Home » Jazz Articles

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 future articles page. Read our daily album reviews.

Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results

1
Album Review

Papo Vazquez: Oasis

Read "Oasis" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Trombonist/composer Papo Vazquez brings in his Mighty Pirates Troubadours for another musical adventure full of scintillating melodies, energetic rhythms and heady grooves all of which make for a wonderful album. Not content to stay within one genre, Vazquez blends and mixes them with the skill of a wizard. The styles slide into place easily and compactly, propelled by as accomplished a bunch of musicians as any band leader would love to have.Vazquez not only has a fertile imagination ...

272
Album Review

Papo Vazquez and The Mighty Pirates: Marooned/Aislado: Live at the Painted Bride Art Center

Read "Marooned/Aislado: Live at the Painted Bride Art Center" reviewed by Elliott Simon


Few musicians in Latin jazz have more street cred than trombonist Papo Vazquez. A member of the seminal Fort Apache Band, he has been a part of this music's renaissance both in the US and in Puerto Rico for several decades. He has been at the forefront of producing an Afro-Puerto Rican jazz that leans on traditional styles such as bomba, with its infectious resonant percussion, and plena, which relies on the guiro and tambourine-like pandeiros for its sound. As ...

283
Album Review

Papo Vazquez and The Mighty Pirates: Aislado: Live at the Painted Bride Art Center

Read "Aislado: Live at the Painted Bride Art Center" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Fate deals its own hand. Papo Vazquez and The Mighty Pirates were scheduled to perform at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia when an ice storm came by the previous day. And so, a two-hour drive from New York City turned into a five-hour ordeal. One would think that the strains of the journey would tell on the band. But that thought perishes from the moment the first note float in.

Trombonist Vazquez has the innate ability of letting ...

187
Album Review

Papo Vazquez Pirates Troubadours: From The Badlands

Read "From The Badlands" reviewed by Chip Boaz


Poet Lola Rodriguez del Tio declared Puerto Rico and Cuba as “two wings of the same bird, yet many people lose sight of Puerto Rico's musical contributions. Numerous Latin jazz musicians hold Puerto Rican heritage, yet most songs mix jazz harmonies with Cuban rhythms. New York Puerto Rican musicians applied their identities to traditional dance music, but most listeners hear salsa's Cuban rhythms rather than a Puerto Rican identity. Young musicians wanting to learn “Latin music often overlook Bomba, Plena, ...

125
Album Review

Papo Vazquez Pirates Troubadors: From the Badlands

Read "From the Badlands" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Papo Vazquez wears his hats as composer, arranger and trombone player comfortably. As a composer he uses several genres including the aguinaldo, guaracha, bomba, mambo and jazz. His arrangements draw strong ensemble lines and then open the door to let the soloists ride into their improvisations. As a trombone player he has a vitality that lifts a tune and the ability to slip into a quickly created nook to add a delightful exclamation.

Vazquez'a music is earthy and powerful. He ...


Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.