The Bahama Soul Club

The Bahama Soul Club are a German-based group whose unique blend of soul, jazz, funk, blues, bossa nova, afro and Caribbean influences has firmly put them on the map of the black music scene as one of the most exciting contemporary outfits.

The band led by Oliver Belz started in 2005 under the former name of . The first 45 double-sider was released in 2005, which became a huge worldwide success, going straight to N°1 on the German Club Charts and staying there for more than 12 weeks. The following album was released in 2006 with guest vocals from soul-jazz crooner Terry Callier, Carolyn Leonhart, from Steely Dan and the lovely Katia B from Sao Paulo, whose cut became a smash hit in the worldwide club jazz scene and again reached the official media control Jazz Charts #2.
In 2008 for legal reasons the band’s name was changed to Bahama Soul Club and their first album “Rhythm Is What Makes Jazz Jazz” was released, amazingly following up on the outstanding success of The Juju Orchestra. They definitely hit the mark once again with the incredible appearance of guests like french chanteuse Isabelle Antena from Nouvelle Vague and Mrs. Pat Appleton from DePhazz, with whom they also established a 9-piece live orchestra and played all the famous jazz festivals in Germany and many more elsewhere in Europe.

2010 marks the release of the second Bahama Soul Club album, “Bossa Nova Just Smells Funky” with guest singers Xantoné Blacq from Amy Winehouse Band, British shooting star John Turrell, Kojato and again Pat Appleton, just to name a few. It soon became the band’s biggest success with radio features on ALL german public radio stations and countless “CD of the month” / “Album of the year” features worldwide, along with many Chart entries. With this album BSC became one of the most important contemporary European Jazz projects and were finally invited to the big German Groove Festival in Sao Paulo/Brazil.

2013 sees the band release their third album, “The Cuban Tapes”, an exotic blend of Cuban rhythms and tropical flavors executed with the trademark Bahama Soul Club style. This full-length once again features a host of talented vocal guests such as Danay Suarez, Arema Arega & Telmary Diaz from the contemporary Cuban scene, 3 generations of american soul singers Bessie Smith, Spanky Wilson and Ruthie Foster, and Anna Luca from Club Des Belugas. With “The Cuban Tapes” there is no doubt Bahama Soul Club are officially claiming their rightful spot at the forefront of the club jazz scene for many years to come!

The difference between BSC and other Nu-funk, Latin-Jazz,or Bossa projects? Bahama Soul Club is better! Simply put, it’s an original combination of afrolicious Bossa-Jazz with 60s Soul and 70s Funk. The positive vibes and contagious rhythms transcend boundaries, language and race, for a timeless sound that nobody can resist!