des Jazz-Stils ihres Vaters ein. 1999 schließlich gründeten sie ihre eigene Band - ohne den Herrn Papa - und spielen seitdem ihren ganz eigenen Sound. Die Geburtststunde des Hyptnotic Brass Ensemble.
In 2001 kommt ihr erstes Album raus - und bekommt postwendend den American Author's Award. Bis 2008 haben sie in jedem Winkel dieser Erde gespielt - dabei große Festivals wie Glastonbury oder Roskilde und weltbekannte Konzertorte wie Sydney Opera House und New York's Carnegie Hall. Auch die Liste der Kollaborationen mit namhaften Künstlern ist lang: Robert Glasper, Chris Dave & Casey Benjamin (gemeinsam unter dem Namen Mos Def Big Band) oder auch Ghostface Killah, Tony Allen und Gorillaz.
Wer sie letztes Jahr live im Gretchen gesehen hat, wird bestätigen: Die Jungs sind der Hammer!

Er besitze eine Stimme, für die es sich zu sterben lohne! So urteilt die TIMES.

Das Lob gilt Eric Bibb, einem der meistverkannten Blues-Musiker überhaupt.

Seine samtweiche Stimme betört jeden, der den Künstler einmal live gesehen hat. Er ist ein absoluter Meister darin, Spannung aufzubauen und sie einen ganzen Abend lang zu halten.

Der Sänger und Gitarrist Eric Bibb, geboren 1951, Neffe des Modern Jazz Quartett Mitgründers, John Lewis, kam schon in jungen Jahren mit bekannten Musikern der New Yorker Folk- und Blues-Szene in Kontakt, sein Vater war ein bekannter Sänger der NY-Folkszene. Mit 20 Jahren begann Eric Bibb, sich mit Straßenmusik in der Pariser Metro durchzuschlagen, bis er schließlich nach Schweden zog.

Von Eric Bibb heißt es im All Music Guide, dass er einer der vielversprechendsten Musiker der 90er Jahre sei. Heute, im neuen Jahrtausend, ist seine Diskografie stattlich und das Lob noch überschwänglicher geworden.

Mit zahllosen Auftritten, seiner sympathischen Art und seiner Musik hat sich Bibb in die erste Liga gespielt. Keiner versteht es wie er, Folk, Blues und Songwritertum auf so sensible, sehr eigenständige Art zusammenzubringen. Anders als Corey Harris experimentiert er nicht mit Reggae und Sounds, anders als Alvin »Youngblood« Hart flirtet er nicht mit elektrifizierten Rockrhythmen, und so bluesnah wie Guy Davis ist er auch nicht.

Denn er steht den Folk-Roots eindeutig näher, und da hat es auch nicht geschadet, dass er einige Alben mit schwedischen Musikern aufgenommen hat, die zwar auf Akkordeon, Gitarren und Mandolinen Blues spielen können, aber auch das eine oder andere Folkloregut einbringen.

Ein Konzert von Eric Bibb ist mehr als nur gute Unterhaltung. Seine Songs und seine Präsenz rühren an etwas, das im Dröhnen des popmusikalischen Alltagsgeschäfts verloren gegangen ist: die spirituelle Dimension der Musik. Eine Kategorie für Eric Bibb’s Musik zu finden ist nicht leicht. Bei ihm finden Blues, Folk, R & B, Gospel und Jazz auf eine ganz persönliche Art zueinander. Bibb findet dabei immer wieder Zeilen und Metaphern, die auf die universelle Dimension der menschlichen Erfahrung verweisen, ganz wie es die Blues- und Folktradition verlangt. Seine positive Ausstrahlung ist unwiderstehlich – besonders auf der Bühne, aber auch auf CD.

Seit nunmehr vier Dekaden veröffentlicht Eric Bibb ein Meisterwerk nach dem Anderen. Nach „Bookers Guitar“ folgte „Troubadour Live“, das die Live-Auftritte in Katalin und beim „All That Jazz“-Festival in Uppsala (Schweden) dokumentiert.

Mit „Migration Blues“ folgt 2017 ein Album, das Eric besonders am Herzen liegt. Er thematisiert darauf den Blues als Musik, die nur durch die Wanderung und Flucht der schwarzen Musiker entstehen konnte: die Deportation der Sklaven von Westafrika nach Amerika, die Flucht aus den Südstaaten in den Norden und die aus der Karibik nach Amerika und Europa. Da entwickelte der Blues seine Tiefe, Melancholie und Lebensfreude, die ihn so einzigartig macht.

With dancing drums like a legendary New Orleans funeral band, brass full of soul, guitars that fuse every style of blues and folk, Hugh Coltman has built himself a sublime backdrop for these eleven songs over which his warm journeyman’s voice expresses his deep understanding of human emotions and sentiments, an indulgent listen for evening lovers, loners at dawn or the melancholic listener at midday. Who’s Happy?, his new album asks. Everyone and no-one, he seems to reply. Hugh Coltman has always been true to himself without ever doing what you might expect. Born in Britain but residing in France, the former leader of blues-rock group The Hoax morphed into a folk-rock songwriter before exploring the finest in jazz heritage in his forties. It was a new chapter in the adventures of an artist who is keen to break boundaries, formats and conventions. It all started in 2012, when he appeared as a last minute replacement for singer Krystle Warren at a concert by pianist Éric Legnini. Hugh Coltman discovered “the nonchalance of jazz musicians, who are more rock and roll than many rock musicians, who won’t play a song on Thursday the same way they played it on Tuesday, who know their stuff so well they can do whatever they want”. That replacement was the start of an extended journey paying tribute to Nat King Cole, with one album and a hundred and twenty concerts. Hugh Coltman was ready to „be lambasted by the press, as in, ‘who does he think he is, making a jazz record?’“ In reality, Shadows, Songs of Nat King Cole was a huge success, winning him vocalist of the year at the Victoires du Jazz awards in 2017. It would be logical for him to come back with another album of covers, especially as he’s recently reformed his first group The Hoax to record Recession Blues, A Tribute to BB King.

The press refers to Somi as the new Nina Simone, Miriam Makeba or Dianne Reeves. But she has long since found her own musical language as a singer and songwriter. Somi’s roots are in Rwanda and Uganda. For her last album The Lagos Music Salon she moved to Nigeria, her latest album Petite Afrique was created in Harlem. In her songwriting she observes attentively and criticizes sharply. Somi puts her finger in the wound – Bitter sweet she sings, hums, whispers and pants of everyday racism, drugs and violence. All this is conveyed with playful elegance and musicality. Her songs “gracefully fuse African-tinged grooves, supple jazz singing and compassionate social consciousness; they’re both serious and seductive.”(NY Times)

With a deep soul backbone augmented by jazz, rhythm & blues and rock ’n’ roll, the Seattle trio Delvon Lamarr Organ evokes a classic instrumental sound with a fresh, virtuosic sensibility all its own on debut LP Close But No Cigar. All three musicians knew each other from the local soul scene. The musicians have logged countless hours onstage together, resulting in a trio that’s tighter than ever. In addition to the tunes on Close But No Cigar, they have a stockpile of new material they’re looking forward to taking on the road and, by the end of the year, recording for a second album.

„Without doubt the greatest living master of violin in jazz. His potential knows no bounds,“ wrote the FAZ after the celebrated performance of the 26 year-old Polish violinist Adam Bałdych at the 2011 Jazzfest Berlin. On „Imaginary Room“, his first album for the ACT label, we hear a jazz violinist like none has ever been experienced before: there is no wailing and sobbing, indeed, Bałdych’s technically breath-taking lines are more reminiscent of those of a brass instrument, and the polyphonic passages, of a pianist’s chords, always underpinned by a somewhat raw, bluesy undertone. He most recently caused a furore at the JazzBaltica and the Montreux Jazz Festival, leaving no doubt that Europe has a new jazz star.

Kinga Glyk is the Internet phenomenon par excellence. What others in the pop and mainstream sectors have already done is unprecedented in jazz. And suddenly she’s there, a real musician, young, beautiful, highly talented, whose Internet clicks shoot through the ceiling. Kinga Glyk is not only the only front woman of a jazz band in her homeland Poland, but is currently the biggest jazz sensation on all social networks in Europe. Her career began at the age of 12 when her father – even a drummer – discovered her talent. Today – with her new Warner Music release „Dream“ and many concerts in her back – the young woman is a star in her country and eager to conquer the European club and festival stages. It’s all about groove, fun, but also about building a personal relationship with the listeners through music: „Music is more than just a sound for me. I try to share with people very different things than just playing slow and fast notes. Because I want to write songs that communicate something. Music is a great journey for me. I do what I love and it’s wonderful! My dreams come true faster than I had ever hoped for.“ Not least with an album she gave the title „Dream“.

Double MOBO award-winning YolanDa Brown is the premier female saxophonist in the UK, known for seamlessly blending jazz, soul and reggae. Her Debut Album „April Showers May Flowers“ was No1 on the iTunes and Amazon Jazz Charts. She has toured with The Temptations, Diana Krall, Courtney Pine and Billy Ocean and collaborated with artists such as Mica Paris, Matt Cardle, Reggae Legend Bob Marley’s son Julian and as part of Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. YolanDa also loves to race cars, fast cars! You can usually find her driving at a racing track on her days off. She is broadcaster – working on TV and Radio, a foodie and can complete a Rubik’s cube in under 5 minutes… on a good day! Brown was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the University of East London and also invited to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace. She has played to Presidents and Heads of States and is a celebrity ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, Children and the Arts, as well as the Mayor’s Music Fund. Fresh off her critically acclaimed Reggae Love Songs Tour, YolanDa Brown will perform songs from her New Album to be released in 2017, Love Politics War a delicious fusion of reggae and jazz melodies… just sunshine music.

Double-Bass phenomenon, multi-instrumentalist and online sensation Adam Ben Ezra; a man seemingly on a mission to bring his instrument from its status as a background note to the dominant front-presence it deserves. For the past few years Adam has been pushing his craft in new, exciting directions and carving out a unique spot for himself in today’s international musical landscape. With more than ten million hits on YouTube and a strong following on all social media platforms, it is clear Adam is a bonafide star in the internet world. However, his success is certainly not limited to the web, having performed around the globe and shared stages with some of the world’s fusion giants including Pat Metheny, Victor Wooten and Richard Bona. His work has been shown at industry leading publications, such as the BBC, CBS News, Time Magazine and The British Telegraph to name but a few. Jazz FM has defined his appearance as „a dazzling virtuosity and breath-taking athletic performance“. Both his Trio album (Can’t Stop Running, 2015) and latest Solo album (Pin Drop, 2017) showcase not just a virtuoso performer but also a sensitive composer with no musical boundaries, combining elements of jazz, rock and world music to create a sweeping, fascinating and versatile sound.

Sven Hammond offers a facinating mix of Soul and Rock'n' Roll - one of the best live bands in the Netherlands. Pulsating and inspiring beats stem from five guys with a vibrant, energy-driven and rhythmic vibe in their music. They know what it means to give it all they got, who go crazy and know how to play the audience and captivate them with every note. Straight to the inner depths of one’s soul, the music created is genuinely from the heart. The Hammond organ is the „hero“ throughout their music and Sven manages to give this unique and amazing instrument a distinctive place and character. Sometimes raw, like an eighteen-wheeler on a bumpy gravel road, at other times smooth as a cruise liner. A unique combination of musicians who live for this music and do justice in putting „soul“ into Sven Hammond Soul. Maximum „rock ‘n soul“.

With a unique funky playing style, an angelic singing voice and an extremely powerful stage presence, Nik West is currently one of the hottest names on the music scene. Throughout the years, Nik has kept honing her left-handed bass skills all while taking her already amazing singing voice to new soulful heights, making her one of the most well-rounded artists currently on the scene. Her unique talent has brought her a lot of attention, where Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, was one of the first to fall head over heels in love with her expressive singing. This has resulted in the two of them working on several projects together throughout the years. Nik blew away her listeners, with her debut solo album ‚Just In The Nik Of Time‘, which features herself as bassist and lead singer. The album is a seamless combination of funky grooves, jazzy singing and catchy melodies, and is all in all a superb album. She has performed and worked as a bassist and background singer with tons of high-profile artists such as: Prince, John Mayer, Marcus Miller, Dave Stewart etc, and she’s been highly praised by anyone she’s ever worked with. Nik has achieved all of this at a very young age, and it seems like this shooting bass star is just getting started!

 DAVINA SOWERS AND THE VAGABONDS have created a stir on the national music scene with their high-energy live shows, level A musicianship, sharp-dressed professionalism, and Sowers’ commanding stage presence. With influences ranging from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits, the band is converting audiences one show at a time, from Vancouver to Miami and across Europe. In 2011 Davina released her first full length, all original album Black Cloud . It was named one of the 10 best releases of the year by the Minneapolis Star & Tribune and awarded 4 ½ stars from Downbeat Magazine. Their next release in 2014, Sunshine, hit number 13 in the Billboard Blues Chart and led them to landing a performance on the hit BBC2 show, Later with Jools Holland.

Davina Lozier and the Vagabonds offer "a modern take on old-time blues and jazz" (PennLive). They've created a stir on the national music scene with their high-energy live shows, level A musicianship, sharp-dressed professionalism, and Lozier’s commanding stage presence. With influences ranging from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits, the band is converting audiences one show at a time, from Vancouver to Miami and across Europe. In 2011 Davina released her first full-length, all-original album, "Black Cloud." It was awarded 4 1/2 stars from Downbeat. Their next release in 2014, "Sunshine," hit number 13 on the Billboard blues chart. DATV’s shows are filled with New Orleans charm, Memphis soul swagger, dark theatrical moments that evoke Kurt Weill, and tender gospel passages, and Davina herself has been compared to Etta James, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, and Betty Boop, but comparisons don’t suffice: she's a true original. Davina & The Vagabonds have become Ark favorites—they tore up the stage at the 2017 Ann Arbor Folk Festival, and their third album, "Nicollet and Tenth," is their best yet.

Zenobia is the brainchild of Nasser Halahlih, a pioneer of the electronic music in the Middle East. He and his bandmate Isam Elias started this project in 2017 in Haifa, inspired by Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra, who lived and ruled the Levant region and Egypt in the third century AD.

Zenobia create one of todays biggest synthie sound between Haifa and Amman. It combines Arabic pop melodies of the Levant area passing through Palestine down to North Africa with electronic beats, incorporating the rhythms of Syrian and Palestinian Dabke and in addition Egyptian beats and atmosphere.
A strong live act, they have gathered a large fanbase in Palestine and Israel in a short time and have been a highlight of showcase festival PMX in Ramallah.

After some summer festivals in 2018 we plan a tour in the autumn and winter of 2018/2019 together with their debut album release.

Originated from a shared passion for raw soul, early funk, latin jazz and boogaloo, the musicians already earned their tracks in bands like Juicebox, The Mighty Typhoons, New Cool Collective, Rude Rich & High Notes, Bongomatic, and performed at all the hot dutch festivals and clubs. With the presence of tenor sax, trumpet, Hammond organ and piano, guitar, bass, drums and percussion, these gentleman will enter the stage with some ultimate grooves, together with the wonderful soul singer Miss Beulah. Miss Beulah is considered as the Dutch Sharon Jones with her soulful voice and energetic performance. The Hippo Brothers featuring Miss Beulah have just released the tune What Have You Done for Me Lately, a Janet Jackson cover in a groovy new sound package. Some inspiration sources: Willie Bobo, Sharon Jones, Marva Whitney, Mongo Santamaria, Jimmy Smith, James Brown and many more.

Fatoumata Diawara is an artist from Mali, who represents modern music from Africa. She already worked with Bobby Womack and Herbie Hancock, but also toured with Roberto Fonseca, who is a pianist from Cuba. Besides she gave shows for huge festivals, such as Glastonbury.

Not only Fatoumata Diawara is an active singer, but she is also a well known actress and has been acting for movies such as Timbuktu (2014) and Mali Blues (2015).

Her newest album „Fenfo“, which means „something to say“, was recorded in Mali, Burkina Faso, Barcelona and Paris and produced by herself and the french superstar Matthieu Chedid. „Since the last album I experienced so many different musical adventures, I have been working and touring with so many different musicians and I think that all the aspects are flowing into the album clearly audible.“, says Fatoumata Diawara. „Fenfo“ is an album, which doesn`t know any limits. Fatoumata connects the modernity oft he electric guitar with the old african stringed instrument Kora and Ngoni and combines Kit-Drums with the timeless rhythm oft he traditional percussion.

Her latest album „Fenfo“ – mostly sung in bambara – is about timeless themes, such as migration, respect, abjection, love, family and about how to create a better world for our children. Even though, she respects her african heritage and doesn`t sing in english, nor french, she at least wanted to have a modern sound in her music, because that ist he world, where she lives. „I want to keep my origin and influences, but communicate them in another way.“, Fatoumata says.

Ingrid Arthur became one of the most powerful voices in the history of music. She is not a only a wonderful singer, she is the goddess of soul with her rich, powerful traditional gospel background with the soul of Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples or Mahalia Jackson. She has shared stage with great pioneers Tramaine Hawkins, Shirley Caesar and Dorothy Norwood. Her credits include singing background vocals with Cissy Houston and Bette Midler (“From A Distance“ was Grammy Award winning song of the year 1995). Her European invasion began with the „Golden Gospel Singers“ combining her love for both music and theatre performance „Little Shop of Horrors“ at the Metropol Theatre in Vienna; Performing with German „Dinglish“ comedic sensation Gayle Tufts, touring with James Last Orchestra and with Delle (Seeed). And from the safe orchestra to blazing up the stage with one of the hottest European duo „The Weather Girls“ world renowned for their hit single „It’s Raining Men“, Ingrid was the former singer of the Duo. Since 2002 Ingrid Arthur, born in Gainesville, Georgia (USA), now lives in Berlin, but is still touring the world with her amazing performances. Since 2011 Ingrid is a successful Solo Artist.