Tour de Groove

The 1970s were the heyday of a musical style which turned jazz from its head back onto its feet and made it dance again. Bands such as Headhunters and Tower of Power and musicians such as Herbie Hancock, Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Patrice Rushen turbocharged their jazz with funk, soul and disco, for example by surrounding a stoic backbeat rhythm with pulsing riffs from an electric bass until the whole thing starts to groove. The Radius quartet from Cologne hearkens back to this decade of "anything goes". No matter which combination is chosen, the joy and pleasure that comes from lounging on a cushy carpet of groove and letting one’s ears flush with fluffy keyboard sounds and the twang of Telecaster guitars always comes first with this foursome. Their special guest is the singer David Rynkowski, whose smooth phrasing and soulful emphasis puts a vocal exclamation mark behind the groove jazz that is the hallmark of Radius.