Jazz Articles
Daily articles including interviews, profiles, live reviews, film reviews and more... all 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 future articles page. Read our daily album reviews.
Ryan Oliver: Zigging With A Jazz Maestro, His Secrets and Wisdom
by Kerilie McDowall
Tenor saxophonist Ryan Oliver of Canada's The Cookers Quintet, is no stranger to the art of touring the globe. For years he was an integral part of The Shuffle Demons, an adored Toronto jazz saxophone group known for their mid-'80s hit single, “Spadina Bus," written in humorous reference to the Toronto Transit Commission's Spadina Avenue bus that served a vibrant and unique neighbourhood in downtown jny: Toronto, and other treasures such as “Out of My House, Roach," ...
read moreTed Piltzecker: Vibes on a Breath
by Jack Bowers
Even though Ted Piltzecker is a splendid vibraphonist and ushers a group of Colorado's leading jazz musicians through its paces on Vibes on a Breath, it is his sparkling arrangements that carry the day on this delightful new album. Several members of Piltzecker's septet double, and he makes the most of that versatility, writing charts that bring to the fore John Gunther's bass clarinet, Wil Swindler's baritone sax and (on the closing number) Judith Leclair's bassoon and Javier Diaz's percussion. ...
read moreDave Meder: Modern Gothic
by John Chacona
Hymn tunes are having a bit of a moment with players such as Dave Douglas and James Brandon Lewis calling on these sturdy old melodies for projects that often wander far from their plain, homespun source material. On New American Hymnal (Outside in Music, 2023), pianist Dave Meder goes a step further by making the communal nature of hymn-singing a metaphor for the current state of society in the United States. “Modern Gothic" joyously references the simple triadic harmonies of ...
read moreRachel Eckroth: Humanoid
by Mike Jurkovic
Pianist Rachel Eckroth may use wellness or New agey terms such as polymath or bold vision to describe her approach to her considerable art, but she gets down to Earth for real and very quickly on Humanoid, her first all-acoustic recording. Recorded live at Sam's First in Los Angeles, Eckroth's very active imagination spearheads a group, including bassist and all round jazz entrepreneur Billy Mohler, drummer Tina Raymond--whose uncanny sense for everything a drummer can do, can be ...
read moreLive recordings from John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck-Jan Hammer and Threeo with Gerald Gradwohl
by Len Davis
Part 1 of today's show is all live music, from John McLaughlin & 4th Dimension, Jeff Beck-Jan Hammer Group, El Grupo with Steve Lukather and Steve Weingart and Threeo with Gerald Gradwohl and the late Bob Berg. Playlist John McLaughlin & 4th Dimension “Mother Tongues" from The New Universe Music Festival (Abstract Logix) 00:00 Jeff Beck-Jan Hammer Group “Scatterbrain" from Live (Epicx) 12:24 El Grupo “Dismemberment" from El Grupo-Live (Self Produced) 24:48 Threeo “Take That" from There Live ...
read moreJohn Blum: Nine Rivers
by Mark Corroto
Pianist John Blum's solo Nine Rivers is not so much a hit as it is a HIIT. His music is and has consistently been, to borrow a term from sports, a HIIT workout. HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training is a series of repeated all-out efforts with a brief recover time in between each effort. This recording from the 2013 Crosscurrent Festival in Pescara, Italy confirms Blum's approach as an anaerobic endeavor. His intensity only recovers in the spaces between ...
read moreInterviews with Chie Imazumi and Tenia Nelson
by Steven Roby
One of the most well-received musicians of her generation, composer, and arranger Chie Imaizumi (pronounced Chee-ay Ee-my-zu-me) has won many awards as an ambitious and active voice in the jazz community. She received the Herb Pomeroy Award, The Rocky Mountain Jazz Artist of the Year, and was recognized by DownBeat Critics Poll as a “Rising Star Composer & Arranger." Tenia Nelson performs regularly at jazz venues in the Denver metro area, including Dazzle and Nocturne. Nelson is a ...
read moreBobby Zankel: The Inside Story of 'A Change of Destiny'
by Victor L. Schermer
Saxophonist, bandleader, composer and arranger Bobby Zankel has been making jazz in many ways with diverse cohorts for over a half-century. He has found his own way to create music that is both advanced and very listenable at the same time. He is loved and revered by the many musicians who have performed with him and by his audiences and fan base, especially as a result of the recordings and performances of his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Big Band, ...
read moreThe Rat Pack vs. the Kids in the Kitchen: Are Those Our Only Choices?
by Con Chapman
It was a more important anniversary than most so we decided to splurge on a local restaurant that always gives me buyer's remorse when I get the check. My wife and I are both getting up in years and we eat out at what she used to jokingly refer to as “blue hair hours," when you can get the early-bird special if you want. In that time slot the crowd consists of senior citizen guys and their wives, ...
read moreJonathan Karrant: Eclectic
by Dave Linn
Born and raised at the foothills of the Ozarks in the old western town of Fort Smith, Arkansas east of the Arkansas River, Jonathan Karrant fell under the influence of his artistic mother. As a child, it is said he sang for hours every day, making his public debut at the age of seven at his local church. That summer, being a precocious child, he walked into a nightclub and asked the band to accompany him while he sang “Stormy ...
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