9/17/2024The Transglobal World Music Charts publish their annual charts

The Transglobal World Music Charts are voted for monthly by world music journalists from all over the world and published on the Transglobal World Music Chart website. The organisation has now published its annual charts for the 2023-2024 season.

LINA was voted the best European album with the album ‘Fado Camoes’, which is also listed in the Top 100 at number 3. Further placings were achieved by the sampler Lost in Tajikistan at number 18, the Aga Khan Master Musicians with Nowruz at number 22, Nancy Vieira with Gente at number 42 and Sangit with Ooroo at number 97.

In the label evaluation, the in-house label Galileo MC also achieved a place among the top 10 best international world music labels with 7th place.

9/3/2024The German Record Critics' Award honors Nancy Vieira
The Cape Verdean singer's latest album was honored in the PdSK's best list 3/2024 in the world music category. With her clear and direct voice, Nancy Vieira tells stories, dreams and longings, pains and joys of the people on the Cape Verdean islands. “Gente” plays skillfully with musical subtleties, is rich in harmonic twists and represents a new generation of Cape Verdean artists.
8/29/2024Carmen Souza is back with her new album "Port'Ingles" and will be giving a total of 7 concerts in Germany and Austria in October/November

With her 10th album on Galileo Music, the singer with Cape Verdean roots will set a new musical exclamation mark and give a total of 7 concerts in Germany and Austria in October and November. "Port'Ingles" is a concept album in which Carmen Souza brings together musical narratives about the special culture of the Cape Verdean islands and their inhabitants, and above all sheds light on the British past and the long struggle for decolonisation.

Tour dates: 1.10. Kaiserslautern - 2.10. Darmstadt - 3.10. Schwäbisch Hall - 4.10. Vienna - 11.10. Ravensburg - 15.10. Münster - 1.11. Bad Homburg

8/5/2024The great fado singer Mísia has died at the age of 69

After a long illness, Portuguese singer Mísia passed away in Lisbon on 27 July at the age of 69. With her cross-genre interpretation of fado, Mísia helped the genre, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011, to constantly renew itself and repeatedly caused a stir with her albums. She has worked with musicians such as Iggy Pop and Ute Lemper and received the prestigious German Record Critics' Award for her penultimate album "Pura Vida (Banda Sonora)" from 2019.

Her last album "Animal Sentimental", also released on Galileo Music, was finally released in April 2022 on CD and for the first time on LP.

Nik Bärtsch's RoninSPINRelease datum: 11/29/2024Cat-Nr: RON040CD
Ilja Ruf Trio feat. Nils Landgren & Bernd RufHalftime ShowRelease datum: 11/8/2024Cat-Nr: GPARTS020
Nenad VasilicSolo LiveRelease datum: 11/15/2024Cat-Nr: GMV137
Jerron PaxtonThings Done ChangedRelease datum: 10/18/2024Cat-Nr: SFW40266

Growing up in Los Angeles, Jerron Paxton would sit with an ear by the radio, eagerly absorbing the nuances and history of Black American traditional music that connect him to his ancestral roots in the South. A songwriter, inheritor of tradition, and a walking, talking jukebox, Paxton approaches his craft with equal part wit and reverence, with a knack for leg-pulling and cracking wise. Things Done Changed is an album of original songs that sound beamed in from nearly a century ago, when jazz and blues were performed as a means of both personal and cultural survival. Lick by lick, Paxton builds a bridge between generations gone and generations to come, singing the heartaches and joys of the past and present.

Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Paxton's music is steeped in the rich cultural heritage of the Great Migration. His family’s journey from Shreveport, Louisiana, to the Athens neighborhood of South LA in the 1950s laid the foundation for his appreciation of Southern Black culture. As an only child, he spent much of his upbringing absorbing the culture his family had taken with them to California from the South. Paxton grew up very close with his grandmother, often shadowing her mannerisms and adopting them as his own. While Futurama or King of the Hill were on the family TV, he’d find himself sitting down with her, practicing banjo chords he’d heard on her favorite records. Since relocating from Los Angeles to New York City in 2007, Paxton has found an embracing audience within the city's diverse cultural communities and vibrant music scene. He discovered that New Yorkers are sensitive to the kind of authenticity in storytelling that he was exposed to as a child

“Things Done Changed is my way of honoring the culture I come from,” says Paxton. “I grew up playing for the last generation of folks who grew up listening to Black banjo players … Born from the lives of the people who raised me, I hope these songs resonate with listeners as a continuation of our shared history.”

• “Paxton is “virtually the only music-maker of his generation—playing guitar, banjo, piano and violin, among other implements—to fully assimilate the blues idiom of the 1920s and ‘30s.” — The Wall Street Journal

• “Paxton shifts from piano to guitar to fiddle to a five-string banjo that looks like he timetraveled to the 1920s, stole it from a juke joint, and dropped it on the ground a few times on the way back.” — The Village Voice

• “His singing voice is of a kind that one just falls into; it wraps around you, cradles you, and doesn’t let go, and his delivery is what I would call “singing storytelling” (in the true tradition of the blues)....If you have a chance to see Paxton in concert, grab it with both hands.” — The Snycopated Times

• “He is not merely a preservationist mining bygone decades for esoteric material or works that fit a certain aesthetic or brand. He simply takes music that is significant to his identity, his culture, and his experience and showcases it for a broader audience. Its value does not reside solely in its history or in the authentic replication of that history, but also exists in its present, its relevance to modern times, and its future, as well.” — The Bluegrass Situation

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XTCSkylarking - Dolby Atmos Edition (CD/BluRay)Release datum: 9/27/2024Cat-Nr: APEBDA508
Skylarking: For many years, XTC's most commercially successful album was also its most mythical, with tales of ‘lost’ multitrack tapes (sadly true of other XTC albums, but not this one), a song that was originally dropped from the album only to be replaced when it accidentally became a hit single in the U.S, and an on-paper perfect marriage between the ideal Britpop band, a decade before the term was invented, and an Anglophile super-producer that turned out to be rather imperfect in terms of personality, but produced a classic album nonetheless. Still, a masterpiece remains a masterpiece, no matter how traumatic its origins & this is one of the few albums that sounded great then & sounds just as great, if not better, now. Frequently requested as a vinyl release in recent years & with the new CD/Blu-ray release this autumn in Dolby Atmos, the timing is ideal for Ape House to release the 2016 mix on 200-gram vinyl - the first of Steven's XTC mixes to appear on vinyl. More
Klaus KoenigSeven Things - An Homage To CeliaRelease datum: 11/15/2024Cat-Nr: TCB38302

In 2012/13 when I plucked up the courage to plunge back into the music scene after a 15-year break due to illness, I initially had in mind a revival of my “Jazz Live Trio”. This was the formation that had played on Swiss Radio SRF as the house trio from 1964 to 1982, and was responsible for accompanying the soloists in the “Jazz Live” concert series. My erstwhile colleagues were no longer available after my long break, and anyway, for me it was important to work with players from the younger generation.

That I then met bassist Patrick Sommer and drummer Andi Wettstein was a great stroke of luck, as I know today. The 40 years that separated us in age never posed a problem and there has never been a mean word between us in all those years. Nevertheless, my previous experiences in the 1970s with the group “Magog” wouldn’t let me be. Working with wind instruments naturally means a great increase in possibilities. Not only in colors, but also in shapes. So we very soon resolved to build a two-wind quintet alongside the trio work, but not quite from point zero.

I had already had the trumpeter Dani Schenker and alto-saxophonist Christoph Merki (both currently professors at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK) in one of my groups, the quintet “Magog 2”. For this relatively short-lived attempt to build on my Magog experiences, I had approached these two horn players. In any case, I had known Christoph for much longer. As a student at the Einsiedeln Monastery high school, he had persuaded the priests to allow “Magog” to give a concert in the monastery to celebrate their graduation. Christoph was the driving force behind jazz there, as of course he had been playing the alto saxophone for a long time. As a result, in addition to studying history in Zurich, he trained to become a professional on his instrument at the Lucerne Jazz School.

Finding a voice in a trio that, as far as possible, doesn’t imitate familiar patterns, but rather has a certain degree of uniqueness, is already difficult enough, and perhaps only attainable after many years of playing. For me, leaving the beaten paths in a two-horn quintet seems an even more difficult thing to do. Overcoming the hard bop tradition, which in my view is still virulent in spite of free jazz incursions in recent decades, remains a challenge for every quintet, which in most cases is only achieved over time. Given that Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet with Wayne Shorter still remains the top of the performance pyramid, the measure of all things, a similar level of musical expression could probably only be achieved with a completely different musical language.

We are left with the difficult task of balancing between two extremes: popular music with a memorable melody that delights the listener, and the polar opposite of not involving the target group, the audience, in the composition process at all, shutting one’s self in an "ivory tower" and leaving the music to find its own way.

These questions about style used to concern me a lot. My goal has always been to be as “modern” as possible, to be at the forefront of development. Just not at any price. Abruptly renouncing the connection to jazz history, as was attempted in the 60s and 70s of the last century, was out of the question for me. Approaching new possibilities in jazz in an evolutionary way was my path.

If the recognition of the many difficulties in composing leads the musician to some modesty and humility, that is only to be welcomed. Young jazz adepts will rarely, nor should they be, discouraged. In each new generation, those touched by the arts strive to live their creativity, to express themselves in their art with the goal of always becoming a bit better, of raising the bar even higher. Desperation and desire are very close to one another.

Today, at my advanced age, a firmly anchored style in my/our music surprisingly is no longer an issue for me. Modern or old-fashioned - these are no longer points of reference for me. I like to take note of current trends, but they no longer alter my aesthetic preferences. The music that I write and play today must come as much as possible from within me, from the experiences gained during the long march of decades spent with this music we call jazz. It doesn't consciously, but certainly on an unconscious level does, take into account an imaginary audience.

“If it pleases, it is allowed” states Goethe’s Tasso, the embodiment of all that is artistic, including its complications, in the drama of the same name. His counterpart, the princess, a representative of the establishment corrects him with the words “Let that please, which is allowed ”. Today I'm rather closer to Tasso's side when I expand his maxim to: "If it pleases me, it is allowed".

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Louis All Stars ArmstrongLausanne 1952Release datum: 11/15/2024Cat-Nr: TCB02482

Louis Armstrong was an immeasurable gift for the millions of listeners, fans and musicians who felt themselves born along the decades by the irresistible force of his trumpet playing and singing. From the revolutionary power and audacity of the '20s to the awe-inspiring essentiality of the last recordings from the very end of the '60s, his musical traverse is crisscrossed and underpinned by a generosity and expressiveness unmatched throughout the history of Jazz.

Naturally, the "Satchmo" of the '50s is no longer he of the Hot Five, the Hot Seven, the fabulous orchestra of the early '30s or even the flights of "Swing That Music" with Jimmy Dorsey's 1936 orchestra. But what moves us beyond words in the voyage of Louis and his “All Stars” is his perpetual quest to reunite with his roots as a kid from New Orleans – the galvanizing and formative sounds that he searches for in every corner of improvisation as if it were only now in these powerful memories that he finds himself completely.

In 1952 his sextet had changed a bit, even if the rhythm section was the same as the one that propelled Earl Hines, Jack Teagarden and Barney Bigard many years before. Texan Bob McCracken does an excellent job throughout the concert as an earthy and efficient “goodmanian”, and as well knows perfectly how to place himself at an ideal distance from the microphone so that we can appreciate his clarinet sound... as if we were there! Trummy Young is the delicate charmer that we all know, powerful and expressive in his solo interventions, ideal twin of Louis in certain vocal improvisations and delicate “counter-singer” behind his… Master’s voice! For his part, Marty Napoleon clearly appears “imperial” (noblesse oblige), and delivers a few solos with communicative dynamism. In this regard, his remarkable trio version of Saint-Louis Blues poses the question as to why Marty never really enjoyed the reputation that he deserved to have? As for the rhythmic tandem Arvell Shaw/Cozy Cole, it works like clockwork, providing the combo with an impeccable and brilliantly catchy foundation from start to finish. We sense in the relationship between the double bassist and his “big brother” Louis a sort of complementarity and friendship which evokes the type of role and complicity that Freddie Green had for Basie or Harry Carney for Duke... We should also mention that Arvell, creator that evening of a delicious version of “The Man I Love”, felt almost at home, since his wife was from Vevey – a town about twenty kilometers from the venue.

Saving the Lady for last... Dame Velma Middleton brings to the party her impertinent banter and habitual good humor, even taking off on a few flights of fancy, notably in "Lover Come Back To Me" and "Can Anyone Explain", which could probably be counted among the singer's best recorded performances. We also see a Satchmo in excellent mood, mischievous and good-naturedly bawdy, together playing off of each other to the audience’s delight. Carried away by the high spirits of the moment, he even makes a nice little slip of the tongue by presenting the first of the two themes, calling it “Lover Come Black To Me”! Not to mention the double entendres and the rather nimble play on words that Velma comes back with when Louis mentions a friend from Maine and that she nicknames “Bangor”, which of course can be understood in two very different ways…

As for Mister Satch… well! What can we add that hasn’t already been said? Except that this performance in Lausanne appears to us to be of the highest and most beautiful quality, and that from start to finish Louis is overflowing with feeling and passion, managing to present these tunes that he’d repeated a thousand times as if he were offering them a new life with each fresh interpretation. Additionally, the overall high quality sound recording allows you to slip magically into the ambiance of the concert and feel a presence that is quite rare for testimonies from this period.

Finally, let us not forget that while certainly, quite a few critics will have spoken at length about the repetitive side of the repertoire and of the “Armstrongian” approach of this period, the public and fans who discovered Louis' music in concert for the first time were literally amazed by the power and the “Truth” that emanated from it. We know people who were there, and still speak to us today about this evening with tears in their eyes. For some, this moment was so revealing and salient that it determined their future life choice, which could be nowhere else than in music!

Dizzy Gillespie, speaking about Louis Armstrong, made it quite simple: “No him, no me.” And when Louis died in 1971, Diz said, “Louis Armstrong’s station in the history of Jazz is unimpeachable. If it weren’t for him, there wouldn’t be any of us.” Miles Davis, for his part, summed it up very clearly: “You know you can’t play anything on a horn that Louis hasn’t played – I mean even modern.”

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MortalityVolume IIRelease datum: 11/15/2024Cat-Nr: ECD2023200

The Finnish jazz supergroup Mortality is set to release their highly anticipated second album, titled 'Volume II'. The album, which will be released on September 6, will be available on vinyl LP, CD, and streaming platforms. It once again features the leading figures of Finnish jazz, with guest appearances by guitarist Teemu Viinikainen and the virtuosic vocalist Teri Mantere. The release of the new album will be celebrated with two concerts: on September 11 at Sellosali in Espoo and on September 12 at G Livelab in Tampere.

Mortality captivated both audiences and critics with their debut album released at the end of 2019. The debut album, heavier in theme than words can express, carried the emotional burden of composer and producer Tapio Ylinen's personal tragedy. Skillfully blending contemporary jazz with elements of progressive rock, the album unfolded as a musical journey full of sensitivity and hope. The album received critical acclaim all over Europe, was nominated for the Finnish equivalent of the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Album and got producer-composer Ylinen awarded personally by the national broadcaster YLE.

Following the successful release of their debut album, the band's composer/producer has been working on a beautiful sequel to the original release. The twists and turns of personal life continue to serve as the undercurrent of the compositions.

The new album 'Volume II' creates melancholic tones and bittersweet harmonies, balancing delicately on the edge of joy and melancholy. The central theme of the album is the dualism of beginnings and endings. The Big Bang and the expansion (and eventual cooling) of the universe are reflected in the titles of the tracks, as are births and deaths.

Tapio Ylinen's soulful compositions come to life with a new lineup featuring Jori Huhtala on bass, Mika Kallio on drums, Mikael Myrskog on keyboards, and Johannes Granroth on guitar. The top-level brass and wind section includes Manuel Dunkel, Max Zenger, Mikko Pettinen, and 'Gunu' Karjalainen. Additionally, guitarist Teemu Viinikainen makes a special appearance, as does vocalist Teri Mantere, whose reinterpretation of Ylinen's composition 'Desperate Measures'—originally released by the progressive band 5th Season—is sure to be one of the year's most remarkable vocal performances in Finnish jazz. 'Desperate Measures' will be released as the third single from the album on August 16.

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