Jazz Articles

Yolanda Duke: Te Llevo Bajo La Piel

by Edward Blanco
April 10, 2014

Born in the Dominican Republic but raised in New York City, Yolanda Duke is no ordinary artist. Gifted with a powerful voice and a presence on the stage, Duke has earned the reputation as the “Queen of Latin Soul." On Te Llevo Bajo La Piel (I've Got You Under My Skin), Duke comes out swinging in big band style as she reprises many of the songs found on her previous Many Moods (Amigos Music, 2008) where she sings several standards ...

Magnus Lindgren / Malm: Music for the Neighbours

by Jack Bowers
February 18, 2006

The last time I heard tenor saxophonist Magnus Lindgren on record, he was scampering through a straight-ahead gig with the Swedish Radio Jazz Group at Jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm (Paradise Open Caprice, 2001). But to Lindgren, jazz transcends stereotyping, and it should be as much at home in an amphitheatre or opera house as it is in nightclubs or jam sessions. Ever since he heard Bill Evans playing with a symphony orchestra, Lindgren writes, “I have been longing to do ...

Jeannette Lindstrom: In The Middle Of This Riddle

by Mark Sabbatini
February 10, 2006

There's good poetry about flowers and there's “roses are red, violets are blue." But if one isn't into floral fawning, even the quality stuff sounds saccharine. A similar case exists with vocalist Jeannette Lindstrom's In The Middle Of This Riddle, which in a better world would be emitting from speakers at megachain bookstores instead of Norah Jones and her folk-jazz imitators. Lindstrom's lyrics and instrumental arrangements go beyond mass market safety by mixing various jazz forms with underpinnings of neo(fusion), ...

Jeanette Lindstrom: In the Middle of This Riddle

by John Kelman
December 30, 2005

She may not be considered jazz by most (including herself), but singer/songwriter Norah Jones' widespread acclaim--normally afforded artists in the pop mainstream--isn't necessarily a bad thing. If her smoky and understated delivery encourages fans to investigate other singers more clearly associated with jazz there's hope that a certain percentage might actually choose to stick around.

If Norah Jones is the stepping stone then Swedish singer Jeanette Lindström is the bridge with In the Middle of This Riddle. She's capable, at ...

Magnus Lindgren: Music for the Neighbours

by John Kelman
December 23, 2005

It's all too easy to underestimate the European jazz scene's vibrancy from a distant perch in North America. After all, while labels like ECM, ACT, and Hatology have international distribution, there are far more that rarely see the light of day outside their own countries. Fortunately, the global access of the internet has made it possible for such labels, and the artists they represent, to gain a foothold in markets hitherto unreachable.

Barely into his thirties, Swedish saxophonist Magnus Lindgren ...

Oddjob: Koyo

by Dan McClenaghan
April 25, 2004

Koyo opens with a metronome groove, featuring speaker-shaking bass, wurlitzer splashes and unison trumpet/sax lines over a slapping, loose-jointed percussion, on “Their Song"... very modern-sounding, reminscent of the Marcus Miller/Miles Davis collaborations Tutu and Amandla. “Malmo-Lund" brings a more mainstream, up-tempo sound to the mix on an up-and-down-the-scale piano riff; and it's hard to take your ears off the drummer, Janne Robertson, with his propulsive shuffle that injects some organic juice into the band's otherwise tight sound. “Machine Man" takes ...