Author: Imanuel

Norman Connors. This name stands for so much. During the 50 years he has been active, especially since the late 1970-s, he should have been celebrated a lot more than he was, and he should have been more famous in Europe and Asia. “Captain Connors” is one of the last great Jazz-Funk and Soul pioneers alive. It all started 70 years ago today, on March 1st, 1947, in Philadelphia. Some years down the road, his interest in Jazz was big. So was his ambition as a young drummer. When Norman…

There are not many female Jazz pianists from Germany, who tour the world. I can think of two, but one of them is an organist. Let’s stick to the actual pianist, Anke Helfrich, who was born half a century ago today. From the small town of Horb, at the Neckar river, in Swabia, she would be taken to Namibia soon, where she stayed five years. Her mother was an anti-Apartheid activist, who collected donations for the movement. Little Anke would sing “We Shall Overcome” and dance with children in African townships, while…

In the mid-1970s, a young trumpet player from Queens got a scholarship for the High School of Music & Performing Arts in New York. At that stage, nobody could have imagined he was going to provide one of the greatest Funk hits ever, or that he would come up with some of the most brilliant Jazz-Funk sounds ever recorded. Tom Browne learned from Freddie Hubbard and other fellow trumpet heroes. Downbeat Magazine used the expression “warm trumpet” very accurately, while describing his playing. Jimmy Boyd, who used to manage George Benson, Earl…