Music & More

Annekei did a killer show last night at the Living Room, band cooking as hot as I've heard them play. She opened with a new song, "Coming Back to You" sounding totally amazing. Next up was "Off My Mind", shown here in a live version recorded for Fearless Music TV about two weeks ago, this is the same band as last night, courtesy of FearlessMusic.com. The set continued with more of the new songs that she's been playing of late and which will likely be on her U.S. debut CD that she'll be recording this summer. "Melt" and "100 Square Feet" sounded great with this band and with Annekei at the top of her game, these songs sound ready for CD right now. Here are videos of both songs from last night, courtesy of youtube user octane31 . Leslie Lemmon on bass and Fred Alias on drums. Jeff Smith (above) is a supremely talented multi-instrumentalist; he did a great sax solo during "Keep Playin'". Guest v...

Venissa Santí brought a three piece acoustic band to play two sets of excellent Latin jazz, standards, and original songs last night at the Raven Lounge in Philadelphia. The venue seemed an unlikely place to encounter music of this caliber, it is essentially a bar with no stage, no lights, and just a couple of speakers for the p.a. microphone. The band was set up next to the front wall which opens up to the street. Which is good in nice weather, but this night was cool and rainy and with Venissa in short sleeves, the open air might not have been such a good idea. Listen to "Tender Shepherd and Little Girl Blue" The music was rich with the cultures of Cuba, Brazil and Chile. Venissa is quite well versed in these musical traditions, doing jazz, pop, and standards; she also writes some very nice original songs. She was accompanied by three awesomely talented musicians from the group Alo Brasil; husband Patricio Acevedo on guitar, Tim Thompson on trumpet, and François Zayas on pe...

(Photo courtesy of The Glee Club) Just catching up with Melody's blog Chateaux du Gardot , in which she describes her London debut last fall thusly: On Wednesday November 14th, I flew over to sing with the BBC London Orchestra with a slew of other massive talent such as the incomprable Ian Shaw, Lizz Wright, Claire Martin, Juliette Louis, Terri Walker and Jamelia just to name a few. We were performing a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald called "We All Love Ella" (Also a record out now....) as the kick off event for the 2007 London Jazz Festival at Royal Festival Hall in South Bank Centre. This, playing with a full orchestra on a gigantic stage with some of the best performers not just in London, but in Jazz in general, was my London debut. Two days later she recorded an episode of Live from Abbey Road for season two, airing later this year on the Sundance channel. Season one was awesome and with Melody, season two can't be anything but magic. Her appearance was part of a He...

There's a hole in the musical universe this morning. After ten years of perfecting a totally unique form of music they call countrifunked jazzabilly, The Unpronounceable hung up their spurs last night after performing one final killer show at the Funhouse in Bethelehem, PA. If you're not already familiar with The Unpronounceable, start the below song from their recent double live album, Songs for the Long Drive Home (2007), and read this description from their website. Listen to "I Don't Think So" IT'S THE UNPRONOUNCEABLE! They’re the ass-kicking, money-maker-shaking love child of old, new, borrowed, & blue – a long-awaited tribute to those lost years when Elvis sang Hank Williams tunes with Black Sabbath while Duke & Satchmo called out the changes. They call it COUNTRIFUNKED JAZZABILLY, but it’s really just what rock & roll would’ve been if it hadn’t wasted all that time on hairspray. Grown out of the hinters of Northeastern Pennsyltucky cir...

The night before last Tina Dico played a sold out show at Joe's Pub in New York City, one of the best venues that an artist can play. But tonight in a booking that was borderline bizarre, Tina played a superb set at Philadelphia's Khyber. Home to mostly loud indie bands, the Khyber is about as far to the other end of the venue spectrum as one can get from Joe's Pub. Listen to - "Cruel to the Sensitive Kind" Tina was the consummate professional; not fazed by the grungy room, not fazed by the almost non-existent lighting, not fazed by having no soundcheck, not fazed by monitor sound that seemed to have a mind of it's own, and not visibly fazed by the din of conversation coming from the bar in the next room that threatened to drown her out, even though her voice and guitar were amplified, Tina was (to paraphrase Elizabeth & the Catapult), absolutely, totally, perfect. Performing solo acoustic as she usually does here in the states, Tina played a welcome sampl...

Shayna Zaid played a great sounding acoustic set last night at Rockwood. Backed by producer Jay Deasel on guitar, Shayna sang a selection of original songs with a subtle soulfulness and a not so subtle stage presence that transfixed the crowd right from her first song. Here's some video from the show, including the beautiful "It's You". The combination of her vocal, songwriting, and performing talents is a potent one and the show left the audience wanting to hear more, even after the unplanned encore. Shayna's career began early when she fielded recording contract offers after appearing on a singing competition television show in her native Malaysia, but opted instead to become the youngest ever network talk show host in Malaysian history when she took over the daily prime time show Speak Up and in the process became a household name at age fifteen. A mere two years later she decided to focus on her music, moved to the U.S. and enrolled at Berklee College of Musi...