Laura: June 2010

Esperanza Spalding - Beautiful, Soulful, Fun, Incredibly Talented!

I can't believe that I only discovered her a few days ago while she sang "If I was your Girlfriend" for Prince's tribute at the BET Awards.

It is so refreshing to hear this kind of music and singing. She's soulful, jazzy, she is a pro jazz bass player, and her voice is beautiful!

I was instantly drawn to her music and singing after seeing her at the BET Awards and have been listening to her music non-stop!

Check her her website and MySpace page! This is exactly the kind of artist I want to see live!

Joy Ike's Sophomore Album "Rumors"

It is easy to label an artist as soulful, but increasing difficult to find a real soul artist in today’s music scene. Joy Ike is the needle in the haystack. Her recently released sophomore album, 'Rumors', rises above the rest busting through with a soul sound that has drawn comparisons to Norah Jones, Fiona Apple, and Regina Spektor.

Her single "Sweeter" has received praise from NPR’s music critics with All Things Considered calling her, "a unique blend of neo-soul, with just the right dash of pop...a truly compelling act to watch."

'Rumors' has also racked up an incredible amount of attention in her hometown of Pittsburg, PA and has garnered new listeners across the country building a band of passionate new followers.

Joy released 'Rumors' her second full length album independently and continues a grassroots attempt to stay true to her values.

Joy Ike "Sweeter" MP3

More on Joy Ike:

www.joyike.com

www.myspace.com/joyike

Sonny Rollins Receives Miles Davis Award

Tenor sax player, Sonny Rollins won the Miles Davis Award last Sunday at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Previous recipients of this award include Ornette Coleman, McCoy Tyner and Mike Stern. It is meant to honour an international artist for the entire body of his or her work.

His nickname is the Saxophone Colossus and he has been performing for the past five decades! His original style is bebop, but he has also explored other genres such as calypso, funk, R&B and pop.

Sonny Rollins will be touring in various venues throughout Europe, Japan, and New York until November. Check out his touring dates here.

Check out Sonny's video library, including his Podcasts, peformance clips, interviews and special features about the Sonny Rollins Group on his website.

Here's one of the videos of this legendary saxophonist:

ahhika sorenstam

jojo

BET Awards Prince with Lifetime Achievement Award

Sunday night, BET awarded Prince with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Four incredible women, Janelle Monae, Esperanza Spalding, Alicia Keys, and Patti Labelle paid tribute to the music legend by performing "Let's Go Crazy", "If I was your Girlfriend", "Adore", and "Purple Rain". One could really not be moved after seeing these great artists perform for Prince, and moved he was. After their performance, Prince received the Lifetime Achievement Award and gave a great speech which you can listen to below.

BET Videos

Now Prince will be on his way to Europe, where he will be performing in several countries. Soon he will also be releasing his new album 20Ten through the Belgian newspaper "Het Nieuwsblad" and the German "Rolling Stone" magazine. I am very excited to see how it will be released in North America (in particular Canada :-))

In the meantime enjoy the tribute, the ladies were amazing and I got to discover a new amazing talent Esperanza Spalding, I can't stop listening to her music since Sunday!