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

6
Album Review

Ornette Coleman: Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums

Read "Genesis of Genius: The Contemporary Albums" reviewed by Jeff Kaliss


For many an Ornette Coleman devotee, devotion was pledged with the singular saxophonist's The Shape of Jazz to Come (Atlantic). It was recorded in May and released in November of 1959, and it's a matter of when in our life we caught up with it. For some of us, that's when we first felt liberated by jazz. That album, produced by Nesuhi Ertegun, remains a hard act to follow, even for Coleman himself. Or to precede. But “Hollywood ...

292
Album Review

Hampton Hawes: Everybody Likes Hampton Hawes

Read "Everybody Likes Hampton Hawes" reviewed by David Rickert


If everybody likes Hampton Hawes, why is he such a neglected figure today? Maybe it's because he is neither an innovator like Bud Powell nor an expressionist like Bill Evans. Maybe it was because he spent his time on the West Coast instead of the East Coast. Or maybe with covers like these, his albums get put in the children's section by mistake.

Whatever the reason, Hawes was a sturdy accompanist and a pianist who was capable of turning out ...

267
Album Review

Victor Feldman: Latinsville!

Read "Latinsville!" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


In December 1958, Victor Feldman—pianist, percussionist, and vibes player—began work on a project as a leader for Contemporary Records. He continued work on this project for nearly a year, ultimately recording two different quintets plus a ten-piece unit with contributions from bassists Al McKibbon and Scott LaFaro, soloists Walter Benton (tenor sax), Conte Candoli (trumpet), and Frank Rosolino (trombone), pre- Peanuts pianist Vince Guaraldi, and the best percussion ensemble in the history of jazz: the triple threat of Willie Bobo, ...

266
Album Review

Tom Harrell: Sail Away

Read "Sail Away" reviewed by Russell Moon


Recorded over two days in March of 1989, Sail Away is surely one of the youngest albums ever to be re-released as an OJC, and presumably the first from the CD era. Two songs from the sessions not on the original CD are included here, bringing the total time to a very generous 79 minutes. Although Tom Harrell composed every tune, the two days' sessions were not alike, and thus this disc has a “two LPs on one CD" quality. ...

294
Album Review

Barney Kessel: Plays For Lovers

Read "Plays For Lovers" reviewed by Russell Moon


Guitarist Barney Kessel was the backbone of what I consider to be the most romantic album ever made, Julie London's Julie Is Her Name. It was only a natural choice for Fantasy to add Kessel's name to its list of Plays For Lovers compilations.

Barney Kessel Plays For Lovers is 67 minutes of generally gorgeous music recorded for Contemporary Records over the period from 1953 to 1988. The album consists of 16 standards, two of which are up-tempo: “Satin Doll" ...

231
Album Review

Sonny Simmons: Burning Spirits

Read "Burning Spirits" reviewed by Jeff Stockton


The name Sonny Simmons is variously preceded by the words “underrated," “underappreciated," or even “unknown." Based on the evidence presented on Burning Spirits, a session from late 1970 – released the following year as a double LP and just been reissued by Fantasy Records – the neglect and indifference of jazz listeners has been criminal.

Simmons had released a few recordings in the ‘60s as a leader on ESP and Arhoolie (all currently back in print), but it would be ...

273
Album Review

Art Pepper: Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics

Read "Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Only a handful of jazz recordings can be described as truly classic. Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics is a member of that handful. Recorded between March and May 1959, + Eleven has the distinction of being excellent on multiple planes. One is Pepper himself. A journeyman multi-reedist who was already a veteran of big bands lead by Gus Arnheim, Benny Carter, and Stan Kenton, Pepper was reaching his first pinnacle as an artist when + Eleven was recorded. ...

149
Album Review

Shelly Manne & His Men: Checkmate

Read "Checkmate" reviewed by Derek Taylor


Jazz and television were an easy match in the Sixties, especially in the context of the cop, spy and detective shows that were Hollywood’s bread and butter of the era. Noirish blues and angular tempoed chase themes fit the action on these shows perfectly, as did the Cool connotations of West Coast Jazz. Among the more successful composers for the studios was John Williams, a jazz pianist who would later become one of the industry’s big names scoring soundtracks to ...

179
Album Review

The Terry Gibbs Dream Band: One More Time

Read "One More Time" reviewed by Jack Bowers


To paraphrase Maurice Chevalier's earnest anthem in the film Gigi, “Thank heaven for little pack rats!" Just when we'd almost given up hope of ever hearing anything new from the fabulous Terry Gibbs Dream Band of the late '50s-early '60s, TG came across eleven boxes of tapes on the top shelf of a closet marked “Big Band Sundown, Seville 1959." They'd been sitting there since Terry and his family moved back into the house eight months after the Northridge, CA, ...

193
Album Review

Tom Harrell: Sail Away

Read "Sail Away" reviewed by William Grim


Sail Away is one of trumpeter/composer Tom Harrell’s best efforts and features a wide range of his original material. The album starts off with “Eons,” a fast tempo bop tune that features tenor sax and trumpet solos. Harrell is at his most Chet Baker-like in “Glass Mystery,” a slow ballad with inspired solos from Baker and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano.

The album’s title track “Sail Away” is a lovely bossa nova with a haunting melody and interesting modulations. ...


Get more of a good thing!

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