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
Michel Doneda & Alexander Frangenheim: Murmuration (Doneda & Frangenheim)
by John Eyles
Murmuration is the fruit of a long collaboration between the German double bassist Alexander Frangenheim and French saxophonist Michel Doneda. Born in Wuppertal in 1959, Frangenheim has a varied history, as illustrated by past appearances with the Cecil Taylor Ensemble and the Cecil Taylor Workshop Ensemble during Taylor's renowned 1988 residency in jny:Berlin, and also as a member of the large ensemble Zeitkratzer, with whom Lou Reed recorded a live version of his Metal Machine Music (RCA Victor, 1975) in ...
read moreKing Übü Örchestrü 2021: Roi
by John Eyles
The large improvising ensemble King Übü Örchestrü first saw the light of day when they recorded their debut album, Music Is Music Is (Uhlklang, 1985) in Akademie der Künste, Berlin, in December 1984. It was a sign of the times that their trumpeter Mark Charig was prevented from going to Berlin for the recording. But, with players such as drummer Paul Lytton, trombonist Radu Malfatti, cellist Alfred Zimmerlin and violinist Phillipp Wachsmann in the line-up, the music was exceptional. Two ...
read moreBroede Schirmer Unit: Berlin, Germany
by Troy Dostert
Listeners continually on the search for new instrumental configurations in jazz would be well-advised to check out the Broede Schirmer Unit. On the one hand, these four Berlin-based musicians walk in well-trodden territory, with a commitment to working within both composed and free musical forms; bassist Jan Roder and drummer Bernd Oezsevim have extensive experience in the European free jazz circuit. But it's the unique textures provided by the other half of the quartet that give the music its distinctive ...
read moreMia Zabelka & Glen Hall: The Quantum Violin
by John Eyles
The Covid period has been kind to the extraordinary Austrian violinist and vocalist Mia Zabelka. Not only did she record and issue the much-praised album Aftershock (Subcontinental, 2021) in the company of extreme metal bassist and guitarist Arun Natarajan (aka Icos Tech) from India, and guest US trumpeter Joshua Trinidad, she also recorded The Quantum Violin with the equally cosmopolitan collaborators, Canadian electroacoustic improviser Glen Hall and Japanese guest vocalist Kenji Siratori...Oh, and along the way, in 2021, she was ...
read moreFrancois Carrier: Glow
by John Eyles
As is true of countless other players, the output of French-Canadian saxophonist Francois Carrier took a nosedive after the arrival of covid-19 and lockdown. Where he had been averaging two album releases a year, Glow is his first release since Japan Suite (NoBusiness) which was released eighteen months before, in May 2020. In addition, Carrier's globe-trotting tours—the source of a steady stream of live albums (his last studio-recorded album having been Being With, released on Leo in 2010, and recorded ...
read moreIn Layers: Pliable
by John Sharpe
Working on-the-fly, improv outfit In Layers collectively orders timbral maneuvers into captivating momentum on Pliable, its second outing following the eponymous debut (FMR, 2016). The cast remains unchanged, the Portuguese pair of guitarist Marcelo Dos Reis and trumpeter Luis Vicente, being supplemented by Dutch drummer Onno Govaert and Amsterdam-based Icelandic pianist Kristjan Martinsson. Dos Reis and Vicente's liking for unhurried group congress has surfaced in multiple guises, prominent among them being Points (Multikulti Project, 2019), Chamber 4 (FMR, ...
read moreKeune Lash Noble: And Now
by John Eyles
The trio of German saxophonist Stefan Keune with British bassist Dominic Lash and drummer Steve Noble first came together in September 2013 when they appeared at guitarist John Russell's monthly Mopomoso afternoon at The Vortex, Keune having been a regular visitor there through his duo with Russell which dates back to the 90's. The trio worked well together and, a couple of months later, returned to The Vortex to record Fractions (NoBusiness, 2015) which was issued as a limited edition ...
read moreBob Gluck: Early Morning Star
by Jerome Wilson
On this release, pianist Bob Gluck mixes the realms of classical music and jazz in interesting ways. The formal, declarative music produced by Gluck, clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and vocalist Andrea Wolper is given flow and earthiness by the rhythmic pull of bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Tani Tabbal. The front-line combination fluidly rises and falls through pieces like the sparkling “A Time of Singing," with Wolper singing words from the Bible's Song of Songs over surging piano, and ...
read moreBob Gluck: Early Morning Star
by Karl Ackermann
Composer/pianist/electronic artist Bob Gluck's musical repertoire is particularly diverse. Among his many electro-acoustic projects are the borderless duo album Textures and Pulsations (Ictus Records, 2012) with Aruán Ortiz, Tropelets (Ictus Records, 2014) featuring improvisations based on Jewish biblical chants, and Infinite Spirit (FMR Records, 2016) where he pays tribute to Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi Band. In the latter, Gluck brought in drummer Billy Hart and trumpeter Eddie Henderson from that relatively short-lived group. For Early Morning Star Gluck has brought together ...
read moreKeune, Russell, Schneider, Lovens.: Nothing Particularly Horrible: Live in Bochum ‘93
by John Eyles
Recorded live in concert, in October 1993, at Museum Bochum, during the Ruhr Jazz Festival, this album is not a reissue but is being released for the first time, its wryly amusing title indicating that it has been declared fit for public consumption. In fact, the album's four tracks, being the only recordings of this Anglo-German quartet together, make a valuable snapshot of the four at an interesting stage of their careers. Guitarist John Russell and drummer Paul Lovens had ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 11
