Articles by Ljubinko Zivkovic
Nick Grondin: A View Of Earth
by Ljubinko Zivkovic
As a guitarist, nowhere are you more exposed than in jazz, particularly if you aim for that clean, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green sound; elsewhere, particularly in pop and rock, the riffs, add-ons, the band, even studio wizardry can cover the lack of skill or mistakes. And then, unless it is a solo guitar album, you certainly have to have a band that will match the quality of the playing you exhibit. Based on the evidence of ...
read moreNorth Sea Jazz Festival 2019
by Ljubinko Zivkovic
North Sea Jazz Festival Rotterdam, The Netherlands July 12-14, 2019 For a while now, jazz festivals have lost their exclusivity and being a musical source for just jazz fans or those who wanted to get involved in the scene. More commercial artists from other musical genres have actually become a source of sustainability for jazz festivals and in many respects for jazz artists themselves.Even while it was still located in jny: The ...
read moreMark Walker: You Get What You Give
by Ljubinko Zivkovic
Often, there is a tendency among jazz fans to simply pass by albums with drummers as the leaders of a CD release, as if they--the drummer/leaders--know less about jazz or music in general. As if examples of Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Max Roach or those excellent vocal albums by Grady Tate are not good enough examples. That this simply is not the case. The first 'solo' album by Grammy award-winning drummer Mark Walker, You Get What You Give, ...
read moreAneta George & Martin Milcent Trio: Playground
by Ljubinko Zivkovic
Vocalists who are relatively new to jazz tend to play it safe and often stick to a tried-and-true set of standards, as close as possible to the interpretations of those standards they are familiar with. You really have to be brave and sure of your compositional and vocal capabilities to come up with a full set of originals which discerning listeners would be satisfied with. On Playground, Aneta George, a relative newcomer to jazz, shows both bravery and the assuredness ...
read moreNathan & Jessie: You're The Star
by Ljubinko Zivkovic
For a younger generation of musicians, it is often a daunting task to get into so-called older musical forms, particularly those connected to jazz. Usually, they have two paths on offer--slavishly following the route taken by the prominent artists whose steps they are trying to follow, or letting their imagination flow freely and combining musical elements as if they were their own. Either way, if you want to come up with something good, you have to really accumulate musical knowledge ...
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