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

Steve Wilson: Enduring Sonance

Read "Enduring Sonance" reviewed by Andrew Schinder

by Andrew Schinder
May 1, 2026

Virginia-born, New York-based alto saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Steve Wilson has created a sonic palette overflowing with delightfulness with Enduring Sonance, Wilson's debut album. Wilson's trademark dulcet tones fill the record, which eschews any hint of difficulty or impenetrability in favor of pure pleasure and musical expertise. Enduring Sonance is calculatedly straight-ahead, an exercise in accessibility without sacrificing sophistication. Wilson is supported by a tight, powerhouse backing band. The brilliant pianist Renee Rosnes, who has a longstanding relationship with Wilson, is ...

Album Review

Harold Mabern: Afro Blue (10th Anniversary Edition)

Read "Afro Blue (10th Anniversary Edition)" reviewed by Bridget A. Arnwine

by Bridget A. Arnwine
January 28, 2026

Pianist Harold Mabern (1936-2019) was talented beyond measure. Though he never received the honor and distinction of the prestigious NEA Jazz Master designation, his music and the musicians who knew him tell a different story. That story unfolds beautifully throughout the 10th anniversary reissue of Mabern's 2015 recording, Afro Blue (Smoke Session Records). The newly remixed and remastered recording features performances from some of the most celebrated names in vocal jazz, including Gregory Porter, Norah Jones, Kurt Elling, Jane Monheit, ...

Album Review

Joe Farnsworth: The Big Room

Read "The Big Room" reviewed by Karan Khosla

by Karan Khosla
November 6, 2025

The Big Room is about holding the fort and also about opening doors. Joe Farnsworth has logged time with Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, and Cedar Walton, but here he calls on the rising generation: alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan, vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Emmet Cohen, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, and bassist Yasushi Nakamura. Recorded live at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in January 2025, Farnsworth invites his fellow bandmates to contribute compositions; the album captures an intergenerational sextet that knows how to ...

Album Review

Nicholas Payton: Triune

Read "Triune" reviewed by Fran Kursztejn

by Fran Kursztejn
October 7, 2025

The multi-hyphenate Nicholas Payton premieres a new trio, recording alongside eccentric bassist Esperanza Spalding and straight-ahead luminary Karriem Riggins, a roster enough to whet any forward-thinking listener's appetites. Payton, beyond his wildly successful sideman stints with Oscar Peterson, Mulgrew Miller and Milt Jackson, has also made great strides to define his own worldly, idiosyncratic style as leader and solo artist, drawing from both his bopping lineage and the moodier, atmospheric ambitions of his peers. He parades confidently through no-nonsense bop ...

Album Review

Eric Scott Reed: Out Late

by Neil Duggan
July 25, 2025

Prioritizing energy and passion over musical precision, pianist Eric Scott Reed recorded every track on his album Out Late as a first take, with all musicians performing together in one room. Nothing was added later--this old-style approach gives the recording its vintage feel. As Reed explains, “We rehearsed a song for a few minutes, and once everybody got the melody under their fingers, we went ahead and made a track while it was fresh. The energy is there; the rawness ...

Liner Notes

One For All: Big George

by C. Andrew Hovan
February 9, 2025

The world has changed dramatically since the end of the 20th century, the time period when the jazz collective One For All began to forge their stamp on the history of hard bop. Using the club Augie's on New York's upper west side as their stomping grounds, the group would make their debut recording at the beginning of 1987. The Broadway club would eventually become home of Smoke, one of the gems of the city's jazz scene and continued purveyor ...

Album Review

Renee Rosnes: Crossing Paths

Read "Crossing Paths" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
December 7, 2024

In the course of a career that began in the 1980s and continues to flourish, Renee Rosnes has developed an extraordinary sound, both as a composer and as a pianist, one that is readily recognizable whatever the context. With Crossing Paths, she taps into longstanding affinities and affection for Brazilian music, illuminating elements and flavors that distinguish her singular style, animating the band and the material with her arranging magic. She opens the curtain with “Frevo," grabbing the ...

Album Review

One for All: Big George

Read "Big George" reviewed by Joshua Weiner

by Joshua Weiner
June 5, 2024

Smoke Sessions Records, based out of NYC's Smoke Jazz Club, has a fascinating recording model: artists play a few nights at the club, take a day off, and then go into a studio such as the famous Sear Sound to record their repertoire for release. They been putting out some excellent material, the latest of which is the first album in seven years from the sextet One for All. The title, Big George, reveals what sets this one apart from ...

Album Review

Eddie Henderson: Witness To History

Read "Witness To History" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
February 14, 2024

Make no mistake: it is the hot buttered soul, “Shaft"-like theme of “Scorpio Rising" that first snags one's attention. But once snagged, the old cool sets in and Witness To History, trumpeter Eddie Henderson's self curated soundtrack, unwinds with a wicked fervor. A deep, wicked joy. Henderson--who has pretty much seen it all from the impulsive, jazz rock Realization (Capricorn, 1973) through The Cookers to the still palpable Shuffle and Deal (Smoke Avenue, 2020)--looks back for a PBS ...

Album Review

Steve Davis: Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones, Vol. 1

Read "Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones, Vol. 1" reviewed by Dave Linn

by Dave Linn
December 20, 2023

Trombonist Steve Davis was born in Worcester, MA, in 1967, and in 1989 graduated from Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute. It was McLean's guidance and recommendation which allowed Davis to land his first major performance with Art Blakey in NYC. His lyrical, hard-swinging style gained him broad recognition and, in 1998, he won the TDWR (Rising Star) Trombone Category. He was later named in the top five of the Trombonist of the Year by The Jazz Journalist Association from 2010-2013, ...