Articles by Don Ball
Yazz Ahmed: A Paradise In The Hold
by Don Ball
Yazz Ahmed's music has focused on combining her love of jazz with her Bahrani heritage since her first recording in 2011, and with her release, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories, 2025), she adds a new component: voice. With lyrics in both English and Arabic, Ahmed uses stories and music from her childhood in Bahrain as the seed for this collection of songs, originating about a decade ago when she traveled back to Bahrain to complete a commissioned ...
Continue ReadingNels Cline: Consentrik Quartet
by Don Ball
While Nels Cline has been playing the guitar-hero rock star for the past two decades with Wilco, he continues to release his own solo recordings under various names (including the Nels Cline 4 and the Nels Cline Singers, which, amusingly, contain no vocalists) tailored toward the avant-garde side of jazz (with the notable exception of his lush, lovely jazz orchestra Blue Note release from 2016, Lovers). His 2025 release, Consentrik Quartet, brings together some of the finest jazz musicians working ...
Continue ReadingJanel Leppin: Her Own Space
by Don Ball
The first thing you learn about musician/composer Janel Leppin is that labels don't fit her music very easily. From structured compositions to free-wheeling improvisations, Leppin does it all. She has made chamber jazz recordings, worked with punk groups, and created lush solo vocal works, all in an effort to tell her own stories and create her own space in music. All About Jazz talked with Leppin in June 2025 about her new group, Skullcap, and their new album, ...
Continue Reading
