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.

Extended Analysis

Miles Davis: Olympia – Mar 20, 1960

by C. Michael Bailey
January 14, 2015

A Totally Subjective History of Jazz, 1945--1968 I am going to over-simplify the history of small-ensemble jazz between the heyday of bebop and the vestibule of fusion using a single catalyst--Miles Davis. Davis was instrumental in or the genesis of five major movements (not including fusion) in jazz where the hinges of these movements can be assigned (however arbitrarily) to specific recordings: Bebop--Davis records “Billie's Bounce" with Charlie Parker for Savoy November 26, 1945. This ...

513

Album Review

Miles Davis and Sonny Stitt: Jazz Time: Olympia

Read "Jazz Time: Olympia" reviewed by Samuel Chell

by Samuel Chell
April 9, 2004

On page 249 of his autobiography, Miles Davis recounts driving around Philly with Jimmy Heath, recalling that he “probably was complaining to him about Sonny Stitt playing the wrong [stuff] on 'So What,' because he would always [mess] up on that tune."The marvel is that Miles called on Stitt to replace Coltrane in the first place. But Wayne Shorter wanted to stay on with Art Blakey, so the most complete and polished bebop player of them all, a ...

155

Album Review

Mike Longo: Like A Thief In The Night

by Douglas Payne
March 1, 1998

Former Dizzy Gillespie pianist Mike Longo hasn't had a very high-profile career. But while his playing and writing is somewhat unexceptional, his proficiency and ability to keep it all interesting are never at fault. The ten tracks that comprise this solid 59-minute CD come from two 1975-era albums Longo cut for Sonny Lester's Groove Merchant label, 900 Shares Of The Blues and Funkia.The players - including Joe Farrell (reeds), Randy Brecker (trumpet / flugelhorn), Ron Carter (bass) and ...