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.

Album Review

Lars Vogt: Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations

Read "Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 19, 2015

With widely performed compositions, I will usually listen to closely to the introductory section to begin formulating my thoughts overall. Consistently, I do this with Handel's Messiah, paying close attention to the opening Sinfonia. Its pacing and grandeur often give clue to what is to come later in the oratorio. Likewise, in Bach's Goldberg Variations, I will listen to the opening “Aria" and closing “Aria da Capo" with an interest in what it reveals to me about the work as ...

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Album Review

Harvie S & Eye Contact: New Beginning

by Jack Bowers
September 1, 2002

Bassist Harvie S (formerly Harvie Swartz) has made a New Beginning by producing an album that uses a variety of Latin rhythms to enliven what is essentially the sort of smooth Jazz that one must endure on so many radio stations these days. That's not to say there's no substance here; the ensemble plays well together, and Harvie's tunes (he wrote all of them except “African Heartbeat") are not devoid of charm or interest. But everything is scrupulously middle-of-the-road and ...