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

Joe Block: There is Always Hope

Read "There is Always Hope" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
October 25, 2026

Joe Block's There Is Always Hope is an unusually personal debut, but what is most interesting is not the autobiographical material behind these 12 compositions. Rather, it is how Block has gradually learned to turn experience into musical structure. Written over many years, these pieces reveal a composer still testing the boundaries of his language, sometimes successfully, sometimes deliberately leaving the edges unresolved. He is a bandleader increasingly comfortable with letting the music exist beyond his own intentions.

Album Review

Alexa Tarantino: The Roar and the Whisper

Read "The Roar and the Whisper" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
March 25, 2026

If there is one true sound to describe the sound of luminous liberation, young veteran saxophonist/flautist/composer Alexa Tarantino captures it handily and shares it profusely with her band and everyone else within earshot of The Roar and the Whisper. Tarantino, whose star continues to flare via her ongoing gig at Jazz At Lincoln Center and her stint alongside Renee Rosnes and Allison Miller in the high flying all woman supergroup Artemis on their head spinning second disc, In ...

Album Review

Summer Camargo: To Whom I Love

Read "To Whom I Love" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
March 15, 2024

Trumpet artist Summer Camargo startled the music and entertainment worlds when, as a brilliant 22-year-old Juilliard grad, she landed the highly-desired trumpet chair in the Saturday Night Live band. Camargo now adds to her lengthy list of achievements with her debut album, To Whom I Love. She and a cadre of New York all-stars deliver nine varied tracks (seven Camargo originals and two jazz workhorses) on which she and her colleagues shine. “JP Shuffle," upbeat and catchy, ...

Album Review

Isaiah J. Thompson: The Power of the Spirit

Read "The Power of the Spirit" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
March 28, 2023

Isaiah J. Thompson is one of the leading pianists of his generation. In 2023, 25-year-old has a background that is already hugely impressive. This includes his debut album as a leader, Isaiah J. Thompson Plays the Music of Buddy Montgomery (WJ3), in 2020. His accolades have included earning the 2018 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, second place in the 2018 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, and he has worked on the Golden Globe nominated soundtrack for Motherless ...

Album Review

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration

Read "A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
April 20, 2021

A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration pairs two former cultural wunderkids transformed into cultural elder statesmen by their consistent, enduring excellence: The music of Children Television Workshop's Sesame Street, which bedazzled both educators and broadcasters when it premiered in 1969, brought to life in fresh arrangements by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JALCO) under the musical direction of Wynton Marsalis. A Swingin' Sesame Street Celebration is the digital audio companion to the October 2020 public television broadcast premier ...

Album Review

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet with Wynton Marsalis: The Democracy! Suite

Read "The Democracy! Suite" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
February 8, 2021

There is an interesting generational divide in perception when it comes to the music of Wynton Marsalis. While many hail his work at Lincoln Center as elevating jazz to its rightful place among the fine arts, others lament the separation from his iconic quartet and quintet work in the 1980's as some sort of jazz treason. What is unquestionable is his virtuosity and eloquence, expressing each note with beauty as the clear priority in his playing as a ...

Album Review

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: The Music of Wayne Shorter

Read "The Music of Wayne Shorter" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
May 22, 2020

As a saxophonist, founding member of Weather Report and member of Miles Davis' second great acoustic quintet, it won't be hard to find Wayne Shorter's name in the pages of modern jazz history. But the massive The Music of Wayne Shorter highlights a sometimes-overlooked element of Shorter's musicianship: His ability to compose, which has contributed “Footprints," “Nefertiti," “Speak No Evil" and other standards to the jazz canon. As bassist Christian McBride, a former member of Shorter's quartet, writes in the ...

Album Review

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Big Band Holidays II

Read "Big Band Holidays II" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
February 15, 2020

Jazz at Lincoln Center Big Band Holiday concerts, featuring the JALC Orchestra with Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis and guests, are a welcome addition to New York City holiday jazz traditions. Big Band Holidays II presents the second set of live recordings from these concerts beginning from 2015, the year that the JALC Orchestra released their first Big Band Holidays set on their own Blue Engine Records label. “Christmas brings the best and worst out of people," ...

Album Review

Carlos Henriquez: The Bronx Pyramid

Read "The Bronx Pyramid" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
February 8, 2016

A common attribute or quality that Latin musicians have is that they are innately connected and tuned into their cultural roots. As in the case of Carlos Henriquez, who holds the bass chair in the prestigious Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Though he performs straight ahead mainstream jazz at a high level with that collective, on his debut as leader The Bronx Pyramid, he goes deep into his Puerto Rican heritage combined with the amalgamated sounds of New York City. ...

Album Review

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra: Big Band Holidays

Read "Big Band Holidays" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 19, 2015

The holiday season has its ups and downs on Big Band Holidays, recorded live over two Decembers (2013-14) by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, which is without a doubt one of the finest big bands money can buy. Even though the most recent number on the album ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas") was recorded almost a year ago, several clues indicate that the album was more or less rushed to market in time for this year's festivities. For ...