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
Don Ball’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2025
by Don Ball
Whether these are best releases in 2025 or not, they are the ones that resonated most with me. And 2025 seemed a good year for guitarists; they were often a driving force on many of these recordings and an important element in the mood and atmosphere of the songs. There's Anthony Pirog on Skullcap's Snakes of Albuquerque, Radomir Milojkovic on Muriel Grossmann's Breakthrough, Marvin Sewell on NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd's Figure in Blue, Nels Cline leading his Consentrik Quartet ...
Continue ReadingBill Evans Trio: Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (Remastered 2025)
by Mark Corroto
On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile, a barrier many believed human beings could never break. Today, any elite miler can run that time, which makes Bannister's accomplishment harder for modern sports fans to fully appreciate. Something similar happens when listening to pianist Bill Evans' two Riverside studio sessions, Portrait in Jazz (1959) and Explorations (1961), recorded some 65 years ago. Because contemporary pianists like Brad Mehldau, Fred Hersch, Denny Zeitlin and Bill Charlap have absorbed ...
Continue ReadingBeauty in Loss
by Geno Thackara
Saying goodbye to loved ones is never easy, but putting it into art helps in a way nothing else does and often leads to something beautiful. Even between two very different musicians and very different sounds, there is a recognizable emotional thread that stays the same from Moldova to midwest America. Brian EatonLike a Root Out of Dry Ground Eatin' Records 2025 As the old philosophical saying goes, you can never step into ...
Continue ReadingChristian Marien Quartett: Beyond the Fingertips
by Troy Dostert
For the follow-up to its 2024 release, How Long is Now (MarMade Records), the Christian Marien Quartett has chosen an adventurous approach in keeping with the leader's anything-goes aesthetic: a direct-to-disc recording process, done in one take directly to lacquer. With the spirit of risk and experimentation the maverick drummer has always brought to his ensembles, whether with saxophonist Silke Eberhard and trumpeter Nikolas Neuser in I Am Three or with trombonist Matthias Müller in Superimpose, Beyond the Fingertips possesses ...
Continue ReadingJohn Donegan Trio, Linda Dachtyl, Horace Silver, Rufus Wainwright
by Cheryl K.
During this week's two-hour program of jazz and improvised music, more music than one could hope for. We start with saxophonist Yusef Lateef; then onto vocalists Rufus Wainwright and Sacha Boutros; the John Donegan Trio; guitarist Brent Laidler; drummer Al Foster; the trio Organology; the duo Inclusion Principle with their fourth EP of the year; and The DIVA Jazz Orchestra. Playlist Yusef Lateef “The Beginning" from Jazz Mood (Savoy, 1957, reissued by Craft Recordings, 2025) 4:31 Lauren Henderson ...
Continue ReadingTheo Girard: La rivière coulera sans effort
by Andrew Hunter
French double bassist Théo Girard has built a career with great patience, not releasing his debut as a leader until the age of 40. That well- received record, 30YearsFrom (Discoble, 2017), was a trio piece and included drummer-in-demand Sebastian Rochford, with whom Girard has built a not inconsiderable body of work. La Rivière Coulera Sans Effort (The River Will Flow Without Effort) is the first with a new quartet called Mobke--the 'Mo' from Montreuil, a district of Paris, and the ...
Continue ReadingCentennial Shoutouts For June Christy and Johnny Mandel Plus New Releases James Suggs, Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter, Vancouver Jazz Orchestra, Cecile McLorin Salvant,
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast includes new releases from James Suggs, Kurt Elling, Charlie Hunter & Superblue, Vancouver Jazz Orchestra, Cecile McLorin Salvant, with birthday shoutouts to June Christy (100!), Johnny Mandel (100!), Etta Jones, Billy Strayhorn, Ethel Ennis, Rebecca Coupe Franks, Aline Homzy, among others with just a hint of holiday fare (more to come in December). Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy their music so they can continue to comfort, distract, provoke and remind the ...
Continue ReadingSylvia Bolognesi: Jungle Duke
by Glenn Astarita
Silvia Bolognesi, the accomplished Italian double bassist with deep roots in Siena Jazz and Chicago's improvisational scene, leads a dynamic septet through her album, Jungle Duke. This recording offers a spirited and highly successful reworking of Duke Ellington's iconic 1920s “Jungle" era classics, celebrating the centennial of those innovations and the 50th anniversary of the composer's death. Bolognesi intersperses intriguing archival audio clips of Ellington with fresh arrangements that deftly blend historical swing with the band's occasional free jazz explorations. ...
Continue ReadingDoug Collette's Best Jazz Albums Of 2025
by Doug Collette
In no order but that which they come to mind to play again... Vijay Iyer Defiant Life ECM Records BEATrio BEATrio Thirty Tigers Fred Hersch The Surrounding Green ECM Records Miguel Zenon Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at The Village Vanguard Miel Music Dino Saluzzi El Viejo Caminante ECM Records
Continue ReadingGlenn Crytzer: The Songbook Sessions (Volume 1, 1920)
by Kyle Simpler
Peter DeVries once wrote that “nostalgia ain't what it used to be," and this is certainly true when it comes to music. The greater the time distance, the harder it is to maintain authenticity. As a result, recreating music from the past might come across as something gimmicky or disingenuous with some performers. However, this is not the case with guitarist Glenn Crytzer. With The Songbook Sessions Vol. 1, he brings early twentieth-century repertoire back to life with an authenticity ...
Continue Reading
