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
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble: Havana Blue
by Jack Bowers
With diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba warming, the chances for musical reciprocity have escalated apace. As one who has long admired the music of our neighboring island the the south, Chicago-based trumpeter / composer Orbert Davis was quick to seize the initiative, spending nine days in Havana with Cuban-born choreographer Frank Chavez in October 2012 and returning with the outline of his seven-part Havana Blue Suite," which explores and delineates the tantalizing harmonies and rhythms that are a ...
read moreChicago Jazz Philharmonic: Sketches of Spain Revisited
by Jack Bowers
One by one, the trio of classic big-band collaborations by Miles Davis and Gil Evans is being rediscovered and reinvented by contemporary jazz ensembles: Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess and last but not least, the tasteful and picturesque Sketches of Spain, reappraised here by trumpeter Orbert Davis (no relation to Miles) and the splendid Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. Besides composing, adapting and orchestrating the music, Orbert Davis sits in for his celebrated namesake on solo trumpet. What makes ...
read moreOrbert Davis: Blue Notes
by Jack Bowers
Orbert Davis, one of the Chicago area's favorite sons and best-kept secrets (although that status is rapidly changing), hasn't tinkered much with his third and latest album--it's essentially straight-ahead small-group jazz--but has managed to place the engine where the caboose should be.
What I mean is, when you're a mind-bending trumpeter and have programmed songs like the sepulchral Blue Notes and Parker/Gillespie's lightning-quick archetype Shaw'Nuff, it's quite clear (to me, at least) which one to lead with if you wish ...
read moreOrbert Davis: Blue Notes
by AAJ Staff
No pretense surrounds Chicago trumpeter Orbert Davis's third effort, Blue Notes. The album eulogizes the hard bop ethos of the '60s Blue Note catalog. Davis covers classics from that period like Wayne Shorter's Hammer Head" and Herbie Hancock's Driftin'." The trumpeter's own composition, Back in the Day," sounds like a cross between Watermelon Man" and The Sidewinder."
This is isn't to say that Blue Notes is a sterile recycling of another era's sound. Davis imbues the tunes ...
read moreOrbert Davis: Priority
by Jack Bowers
Trumpeter Orbert Davis may have let the cat out of the bag with Priority, an album that is almost sure to blow his cover as one of the Chicago area"s best-kept secrets.
Davis, who has recorded before with strings and voices and as a member of William Russo's Chicago Jazz Ensemble, unleashes the full arsenal on this spectacular studio date, showcasing his prodigious talents as player, composer and arranger in a colorful program of small"group Jazz that is at once ...
read moreOrbert Davis: Priority
by Pat Sisson
Priority, the sophomore effort of Chicago's trumpeter Orbert Davis, comes six years after his debut, Unfinished Memories. Though the six-year gap may explain why he isn't as well known as some contemporaries, his activities during that time demonstrate why he will soon be joining their ranks. Over the last six years, Davis has proved what many have said about him when he debuted: he's an incredibly talented, versatile player in the hard bop tradition. His technical skills, whether playing Armstrong ...
read more