Saturday 28 February 2015

Klaus Waldeck

Photo: myspace.com
Like the Jazz Essentials Facebook page. 

Follow on Twitter

This week the spotlight takes us to Vienna, where an aspiring pianists' life took a sudden turn when he destroyed a Bechstein piano while re-wiring it. He was 15 at the time. He would later go to law school and become a copyright lawyer. But a legal case involving a Beatle would change his life's direction back to music (last.fm). Waldeck explained,

“It was during the time when George Harrison got sued for ripping off an old Motown tune...I realized the way forward was to work a melody until it didn’t belong to anyone anymore (last.fm)."

Waldeck's music tend to feature female vocalists Joy Malcolm (of Incognito), Brian Amos or Zeebee. Today several of his albums including, The Night Garden Reflowered, Balance of the Force, Balance of the Force Remixed, Northern Lights-EP and This Isn't Maybe are out of print and very rare. His most successful album is called Ballroom Stories featuring Austrian vocalist Zeebee (last.fm).

LINKS:

"Memories"
"Addicted"
"Why Did We Fire The Gun?"
"Make My Day"




REFERENCES:
"Waldeck." last.fm Retrieved from: http://www.last.fm/music/Waldeck?ac=Waldeck


Saturday 21 February 2015

Palov & Mishkin

Photo: http://www.last.fm/music/Palov+&+Mishkin/+images/58887055
Like the Jazz Essentials Facebook page. 

Follow on Twitter

This is a duo made of close childhood friends in Athens, Palov & Mishkin. Sharing a common love for music, the two would form their first group while in school. However, around 1987, Mishkin suddenly had to move to a faraway town. They had no contact for almost 20 years, until one day in March of 2006, they happened to meet in the same taxi. And the music began. The duo released 2 albums including the highly praised Think Twice.


LINKS:
"Et De Clarinete"
"De Mi Careta"







REFERENCES
"Palov & Mishkin." last.fm Retrieved from: http://www.last.fm/music/Palov+&+Mishkin
"Palov (Palov and Mishkin). Soundcloud. Retrieved from: https://soundcloud.com/palov-palov-and-mishkin




Saturday 14 February 2015

Nuspirit Helsinki

Photo: http://www.discogs.com/artist/717-Nuspirit-Helsinki
Like the Jazz Essentials Facebook page. 

Follow on Twitter

Their name tells you where they're from (Helsinki, Finland). The group was formed in 1998 by producers, Tuomas Kallio and Hannu Nieminen, but Finnish musicians are a big part of Nuspirit Helsinki's sound with up to ten different guest musicians playing together on a given track.

Nuspirit Helsinki's sound is often called a modern big band sound. However, they are a group that is hard to pigeonhole, and is probably best uncategorized. Enjoy their music for what its worth.


LINKS:
1) Their first single, "Take It Back"
2)"Seis Por Ocho" 
3) "Orson"
4) "Subzero"

REFERENCES:
"Nuspirit Helsinki." last.fm Retrieved from:
http://www.last.fm/music/Nuspirit+Helsinki

"Nuspirit Helsinki." allmusic.com Retrieved from:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/nuspirit-helsinki-mw0000221361

Saturday 7 February 2015

Lisa Ekdahl

Photo: https://myspace.com/ekdahllisa
Like the Jazz Essentials Facebook page. 

Follow on Twitter

Her voice is described as "soft, supple, smooth and child-like." (WikipediaIt's perhaps the child-like part that makes her music so appealing and unique. 

When she was 19, Ekdahl began performing in small jazz clubs with the swedish jazz trio, The Peter Nordahl trio. She calls the experience with the trio, "a form of musical education." Her debut album released in 1994 won her three awards in her home country of Sweden ("Biography-Lisa Ekdahl"). 

She has published 10 albums, six of the ten are in Swedish, the other four are in English (last.fm). 


LINKS:
Her biggest single, "Vem Vet": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GDQGAZunEg
"Now baby or Never": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_zEWdzNths
Song + Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcz8MyQipIA

REFEENCES:
"Biography-Lisa Ekdahl." Retrieved from: http://lisaekdahl.com/biography/
"Lisa Ekdahl." last.fm Retrieved from: http://www.last.fm/music/Lisa+Ekdahl
"Lisa Ekdahl." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Ekdahl