Lyambiko, WDR Funkhausorchester - Berlin - New York

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:54
Size: 101,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:49)  1. Die ganze Welt ist himmelblau
(3:53)  2. After the Rain
(4:04)  3. Bei dir war es immer so schön
(3:51)  4. Happy Days Are Here Again
(3:41)  5. Das Lied ist aus: Frag' nicht warum ich gehe
(3:33)  6. Answer Me My Love
(3:06)  7. September Song
(3:17)  8. Sommer, See und Sonnenschein
(3:48)  9. It's Oh So Quiet
(4:17) 10. Der Wind hat mir ein Lied erzählt
(3:57) 11. Schlummerlied
(3:33) 12. Irgendwo auf der Welt

The jazz singer Lyambiko illuminates the composer scene between Berlin and New York between the 1930s and 1950s: pop cultural globalization between Nazi terror and artistic exile.

The four-time German Jazz Award winner and ECHO jazz winner Lyambiko releases “Berlin - New York”, a personal and political album. Together with the arranger Max Knoth (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Lou Reed, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, David Newman, Matthew Herbert) and the WDR Funkhausorchester, conducted by Frank Strobel, she illuminates the diverse global connections of music culture in the "torn times" of the 1930s to the 1950s.

After countless appearances, tours and ten successful albums, Lyambiko is given a book as a gift: "Don't make your eyes sad because you're a little Negro". It tells the story of Marie Nejar, daughter of colored parents, who grew up under harassment in the Third Reich and became a singing child star in the young Federal Republic in the 1950s under the stage name Leila Negra. Lyambiko, herself the daughter of a Tanzanian and a German, finds her long familiar songs in Marie Nejar's autobiography, such as "Answer Me My Love" (Gerhard Winkler - 1952), which she has performed countless times. The book about an apparently distant, turbulent time has a strangely up-to-date effect and thus becomes the starting point for a musical and personal journey of discovery. Lyambiko came across sound film hits, radio hits and musicals, some of them immortalized in the "Great American Songbook", which were written by American and German composers in the 1920s to 1950s. Although everyday life was characterized by economic crises, wars and a terror regime in Germany, there was a lively international exchange between the songwriter circles in Berlin and Tin Pan Alley (New York City). The connection between European and American entertainment culture, as documented in countless cover versions of popular songs - such as the Comedian Harmonists - has existed since the beginning of the American music industry around 1900.

The song collection "Berlin - New York", carefully curated by Lyambiko and adapted by Max Knoth for the WDR Funkhausorchester, illuminates the pop cultural transfer between Germany and the USA in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Songs like "The wind told me a song" (Lothar Brühne - 1937), "September Song" (Kurt Weill - 1938), "Somewhere in the World" (Werner Richard Heymann - 1932) or "It's Oh So Quiet" ( Hans Lang - 1948) show the contradictions and ambivalences of these decades in an unforgettable way. The special thing about these songs, many of which are in the “Great American Songbook”, are the catchy, mostly optimistic but also sentimental melodies. They are ballads that, enriched by elements of jazz, Irish folk music or Central European operettas, stand out from the large number of songs at that time.https://www.lyambiko.com/berlin-new-york/

Berlin - New York

---

Lyambiko - Out of This Mood

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:48
Size: 165,8 MB
Art: Front

(6:54)  1. Some Other Time
(5:18)  2. If I Were a Bell
(3:36)  3. Chega de Saudade
(6:59)  4. Afro Blue
(3:24)  5. Gone with the Wind
(4:00)  6. Can't Get out of This Mood
(4:25)  7. Our Love Is Here to Stay
(4:05)  8. I Ain't Got Nothin' but the Blues
(6:48)  9. Parakeet Prowl
(4:12) 10. Mean to Me
(6:40) 11. Work Song
(3:17) 12. Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me
(2:19) 13. Miss Celie's Blues
(3:39) 14. You'd Be so Nice to Come Home To
(6:06) 15. Skylark

Not especially active in recording vocalists, German label Nagel Heyer has made a fortuitous exception by hosting vocalist Lyambiko's first album. Definitely out of the cool school, this young German performer sings this play list of mostly standards in slightly accented English which helps to make her delivery even more engaging. Possessing an especially soothing tone, good phrasing instincts, a slight vibrato used judiciously, she shows her obvious like of and respect for classics written by Duke Ellington, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Loesser and Jimmy McHugh, among others. Peppered through are such strictly jazz tunes as John Coltrane's "Afro Blue" and a blues tune or two including a groovy "Miss Celie's Blues". One of the jazz tunes, Nat Adderley's "Work Song", gets A Capella treatment by the singer which showcases the purity and range of her awesome set of vocal chords and she ends this tune by reaching to the heavens with an astonishing high note which she seems to hold onto forever. Quite breathtaking. Lyambiko gets staunch support by an international flavored trio of American Marque Lowenthal on piano, Canadian bassist Robin Draganic and drummer/percussionist Torsten Zwingenberger from Hamburg. This album offers more than 70 minutes of choice vocal jazz combined with excellent jazz instrumental artists and is highly recommended. ~ Dave Natrhan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/out-of-this-mood-lyambiko-review-by-dave-nathan.php

Personnel: Lyambiko - Vocals; Marque Lowenthal - Piano; Torsten Zwingenberger - Drums/Percussion; Robin Draganic - Bass

Out of This Mood

---

Lyambiko - Love Letters

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:59
Size: 132,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:08)  1. Star Eyes
(4:47)  2. Things Are Looking Up Again
(3:54)  3. Some Day My Price Will Come
(4:46)  4. Home
(2:57)  5. Love In Letters
(5:30)  6. There Is No Greater Love
(3:04)  7. Till There Was You
(3:54)  8. Summer Morning
(4:51)  9. Close Your Eyes
(3:49) 10. Answer Me
(5:04) 11. Under A Blanket Of Blue
(3:55) 12. When You're Not There
(5:15) 13. Stardust

The singer Lyambiko was born in the German state of Thuringia and grew up in a musically active family. Her grandfather was already a member of a jazz combo back in the 1930's, and her father sang in both a church choir and in jazz and world-music bands in his native Tanzania. As a child, Lyambiko took lessons on the saxophone and the clarinet and in classical singing, and played the tenor sax in her music school's big band. She was only 17 when she founded her first band as a singer (folk, pop and blues), and was the youngest entrant in a band contest where she won her first studio recording. After a longer break from making music, Lyambiko moved to Berlin in 1999. As part of her preparations for the entrance exam for that city's College of Music she took singing and piano lessons, and rehearsed a small repertoire of jazz standards. Concerts in Berlin jazz clubs followed with different ensembles, and a regular spot in a guitar duo entitled "Lyambiko  Strange Fruit". Thanks to a recommendation from the singer Mark Murphy, Lyambiko had the chance to appear in the well-known club A-Trane in April 2000.

In April 2001 Lyambiko first gave her name to the successful quartet with which she then extended her concert activities to the rest of Germany, and later on to other European countries and to the USA. In 2003 the Boston Globe described Lyambiko as "the most promising vocalist jazz has seen in a long, long time". Two acclaimed Cd's were released by Nagel/Heyer before the quartet signed with Sony BMG in 2005. These first two albums stayed in the top ten of the jazz charts for several weeks at a time, and after her move to the major label Lyambiko released her self-named Cd, a "collection of beautiful jazz standards" and then with Love... and then "a sugar-free contemporary reflection on love" (Berliner Zeitung). Each of these two productions was awarded in Germany with the Jazz Award. In February 2007 Sony BMG released Lyambiko's next album, Inner Sense, to which the singer contributed two songs from her own pen for the first time. Apart from two pop/rock covers, the album features solely original compositions, and was positively received by the press as a successful step towards musical independence: "Lyambiko exudes more charisma on 'Inner Sense' than ever before" (Jazzthing). In addition to her jazz projects, the singer with Tanzanian roots worked on a program of African music together with a youth choir for the first time in 2007. February 2008 sees the release of her new Cd Saffronia (Sony BMG). After five albums, Lyambiko now feels ready to bring out a tribute to Nina Simone, who inspired her in 2000 to embark on a career as a jazz singer. After her tribute to Nina Simone, "Saffronia“ (2008), which aroused the first substantial interest in the artist in France as well, Sony Music releases Lyambiko’s new album "Something Like Reality" in June 2010. http://www.lyambiko.com/eng/index.php?page=543713372&f=1&i=543713372

Love Letters

---

Lyambiko - Saffronia

Styles: Vocal, Contemporary Jazz  
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:04
Size: 122,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:55)  1. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
(4:13)  2. Feeling Good
(3:33)  3. I Loves You Porgy
(5:05)  4. Don't Smoke On Bed
(4:31)  5. Here Comes The Sun
(7:08)  6. My Baby Just Cares For Me
(3:18)  7. Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair
(4:48)  8. Four Women
(5:33)  9. I Put A Spell On You
(3:54) 10. Ne Me Quitte Pas
(6:01) 11. Mawe Mawe / I Sing Just  To Know That I'm Alive

On February 21, 2008, Nina Simone became one of the greatest icons of jazz, 75 years old. The sixth edition of the quartet around Lyambiko is, however, at most implicitly based on this jubilee. After five albums, she finally feels ready to publish a tribute to the woman, who inspired her eight years ago to go the way as a jazz singer, as the Thuringian woman with Tanzanian roots proclaims in the finest promo pathos. Now, God already quite different came to the idea, Nina Simone original interpretations to covern or further processing. Alone on the Verve Remixed series, which has since become a classic, Simone is represented six times, and even the sports show used the rhythm section of " Do not Let Me Be Misunderstood " as a jingle some 30 years ago. The appeal of cover versions is usually in the reinterpretation, in the success-crowned attempt to create something completely new from something existing. This is precisely the Crux at "Saffronia". Lyambiko is not to be accused of singing at all, but the record is simply sung over long stretches. Sure, everything is a bit fresher and more youthful, and at " My Baby Just Cares For Me " she tries it at least, takes a lot of pace out. The pianonummer, which is in the original, suddenly stimulates a relaxed rocking. That Liz is replaced in the text line "Liz Taylor is not his style" by Meg Ryan, I am at this point simply times. What is missing from Lyambiko is this fusion, this uncompromising identification with the song, which makes up the fascination of Nina Simones to this day. There are also slightly altered arrangements like the percussions in " Four Women ". The fact that one of the four women described in the play has to serve as a name for the record, at this point then also appears somewhat high. So the question is, why I should put Lyambiko, if I can also listen to the more intense original. Honest answer: I do not know. "Saffronia" is nice and not bad, but I still go back to Nina Simone. ~ David Hilzendegen  http://www.laut.de/Lyambiko/Alben/Saffronia-26714

Personnel:  Vocals – Lyambiko;  Backing Vocals – Lyambiko;  Bass – Robin Draganic;  Drums – Heinrich Köbberling;  Grand Piano – Marque Lowenthal

Saffronia

---

Lyambiko - Something Like Reality

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:45
Size: 125,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:48)  1. Don't Stand By Me
(3:50)  2. Taxi
(3:52)  3. Clothoid
(4:52)  4. Work Song
(4:43)  5. Angel Eyes
(3:24)  6. Lies
(3:24)  7. Black Hole Sun
(5:16)  8. Storm In a Teacup
(3:30)  9. Breaking News
(3:29) 10. Crossroads
(4:10) 11. So Very Long
(6:09) 12. Mind Over Matter
(3:12) 13. Chasing Dragonflies

The singer LYAMBIKO was born in the German state of Thuringia and grew up in a musically active family. Her grandfather was already a member of a jazz combo back in the 1930's, and her father sang in both a church choir and in jazz and world-music bands in his native Tanzania. As a child, LYAMBIKO took lessons on the saxophone and the clarinet and in classical singing, and played the tenor sax in her music school's big band. She was only 17 when she founded her first band as a singer (folk, pop and blues), and was the youngest entrant in a band contest where she won her first studio recording.

After a longer break from making music, LYAMBIKO moved to Berlin in 1999. As part of her preparations for the entrance exam for that city's College of Music she took singing and piano lessons, and rehearsed a small repertoire of jazz standards. Concerts in Berlin jazz clubs followed with different ensembles, and a regular spot in a guitar duo entitled "LYAMBIKO – Strange Fruit". Thanks to a recommendation from the singer Mark Murphy, LYAMBIKO had the chance to appear in the well-known club A-Trane in April 2000.

In April 2001 LYAMBIKO first gave her name to the successful quartet with which she then extended her concert activities to the rest of Germany, and later on to other European countries and to the USA. In 2003 the Boston Globe described LYAMBIKO as "the most promising vocalist jazz has seen in a long, long time". Two acclaimed CD's were released by Nagel/Heyer before the quartet signed with Sony BMG in 2005. These first two albums stayed in the top ten of the jazz charts for several weeks at a time, and after her move to the major label LYAMBIKO released her self-named CD, a "collection of beautiful jazz standards" and then with Love... and then "a sugar-free contemporary reflection on love" (Berliner Zeitung). Each of these two productions was awarded in Germany with the Jazz Award.

In February 2007 Sony BMG released LYAMBIKO's next album, Inner Sense, to which the singer contributed two songs from her own pen for the first time. Apart from two pop/rock covers, the album features solely original compositions, and was positively received by the press as a successful step towards musical independence: "LYAMBIKO exudes more charisma on 'Inner Sense' than ever before" (Jazzthing). In addition to her jazz projects, the singer with Tanzanian roots worked on a program of African music together with a youth choir for the first time in 2007. February 2008 sees the release of her new CD Saffronia (Sony BMG). After five albums, LYAMBIKO now feels ready to bring out a tribute to Nina Simone, who inspired her in 2000 to embark on a career as a jazz singer. After her tribute to Nina Simone, "Saffronia“ (2008), which aroused the first substantial interest in the artist in France as well, Sony Music releases LYAMBIKO’s new album "Something Like Reality" in June 2010. http://www.lyambiko.com/eng/index.php?page=543713372&f=1&i=543713372

Something Like Reality

---

Lyambiko - Shades Of Delight

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 79:11
Size: 181,6 MB
Art: Front

( 8:03)  1. Moondance
( 5:25)  2. Tenderly
( 4:43)  3. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
( 7:42)  4. Lush Life
( 3:28)  5. Your Mind Is on Vacation (And Your Mouth Is Working Overtime )
( 4:27)  6. Black Coffee
( 6:05)  7. Morning
(12:47)  8. Dindi
( 4:51)  9. Malaika
(15:40) 10. Savannah Suite: Drum and Bass and Bananas/Ilangamo/Afro
( 5:56) 11. Isn't This a Lovely Day

Lyambiko has a diverse repertoire, perhaps due to the singer being part German and part African. For her second recording, she utilizes the same trio as on the first: pianist Marque Lowenthal, bassist Robin Draganic, and drummer Torsten Zwingenberger. The group is tight, versatile, and quite alert, with the music ranging from a few standards (including a touching version of "Dindi," "Tenderly," a swinging "Isn't It a Lovely Day," and the humorous Mose Allison song "Your Mind Is on Vacation and Your Mouth Is Working Overtime") to some wordless vocals that reflect Lyambiko's African heritage. 

On part of the 15-and-a-half-minute "Savannah Suite," Lyambiko plays claves before eventually singing in a haunting fashion. She overdubs her voice on three songs, but the effect accentuates the music rather than seeming excessive. She has a lovely instrument and is definitely an up-and-comer in the jazz world. ~ Scott Yanow  http://www.allmusic.com/album/shades-of-delight-mw0000693329

Personnel: Lyambiko (vocals, claves); Marque Lowenthal (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, synthesizer, shaker); Robin Draganic (acoustic bass); Torsten Zwingenberger (drums, percussion).

Shades Of Delight

---

Lyambiko - Muse

Size: 140,8 MB
Time: 60:18
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Muse (5:10)
02. I Went To Heaven (3:49)
03. Landslide (4:25)
04. Willow Weep For Me (5:47)
05. Do You Remember Me (4:50)
06. Can't We Be Friends (2:54)
07. Besame Mucho (5:58)
08. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (4:47)
09. Horacio (3:07)
10. On & On (4:13)
11. Spring (2:50)
12. Looking For Love (3:38)
13. Exit Ahead (4:20)
14. And How I Hoped For Your Love (4:22)

Personnel: Lyambiko (vocals) | Marque Lowenthal (piano) | Robin Draganic (bass) | Heinrich Koeb­berling (drums)

German-Tanzanian jazz singer Lyambiko burst onto Berlin's music scene in 1999 after a music-oriented upbringing. The multi-talented performer brought together her skills of singing and playing piano to stages all over Berlin, slowly gathering attention as an urgent new talent. By 2001, she was fronting a jazz quartet that began touring throughout Germany, then Europe and abroad. Lyambiko has been heralded as one of the strongest voices to emerge on the jazz scene in a long time. She has since released seven albums with her quartet, reaching the top of the jazz charts in international circuits.

Muse

---

Lyambiko - Sings Gershwin

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 56:33
Size: 129.5 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[5:47] 1. 's Wonderful
[3:36] 2. It Ain't Necessary So
[3:05] 3. Love Walked In
[2:06] 4. Somebody Loves Me
[3:22] 5. I Got Rhythm
[3:02] 6. Nice Work
[5:21] 7. Someone To Watch Over Me
[2:46] 8. Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
[3:40] 9. Summertime
[4:21] 10. They All Laughed
[3:19] 11. Fascinating Rhythm
[2:49] 12. Who Cares
[3:09] 13. Crush
[1:29] 14. Slap That Bass
[4:45] 15. How Long Has This Been Going On
[3:48] 16. A Foggy Day

Lyambiko was born in the German state of Thuringia to a family with long-standing musical traditions. As a child, she took music lessons and became an accomplished singer. She was still in her teens when she formed her first folk and blues band, but her career did not take off until 1999 when she moved to Berlin. As a music academy student, she toured extensively with various groups, mostly reinterpreting jazz standards.

Lyambiko’s latest album is dedicated to the king of jazz hits, George Gershwin. Excellently produced with spot-on arrangement and subtle vocals, it became a European bestseller just several weeks after release.

Sings Gershwin

---