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.

231

Album Review

Eric Mintel: Ground Breaker

Read "Ground Breaker" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
August 8, 2009

The title of a record may be misleading, and even when it promises more than it delivers, it doesn't necessarily mean that the music is of poor quality. Eric Mintel's Ground Breaker does no such thing but it is a solid, well above average effort in the post bop tradition.

The original tunes are all complex, intricate compositions by Mintel, allowing each musician plenty of solo space. The music has the loose swinging beat of 1950s Blue Note recordings, but ...

135

Album Review

Eric Mintel Quartet: Hopscotch

Read "Hopscotch" reviewed by Dave Nathan

by Dave Nathan
May 1, 2002

Eric Mintel's 4th album features the leader/pianist's compositions except for Dave Brubeck's 1968 penned rarely recorded “Forty Days" and the Duke Ellington/Juan Tizol classic “Caravan". Brubeck's work is an interesting one. It's from a religious oratorio “The Light in the Wilderness". Mintel and group capture the religious intensity of the piece as Neil Wetzel plays with both fervor and passion. A close listen catches a few bars of Brubeck's more familiar work, “In Your Own Sweet Way".

This album gives ...