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.
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The Who: Who Are You
by Doug Collette
Besides being the last studio album issued prior to drummer Keith Moon's passing in 1978, Who Are You holds the distinction of being the most enervating release in the British quartet's discography, even more so than the previous album, The Who By Numbers (MCA, 1975).Featuring as it does only one outside musician, the late pianist extraordinaire Nicky Hopkins, The Who By Numbers was refreshing and authoritative in its simplicity even as its material, authored in the throes of ...
Continue ReadingThe Who: Live At The Oval 1971
by Doug Collette
The Who were at the peak of their performing powers by the time they embarked upon an extensive touring schedule in 1971. Having honed their chemistry as a performing unit during the nearly two years of performing Tommy (Decca, 1969), the quartet had relegated equipment smashing to an occasional sidelight. And, having distilled guitarist/composer Pete Townshend's magnum opus Life House into Who's Next (MCA, 1971), the foursome had a panoply of sterling new material to choose from in ...
Continue ReadingJustin Chart: Night Heat
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Justin Chart is known for his cinematic, entirely improvised, live sessions. A stalwart of the Los Angeles, and Southern California, jazz scene, Chart has several superb albums to his credit. His 2024 record, Night Heat, maintains the same level of sophistication and spontaneity. It is culled from two separate appearances with different sidemen and consists of ten, relatively short, tracks that focus mainly on the intricacy of the melodies and the dynamic ensemble sound. For instance the ...
Continue ReadingJustin Chart: Keep The Blue
by Hrayr Attarian
Not all entirely improvised music necessarily embraces dissonance and atonality, however stimulating that may be. Saxophonist Justin Chart is famous for spontaneously creating entire sets, whether in the studio or in live settings, that are firmly rooted in mainstream sounds. His output is consistently cinematic and absorbing with a mysterious aura. His Keep the Blue is the quintessential soundtrack looking for a film, a classic film noir to be exact. The twelve tracks recorded at the Mixx in ...
Continue ReadingRory Gallagher: Deuce: 50th Anniversary Edition
by Doug Collette
Since Rory Gallagher's untimely passing in 1995, there have been more than a few posthumous audio and video packages devoted to the prolific output of the late bluesman. And while most of them, supervised by family members as is this one, have been both historically exacting and passionate in devotion to their subject, none are more so than this Deuce: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of the man's second solo album. With its nine and a half inch square ...
Continue ReadingJustin Chart: The Midnight People
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Justin Chart is an inventive and versatile musician who spontaneously creates mellifluous and enthralling soundscapes. Leading a synergistic band of like-minded sidemen. Chart excels in live improvisations that are simultaneously free as well as charmingly accessible. His output in the third decade of the century has been prolific without sacrificing artistic vision. The Midnight People is Chart's third release of 2022 and continues the trend started in its predecessors.The title track, for instance, simmers with a soulfulness ...
Continue ReadingJustin Chart: The Scarlet Jazz Room
by Kyle Simpler
Improvisation is one of the key elements of jazz, and it isomething listeners expect to hear in most performances. However, it is often a part of the overall composition, which is based around a central melody. But saxophonist Justin Chart takes improvisation a step further with The Scarlet Jazz Room. This album relies almost entirely on improvisation, and the result is quite impressive. Some might assume that this amount of improvisation would suggest that it's some sort of ...
Continue ReadingJustin Chart: The Scarlet Jazz Room
by Hrayr Attarian
Justin Chart is an award winning singer-songwriter and an accomplished jazz saxophonist. On his spontaneously created pieces Chart often collaborates with a rotating cast of like-minded sidemen. The resulting music is as sophisticated and intricately structured as carefully notated compositions. Chart, once again, showcases his unique artistic approach with the cinematic and enchanting The Scarlet Jazz Room. Chart's unaccompanied, soulful alto opens “Shape of My Shade." As the four piece rhythm section enters, the piece simmers with passion. ...
Continue ReadingJustin Chart: Live In Los Angeles
by Hrayr Attarian
Los Angeles-based, award-winning, musician Justin Chart is both an accomplished singer-songwriter and a superlative saxophonist. Chart infuses his jazz work with a distinct melodicism and his pop songs with a crackling spontaneity. A number of his releases are recorded in one take and are mostly improvised while eschewing dissonance and embracing lyricism. His tenth, Live in Los Angeles, is no different. Accompanying him through this exciting set of 12 originals are a rotating cast of sidemen all of whom share ...
Continue ReadingThe Band: Stage Fright 50th Anniversary Edition 2CD
by Doug Collette
In order to more fully appreciate the 50th anniversary edition of the Band's third studio album, Stage Fright (Capitol, 1970), it is best to resist the temptation to go off on tangents regarding the revisionism visited upon the release. The supervision administered by the group's guitarist/songwriter Robbie Robertson may be as questionable as that visited upon other such packages in recent years, but rampant skepticism and suspicion about his motives ultimately precludes deeper enjoyment of the work both past and ...
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