Yesterday, one of the most famous trombonists, Nils Landgren, gave a concert with his band Funk Unit in the Berliner Postbahnhof.

The concert has been opened by the Sebastian Studnitzky Trio, which presented their new Album “Egis”. Studnitzky is well-established in the Berlin Jazz Scene as well as pianist and trumpeter of the Funk Unit. His sound effects gave the audience a good introduction for the program of Nils Landgren.

Later in the evening, Funk Unit began to play. Consisting of rhythm section and wind section, they presented their new album “Funk For Life”. The vibe was at the climax when Nils finished his first solo. Moreover, Jonas Wall the tenor saxophonist impressed the crowd with his awesome fresh and funky solos a la Tower of Power. Also the baritone saxophonist Magnus Lindgren gave an impressive show like Stephen “Doc” Kupka. When they left the stage the crowd started to sing “Ain’t no body messin with my baby…”. So they had to come back again and play this fantastic old song of Nils.

It was a great ending of the evening. By the way, one Euro of each ticket and CD will be spend for the project “Ärzte ohne Grenzen”.

Photo by STEVEN HABERLAND
www.stevenhaberland.com

Promoting tracks from her four-time Grammy-nominated album "Turn Me Loose", she also didn't shy away from presenting songs from her previous three albums.I was lucky enough to see her at a San Francisco bar back in September 2000 when she was still selling her very first self-produced and self-published album after the show pretty much in grass-roots style.

10 years later, she's what you would consider a major R'n'B and Soul superstar. She hasn't lost any of her highly catching and captivating manners on stage which very soon had the audience dancing and shouting. Her band mates complete with two gorgeous background singers and a real Hammond B-3 organ, complemented her perfectly and were in control throughout the entire show.

Ledisi is really one of the very few singers out there who has this excellent ability to match Soul, Funk, Jazz, and a dose of Rock and Hip Hop into her repertoire with astonishingly crisp and brutally powerful singing that all the so-called younger Soul sirens can only dream of. She's the real deal which she emphasized by including the Franke Beverly & Maze classic "Happy Feelin's".

I've had the pleasure of visiting the Northsea Jazz Festival ever since the late 80s when it was still staged at the Congress Centre in The Hague. Several years ago, the whole company moved to Rotterdam where every second weekend in July, the Ahoy is nearly bursting with the top players in Jazz and Soul, plus many locals and newcomers which you've never heard of before.

This year's Festival runs from July 9-11th and several names have already been announced. Watch out for Diana Krall, the Joshua Redman Double Trio, Corinne Bailey Rae, the Pat Metheny Group, Joss Stone, Caetano Veloso, Ron Carter Trio, McCoy Tyner Trio plus Joe Lovano, David Sanborn, Sonny Rollins, Norah Jones, and The Roots. Expect hundreds more in the weeks to come.

The full programme will be announced at a press conference on April 28th and on www.northseajazz.nl