Tuesday, May 12, 2020

New Music Releases: Amira, Jim Richter, J&B Kings

Amira B - Away

Her upcoming single, “Away”, is a melancholy R&B-tinged neo-soul tune that elegantly puts to words our collective need to escape from these trying times. Expressing the uncertainty that we’re all feeling, Amira B elegantly puts to must the angst of this moment in a beautiful and soulful way. With shimmering vocals, and a tasteful blend of neo-soul, R&B and funk, singer-songwriter Amira B soaks the beauty all around us into a head-turning, soul-lifting music. A New Yorker at the core with unique Russian-Egyptian roots, Amira B began studying classical piano at the ae of 4. At 7, she and her family moved to New York City from Volgograd, Russia, where she continue to study classical piano. As the years went by, and while attending Fiorello H. LaGruardia High School, Amira decided to switch gears and focus her studies on her voice. Influenced by jazz, soul, R&B, and the beat of the city that can be heart within her own music, she began performing her own original songs for larger and larger audiences, eventually appearing with The Main Squeeze at The Brooklyn Bowl.

Jim Richter - Mr. Kool 

Celebrating a multi-faceted, on and off five-decade career that’s found him playing blues, pop/rock and traditional jazz, classically trained guitarist Jim Richter made his SmoothJazz.com debut in 2019 with the impressive, Smooth Jazz charting album BREEZY DAY. This is the killer follow-up collection to his successful entry into the genre. MR. KOOL is infused with a multitude of vibes and grooves – from light funk and punchy pop/rock to dreamy ballads, driving rock jams and blues-fired romps – this collection may remind you of the high spirited, freewheeling way contemporary jazz soared in the 80s and 90s.    



J&B Kings - Congo Conga (Afro-Cuban Funk)

In the late 1930s, the Conga was a wildly popular dance featured in Hollywood “Latin” musicals – Too Many Girls (1940) with Cuban star Desi Arnaz jamming as a conga-playing Argentine student. Arnaz made a more significant impact in the Deanna Durbin feature, It Started With Eve – when Durbin and renowned actor Charles Laughton dance to the infectious rhythm in a nightclub. The J&B Kings pay respect to a music style that would soon die on a "cartoon vine" when the very nature of its boldness, political will, and urban street chic had been eclipsed by Hollywood film buffoonery. The Kings bring a contemporary edge back to the music featuring New Orleans Chris Butcher and his Heavyweights Brass Band down the middle.


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