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Melanie Scholtz
Melanie Scholtz & Jo Skaansar: Kindred
by Dan Bilawsky
It only takes a few seconds to recognize the strong musical bonds linking South African-born, New York-based vocalist Melanie Scholtz and Norwegian bassist Jo Skaansar. Having worked together for years, these two tend to operate on a higher plane. That's been made perfectly clear on stages throughout the world and with Skaansar's appearances on Scholtz's Connected (Loudberry, 2010) and Living Standards (Loudberry, 2010), and it's equally apparent on this spellbinding duo EP. Opening on “I'm Old Fashioned," ...
read moreMelanie Scholtz: Zillion Miles
by Seton Hawkins
On her debut album, Zillion Miles, vocalist Melanie Scholtz spends a great deal of time demonstrating her chops in multiple genres--deliberately avoiding classification in any sort of mold. It's a daunting style of album to make, though several other South African jazz musicians have been doing it lately, notably Gloria Bosman and Concord Nkabinde. Like these musicians, Scholtz's effort results in some transcendent moments as well as some rough and inconsistent moments, but overall a successful album and an enjoyable ...
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