Randy Crawford & Joe Sample Trio live at 32nd Leverkusener Jazztage 2011

Randy Crawford - Vocals
Joe Sample - Piano
Nicklas Sample - Bass
Doug Belote - Drums
recorded live at Forum, Leverkusen, November 6, 2011

1. Gee Baby Ain´t I Good To You
2. Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe
3. Feeling Good
4. The End Of The Line
5. But Beautiful
6. Me, Myself And I
7. Rainy Night In Georgia
8. Everybody´s Talking
9. One Day I´ll Fly Away
10. Rio De Janeiro Blue
11. Cajun Moon
12. This Bitter Earth
13. Almaz
14. Danceland

Georgia-born R&B/jazz singer Randy Crawford and keyboardist Joe Sample go back a long way. Sample played on The Crusaders' huge 1979 hit, Street Life, which featured an extraordinary vocal by Crawford – check out the excellent YouTube footage, complete with Sample's frilly shirt! Although Crawford's early run of subsequent solo hits (Rainy Night In Georgia, You Might Need Somebody, etc) wasn't sustained, and she's had a fairly low profile in recent years, the UK's Shola Ama enjoyed success with a more or less copycat version of You Might Need Somebody in 1997. In 2006, Crawford and Sample made their first joint album, Feeling Good, which he claims was the first time her voice had ever got the stripped-down setting it really deserved.

No Regrets continues that approach with the same small ensemble on a selection of carefully chosen, lovingly crafted standards, plus a few less familiar numbers. There's great, unobtrusive backing by Steve Gadd (drums) and Christian McBride (bass), the occasional tasty touch of guitar and brass, and intuitive piano accompaniment by Sample. Crawford’s voice has deepened and mellowed over the years and she doesn't go in for the vocal gymnastics she once did, but her tremulous phrasing is as distinctive and appealing as ever.

Apart from that, and the fact that the world probably doesn't need another version of Chip Taylor's Angel Of The Morning, this won't disappoint old fans.

Big Sam's Funky Nation live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Big Sam Williams trombone, vocals
Andrew Baham trumpet, keys, vocals
Takeshi Shimmura guitar
Chocolate Milk drums
Eric Vogel bass

recorded live at Quasimodo, Berlin, November 6, 2011

1. Good Times/We gonna do it (Sammie R. Williams)
2. It's Your Thing/Just Kissed My Baby/Chameleon
3. Funky Donkey
4. Cissy Strut
5. Feelin' Kind a Funky
6. Get Down/Big Sam's Blues
7. Whole Lota Shaking Going on/Walk with me (David Curlee Williams)
8. Do Whatcha Wanna/Let It Shine
9. Headline News

New Orleans’ own Big Sam’s Funky Nation is a driving force of urban funk. Ryan White, of the Oregonian, says the band is “tight enough (and hot enough) to turn coal into a diamond!” The band is led by trombone powerhouse, Big Sam Williams, formerly the trombonist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, whom the San Francisco Chronicle calls “the top man on the slide trombone in the birthplace of jazz”. Big Sam refuses to let the audience sit still. Between the band’s solos, Big Sam's signature dance moves and his distinctive trombone riffs, the energy level is high voltage when this band takes the stage!
“He’s got the chops of Louis, the charisma of Dizzy, the oomph of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and the understanding that it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing … and a whole lotta funk.” (Rachel Levitin, WeLoveDC.com)

Colin Towns Blue Touch Paper live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Colin Towns keyboards, compositions
Mark Lockheart saxophone
Chris Montague guitar
Edward Maclean bass
Benny Greb drums
Stephan Maas percussion

recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 6, 2011

1. Blue Touch Paper/Say What You Mean/ The Forbidden Dance/ Another Time, Another Place
2. Lost For Words
3. Ducking And Diving
4. One Eye On The Clock
5. Principal Dancer/ Walls Have Ears
6. Introduction by Stephan Maas
7. Transcending
8. This Could Run
9. Crazy Man On Platform 13

No matter if he is busy with his own Mask Orchestra or co-operates with various European radio big bands – Colin Towns stands out from the run-of-the-mill arranging trade.
The British sound magician has developed a unique profile, and has been a welcome and regular guest with the Berlin Jazzfestival since more than a decade.
With his new six piece band the former keyboarder/arranger for the Ian Gillan Band finally returns to his roots – at least looking at the formate. His approach is a very fresh one, though. With an abundance of experience in rock, jazz, classical, electronic and film music at hand, and an excellent cast of German and UK free-thinkers at his side, the Berlin live premiere of Colin Towns Blue Touch Paper promises to be a highly entertaining experience – as drummer Stephan Maas says: “It’s optical music, it takes you on a trip … the challenge of this band is to play without fear”.
Leave your expectations at home – this is no predictable band!

The Swallow Quintet feat. Carla Bley live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Steve Swallow bass
Chris Cheek tenor sax
Carla Bley Hammond B3
Steve Cardenas guitar
Jorge Rossy drums

recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 6, 2011

1. Sad Old Candle/ Into The Woodwork/ From Whom It May Concern/ Crowded In The Shower (Steve Swallow)
2. Let's Eat (Steve Swallow)
3. Suitable From Framing/ Small Comfort / Still There/ Never Know/ Exil Stage Left (Steve Swallow)
4. Name That Tune (Steve Swallow)

His gig history with this festival dates back to 1966: Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto were his first visiting card. He played with Gary Burton, kicked off John Scofield’s European career and returned with Carla Bley a couple of times. An innovator on the bass guitar, a gifted composer, producer and bandleader, Steve Swallow has been a consistently engaging presence in jazz over the last 40 years.
He has placed first (electric bass) in the Downbeat International Critics Poll since 1983, and in the Downbeat Readers Poll since 1985. He has also won the Jazz Times poll (electric bass) for the past several years, and has been voted the Jazz Journalists Association's electric bassist of the year since 2001, when that category was instituted.
Now he presents his new band, the first in a long time, a potent lineup that features Carla Bley on Hammond B3 organ, tenorist Chris Cheek, guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Jorge Rossy. Together, they create eloquent modern jazz packed with dynamism and drive. Between touring he lives in contented isolation with Carla Bley, in the mountains of upstate New York.

Charles Lloyd & Maria Farantouri live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Charles Lloyd saxophone, flute, tarogato
Maria Farantouri vocals
Jason Moran piano
Reuben Rogers bass
Eric Harland drums
Socratis Sinopoulos lyra

recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 6, 2011

1. Blow Mind
2. Dream Weaver
3. Beyond Darknessn
4. Se pater kosmon
5. Medley: Vielfaro mou/Thalassaki Mou/Margaritenia/
Alismono/Tou Hel'to Kastron/Requiem/Yanni Mou
6. Prayer

The power, depth and beauty of music can transcend language and cultural differences. Charles Lloyd and Maria Farantouri are both independent, iconic figures in their respective worlds of music: American jazz and the classical music of Greece. When Lloyd and Farantouri met in the fall of 2002, they recognized the one in the other, a fellow soul pursuing a life using music as a means to inspire and elevate other fellow souls on the road to freedom.

The Berlin Jazzfestival line-up features, alongside the singer and the saxophonist’s all-star Charles Lloyd New Quartet, greek lyre player Socratis Silopoulos. Their album “Athens Concert” was recorded in 2010 and released this year on ECM.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Smoov trumpet
Baji trumpet
Hudah trumpet
L.T. sousaphone
Yoshi trumpet
Rocco baritone
Clef trombone
Cid trombone
Emanuel Harrold drums

recorded live at Quasimodo, Berlin, November 5, 2011

1. Kryptonite
2. Worldchampions
3. Pluto
4. War
5. Mercury 
6. Planet of Apes
7. Mars
8. Indigo
9. Get the Party started
10. Bajii

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are eight brothers from the south side of Chicago. They come from an extraordinary musical family. Other sisters and brothers are professional musicians, their mothers are singers, and Philip Cohran, their father, has roots running back to Mississippi, his time in the musical hothouse of 1940s St Louis, and his seminal role with Sun Ra in Chicago in the 1950s. When Ra left for the east coast in 1960, Phil stayed in Chicago.
By the time the members of the HBE were growing up, they were wakened at 6 a.m. for several hours’ music practice before going to school. From an early age they were a central part of their father’s Youth Ensemble. By the end of the nineties, with everyone out of school, they brought together their musicianship, their jazz roots and their hip hop sensibility, and made a living busking on the streets of Chicago. They came up with their name after an incident on the El: playing on the platform, a man in a suit watched them for hours, missing train after train, till in the end he walked up to them and said, “You guys just hypnotized me”.
Eventually the group transferred to New York City, and after playing out relentlessly, including gigs with Mos Def and Erykah Badu, and some particularly incendiary shows in Europe, they have come to be known as one of the hottest and most individual bands around.

Lizz Wright live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Lizz Wright vocals
Robin Macatangay guitar
Marvin Sewell guitar
Nick D’Amato bass
Jano Rix drums

recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 5, 2011

1. Old Man (Neil Young)
2. Fellowship (Bob Marley)
3. Walk With Me (Trad.)
4. Hit the Ground (Jesse Harris)
5. Stop (Joseph Lee Henry)
6. Easy Rider Blues (trad.)
7. A Lover is Forever (Steve Goodman/Frederik Knobloch)
8. I Remember I Believe (Bernice Reagon)
9. Coming Home (Toshi Reagon/Lizz Wright)
10. Thank You (Jimmy Page/Robert Plant)

Born and raised as the daughter of a preacher in the South East of America, Lizz Wright grew up in close contact with the roots and traditions of black music. Although the says “the gospel is always in my heart and veins” she is far from being afraid of genres like folk, rock or avant-garde - a nod to her roots in gospel on the one hand and her gospel of eclecticism on the other. “The funny thing about the transition from only gospel to jazz is that I felt that jazz had a familiar sacredness to it.”
Wright has been the recipient of non-stop critical acclaim and ever-increasing audiences ever since her Verve debut, Salt, in 2003. Asked about the motivations for her new programme she says “It’s time for me to think about what helps and heals somebody else. And sometimes it’s good to sing simple things that people need, besides pieces that are more intriguing or that have great poetry. That’s where I found myself this time around. There are a lot of tools in here. Sometimes we have songs to climb up on to get over obstacles.” Her latest CD is called Fellowship.

Joe Sample & NDR Big Band "Children of the Sun" live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Jörg Achim Keller conductor, arrangements
Joe Sample compositions, piano
Thorsten Benkenstein, Ingolf Burkhardt, Claus Stötter, Reiner Winterschladen trumpet
Fiete Felsch, Peter Bolte alto sax
Christof Lauer, Lutz Büchner tenor sax
Frank Delle baritone sax
Nils Landgren trombone, vocals
Dan Gottshall, Klaus Heidenreich, Stefan Lottermann trombone
Ingo Lahme bass trombone
Stephan Diez guitar
Ingmar Heller bass
Robert Ikiz drums
Marcio Doctor percussion
recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 5, 2011

1. Buttermilk Sky
2. Islands Of The Mind
3. Rumfire
4. Gold In The Cane
5. I Believe In
6. Children Of The Sun
7. Blue Abyss
8. I Wanna Go Home
9. Street Life

With the Crusaders he became famous far beyond the jazz scene, his song Street Life was a massive international disco hit, and he has proved to be a reliable provider of chart-breaking material, like One Day I’ll Fly Away for Randy Crawford. He has recorded with a wide range of bands and musos, among them Canned Heat, Steely Dan, The Supremes, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell and Eric Clapton.
Joe Sample is the golden boy of American fusion-jazz, but his recent project Children of the Sun is not as sunny as the title might imply. Stimulated by a visit to the Caribbean island of St. Croix, he started to look particularly into the subject of slavery – a part of his own family history.
Sample has been planning this project since 1995, and will bring his composition to the Berlin audience with the NDR Bigband (the Hamburg Radio Big Band), arranged by Jörg Achim Keller.
In 2005 Nils Landgren released Creole Love Call featuring Joe Sample.

Merry Christmas

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Stanton Moore Trio live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Stanton Moore drums
Robert Walter Hammond B3, keyboards
Will Bernard guitar
recorded live at Quasimodo, Berlin, November 4, 2011

1. Pie-eyed Manc (Stanton Moore)
2. Pot Licker (Robert Shawn Walter)
3. Marple Planc (Robert Shawn Walter)
4. Over Compensating (Stanton Moore)
5. Magnolia Triangle (William E. Bernard)
6. Funky Miracle (Arthur L. Neville)
7. Late Night At the Maple Leaf (George Porter)
8. Who Ate The Layer Cake (Stanton Moore)
9. Adelita (Robert Shawn Walter)

In medieval times, alchemy was a mystical pursuit based on a belief that gold could be created from common raw materials. It’s an ancient practice, an idea that has long since been debunked by centuries of scientific evidence to the contrary.
Or has it? Attempts to derive precious substances from lead or tin may have been dismissed by modern-day science as a fool’s errand, but the belief that something of great value can come from something common persists. For drummer Stanton Moore, it’s just a matter of finding the right groove.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Stanton Moore is a dedicated drummer and performer especially connected to the city, its culture and collaborative spirit. Driven and inspired by the thriving music scene of his hometown which includes such greats as Professor Longhair, Doctor John and The Meters, Moore’s name is now mentioned amongst these Big Easy mainstays.
In the early ’90s, Moore helped found the New Orleans-based essential funk band Galactic, he played with metal legends Corrosion of Conformity and the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, with his trio Garage A Trois and – alongside Trombone Shorty, Big Sam ao – in the brass band Midnight Disturbers. His latest album "Groove Alchemy" was released on Telarc Records in 2010.

Adam Baldych Quintet live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Adam Baldych violin
Maciej Kociński saxophone
Krzysztof Dys piano
Andrzej Święs bass
Dana Hawkins drums
recorded live at Quasimodo, Berlin, November 3, 2011

1. Lot mazgorzaty (Adam Baldych)
2. Welcome Pill (Adam Baldych)
3. Babuszka (Adam Baldych)
4. Diabel Boruta (Adam Baldych)
5. Abra kadabra (Adam Baldych)
6. Yes or No (Wayne Shorter)

Ever since Zbigniew Seifert revolutionized the jazz-violin in the 1970ies, tantamount to Coltrane's sax or Hendrix’ guitar, the Polish jazz scene has been a hotbed of a unique line of outstanding violinists, from Michał Urbaniak or Krzęsimir Debski to Henryk Gembalski, latest representative of this trade being Adam Baldych.
In spite of his youth this extraordinarily creative artist has been performing and recording with some of the best Polish and international musicians. The former “infant prodigy’s” music is an extremely expressive combination of modern musical flows. The virtuosity which is his trademark turns Adam's concerts into a unique experience full of energy, youthful zing, yet with a mature sound that receives popularity and respect both from the audience as critics. His nickname “Evil” is probably the best certificate defining his emotional kind of playing and improvising.

Tomasz Stanko "Litania" live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Tomasz Stańko trumpet
Mark Turner saxophone
Joakim Milder saxophone
Marcin Wasilewski piano
Sławomir Kurkiewicz bass
Michał Miśkiewicz drums
recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 3, 2011

1. Litania (Krysztof Komeda)
2. Sleep Safe And Warm (Krysztof Komeda)
3. Svantetic (Krysztof Komeda)
4. Ballada (Krysztof Komeda)

Tomasz Stańko was 20 and a graduate of the Cracow Music Academy when he formed his first band, the Jazz Darings, with pianist Adam Makowicz in 1962. Inspired by early Ornette Coleman and the innovations of Coltrane, Miles Davis and George Russell, the group is often cited by music historians as the first European group to play free jazz, but for the trumpeter its importance was eclipsed by the invitation to join Krzysztof Komeda’s quintet the following year. Stańko toured for five years with Komeda, appeared on eleven albums with him, and also made contributions to all of the films scores that Komeda realized in Poland.
In 1970, Stańko joined Alex Schlippenbach’s Globe Unity Orchestra, which brought him into contact with all the key figures of the European jazz avant-garde, and also formed a quintet, with violinist Zbigniew Seifert. The following year he collaborated with Krysztof Penderecki and Don Cherry. His most important work of the 1970s, however, may have been with Finnish drummer Edward Vesala.
During the 1980s Tomasz Stanko explored many approaches to improvisation and when many Polish musicians left the country in the late eighties he kept true his roots. From his Polish homebase he went travelling to India, worked extensively with Cecil Taylor and, together with the crop of the Scandinavian scene, did recordings for ECM – amongst them the album Litania (1996).
The JazzFest Berlin 2011 edition will see an updated version of this Komeda-tribute, with members of Stańko’s ‘house band’, the Wasilewski Trio, and Joakim Milder from the original cast.

Leszek Możdżer live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Leszek Możdżer piano
recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 3, 2011

1. Crazy Girl (Krystof Komeda)
2. Nighttime, daytime requiem (Krystof Komeda)
3. Ballad for Bernt (Krystof Komeda)
4. Cherry (Krystof Komeda)
5. Sleep Save And Warm (Krystof Komeda)
6. The Law and The Fist (Krystof Komeda)
7. Svantetic (Krystof Komeda)
8. Cherry (Krystof Komeda)

Starting from Frédéric Chopin as originator, Poland looks back on a long tradition of piano esthetes. After Krzysztof Komeda, Mieczysław Kosz and Adam Makowicz, outstanding pianist/composer/producer, Leszek Możdżer is widely considered to be the greatest revelation of Polish jazz of the last decade, eventually proving Frankfurter Allgemeine’s prediction right: “Leszek Możdżer, one of the greatest piano virtuosos, could easily be dubbed the Star of the East”. Over the years he has recorded more than 100 albums, not only with all the stars of the Polish scene but also with the likes of John Scofield, Pat Metheny or Lars Danielsson.
With his solo-project, Komeda, Możdżer not only fathoms the universe of the legendary film composer. He re-translates his great ancestor’s sonic world back into the classical context from which Komeda had drawn his essential impulses 40 years earlier.

Adam Pieronczyck feat. Gary Thomas: Komeda – The Innocent Sorcerer live at JazzFest Berlin 2011

Adam Pierończyk saxophones
Gary Thomas tenor sax
Nelson Veras guitar
Max Mucha bass
Łukasz Żyta drums
recorded live at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage, November 3, 2011

1. Sleep Save and Warm (Krysztof Komeda)
2. Roman (Krysztof Komeda)
3. Kattorna (Krysztof Komeda)
4. Roman II (Krysztof Komeda)

Adam Pierończyk belongs to a younger generation of Polish musicians who concern themselves with their national jazz history in a fresh and jaunty way. On his cd Komeda – The Innocent Sorcerer he celebrates a nostalgia-free homage to the sonic universe of the great jazz pioneer and film composer Komeda; And much like his musical ancestor, Pierończyk manages to conjure musical magic with relatively simple means.
New York’s Cadence magazine certifies him to be “a discovery, for he has a lovely warm tone and a clever imagination, but he can also blow for the borders.” Besides playing with Polish musicians Tomasz Stańko or Leszek Możdżer the Krakow-based saxophonist has worked with international stars like Greg Osby, Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp and Ted Curson.
“Adam Pierończyk is among the very finest of the Polish jazz scene. He is successful like few others in combining instrumental virtuosity, precision, and intellectual refinement with an emotionality that borders on exhibitionism. He burns in his improvisations, and the listener burns with him.”
(Gazeta Wyborcza)

Jacky Terrasson Trio live at Rheingau Musik Festival, Rüsselsheim 2011

Jacky Terrasson - Piano
Earl Travis - Bass
Justin Faulkner - Drums

recorded live at Rheingau Musik Festival, Stadttheater Rüsselsheim, August 6, 2011

1. Medley: Harry Potter/Beat It/Over The Rainbow/Smoke Gets In Your Eyes 
2. Love For Sale (Cole Porter)
3. Caravan (Duke Ellington/ Juan Tizol)
4. Smile (Charles Chaplin)
5. Maraba Blue (Abdullah Ibrahim)
6. My Church (Jacky Terrasson)
7. Softly As In The Morning Sunrise (Romberg)

Ever since pianist extraordinaire Jacky Terrasson burst upon the jazz scene in 1993 by winning the Thelonious Monk Piano Competition, he has consistently recorded richly refined and remarkably free-spirited music. After delivering 10 CDs for Blue Note Records, Terrasson's Concord Jazz debut Push is an 11-track gem of dynamic pianism that opens up a new door onto his creative technique and ingenuity. Push features seven new Terrasson compositions as well as a sampling of fresh spins on standards, including two Monk tunes and a Cole Porter beauty as well as a version of the timeless melody "Body and Soul" melded with "Beat It," Michael Jackson's Thriller hit.