Jazz Articles
Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our Coming Soon page. Read our daily album reviews.
Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results
Dave McMurray Hears Himself In All Of Detroit's Music
by John Chacona
Saxophonist and composer Dave McMurray has much of the celebrated history of Detroit music in his memory and under his fingers. Now 70, and with four acclaimed releases on the storied Blue Note label, he is arguably at the pinnacle of a long and remarkably varied career. All the strands of that career are gathered by Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, in which McMurray is a featured voice. In advance of the band's appearance in Cleveland, Ohio ...
Continue ReadingNew Music By Kate Olson, Nate Smith, Myra Melford, Craig Taborn with Tomeka Reid & Ches Smith, Celebrating Jazz Capricorns & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast includes new music from Kate Olson, Nate Smith, Myra Melford, Craig Taborn with Tomeka Reid & Ches Smith, plus Part 2 of a look back at some notable 2025 releases, with birthday shoutouts to Pamela Wise, Georgia Mancio, Margaret Slovak, Michelle Walker, Myra Melford, Carol Sudhalter, Christine Tobin and Honorable Man Bucky Pizzarelli (100!), among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy their music so they can continue to comfort, distract, provoke ...
Continue ReadingFrank Housh's Favorite Jazz Albums Of 2025
by Frank Housh
2025 was a great year for jazz. Below are my reviews for the year, from established artists like Brad Mehldau, John Scofield, and Celine McLorin Salvant to rising talents like Christian Pabst and Jo-Yu Chen. The first two album reviews are of artists that did more than simply demonstrate superior artistry, they spoke powerfully about the world. I can think of no higher musical accomplishment. Honey From A Winter Stone Ambrose Akinmusire Nonesuch Records
Continue ReadingFlorian Ross/WDR Big Band: Plans & Drawers
by Jack Bowers
While Plans & Drawers may seem an odd name for an album of big-band jazz, the fact is that German-born composer and arranger Florian Ross had no “plans" to record before the opportunity arose to produce a second album with his home country's world-class WDR Big Band Cologne, and many of his compositions had been consigned to “drawers" in his studio. Once the agreement was finalized, Ross reopened those drawers, plans were made, and Plans and Drawers was recorded in ...
Continue ReadingLars Fredrik Frøislie: Gamle Mester
by Glenn Astarita
Lars Fredrik Frøislie ranks among the most accomplished keyboardists working in contemporary progressive rock. Best known as the primary keyboardist and compositional force behind Norway's Wobbler, he has helped restore the scope and discipline of 1970s symphonic prog without reducing it to homage. Beyond that role, Frøislie contributes to various projects and composes for film and television. A dedicated collector and performer of vintage analog instruments, including the Mellotron, Minimoog and Hammond organ, he draws from the lineage of Keith ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman/Nate Wooley: Polarity 4
by Don Phipps
On Polarity 4, their fourth album of collaborative improvisations, tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley create a diverse array of soundscapes. The spontaneous compositions exhibit fluid, arcing energy that skips around like a hummingbird darting towards clusters of brightly colored rhododendron blooms. Both musicians demonstrate their trademark virtuosity: Perelman with his supreme embouchure control, and Wooley with his diverse and challenging mouthpiece manipulations. The album consists of nine improvisations--each consisting of unique twists and turns and ...
Continue ReadingMatteo Paggi 5th "Giraffe" at the Milestone, Piacenza, Italy
by Danilo Codazzi
A collection of photos from the Matteo Paggi 5th “Giraffe" concert at Milestone Jazz Club in Piacenza, Italy, on January 10, 2026 featuring Matteo Paggi, Lorenzo Simoni, Vittorio Solimene, Andrea Grossi and Andrea Carta. ...
Continue ReadingJorge Vistel At Dock Street Jazz Club
by Ian Patterson
Jorge VistelDock Street Jazz Club Belfast, N. Ireland January 11, 2026 It took Jorge Vistel just one trumpet solo--a hypnotic four minutes of deft lyricism and technical bravura--to signal to the audience that it was in for a treat. Such a balance of emotional heft and virtuosity made it easy to conclude that music is in the blood of the Cuban trumpeter. Maybe too easy. To be sure, growing up in Santiago de Cuba, Vistel was ...
Continue ReadingLorenzo De Finti Qrt: Backlash of Uncertainty
by Glenn Astarita
Milan-based pianist and composer Lorenzo De Finti formed his quartet in 2016, with Backlash of Uncertainty marking the ensemble's fourth studio release. The group features De Finti on piano, Alberto Mandarini on trumpet and flugelhorn, Stefano Dall Ora on bass and Marco Castiglioni on drums. All five tracks stem from compositions co-authored by De Finti and Dall'Ora.The album opens with the title track, an eight-minute piece that immediately establishes a reflective tone through expansive melodic arcs threaded with ...
Continue ReadingMud Morganfield, Duwayne Burnside and Candice Ivory: Blues Triad
by Doug Collette
Posers abound around the contemporary blues universe, but none of these three is among them. On the contrary, Mud Morganfield, Duwayne Burnside and Candice Ivory all transcend cliche in their work, doing the tradition proud in his/her own distinct fashion. As a direct descendant of a blues icon Muddy Waters, Morganfield carries the heaviest load, but he does so valiantly and without undue self-consciousness. Likewise, Burnside, whose direct lineage pervades the music of the Mississippi Hill Country he has so ...
Continue Reading
