We first added songs from her album "This Heart of Mine" in 2003 and realized pretty soon that here's a singer for the long run. A couple of years later, the woman with the extremely rich and powerful voice came over to Berlin on behalf of JazzRadio and was enthusiastically received here for her first ever concert in Germany. She's back now with her 5th CD which is called Doozy and this has already set a record on the weekly JazzWeek Charts where she's number 1 for the fifth consecutive week. Congratulations Jackie! The new album is a double CD which was recorded on both sides of the US coasts and features a diverse range of highly dynamic musicians helping her out with her far-reaching repertoire. You can hear Cyrus Chestnut, Eric Alexander, Romero Lubambo, or Jeremy Pelt all contributing to this perfect album. As usual, Jackie convincingly interprets songs from the Great American Songbook as well as several pitch perfect Brazilian tunes. Her warm and swinging voice not only fits well with Benny Carter or Oscar Brown, Jr. tunes, but with Mexican composers as well. No wonder since her mother was Mexican (and her father Irish by the way). Get more info on Jackie through her website at www.jackieryanmusic.com or listen to JazzRadio where we've added many tracks from this best Vocal Jazz album of the Year.

President Obama and his wife Michelle will host the honorees at the White House before attending the gala. In his memoirs, Obama wrote of going to a Brubeck concert as a child. The Kennedy Center Honors series recognize performing artists for their contributions to American Culture. Brubeck's landmark 1959 album Time Out with the classic Take Five turned 50 this year. Among the hundreds of recordings are pieces where he set the music to the words of the Old Testament and of Martin Luther King Jr.


MK, 15.09.09
szmtag

Jamie Cullum premiered songs from his upcoming album The Pursuit for the first time before a live audience last night in Berlin. The 200 guests welcomed him with open arms from the very first second the band came on stage. The 60-minute set presented Cullum as the singer, songwriter, enfant terrible, jazz pianist, and complete entertainer he is now known for all over the world. But still, he keeps on surprising me each time I hear or see him. The set started with Don't Stop The Music which is standard Rock/Pop Cullum fare with a twist. He has perfected the art of writing 3 minute pop songs and spicing them up with little snippets of piano, brass, or percussion twists. In the same direction, but harder and edgier, was the song Mixtape about those golden days when you were mixing your favorite songs onto a tape to present it to your friends or lovers or soon-to-be ex-lovers. The song Wheels was inspired by a riff that his nephew was playing to him on the piano wih his knuckles. I'm All Over It and I Think I Love both are destined to become Cullum standards in the future. Three standards rounded out the programme: Cole Porter's Just One Of Those Things and If I Ruled The World, both with catchy new arrangements and Stephen Sondheim's Not While I'm Around . I guess his raspy voice is able to spice up just about every song. Cullum had the audience on its feet with the encore, his hit These Are The Days.
Album release date is November 6th in Germany and other parts of Europe, and November 10th in the US.