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.
Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results
Kathy Sanborn: Romance Language
by Richard J Salvucci
Over 60 years ago, the original television series, The Twilight Zone (Rod Serling, CBS, 1959-64), had an unusually memorable episode. Called “Passage for a Trumpet," it featured Jack Klugman, alcoholic, down on his luck and suicidal. A trumpet player named Joey Crown uttered the memorable line, “This horn is half my language." OK. No spoiler. It is a spectacular performance, and now Kathy Sanborn has, in a way, produced an album based on it. The player for the episode was ...
Continue ReadingMatt Panayides: With Eyes Closed
by Richard J Salvucci
This is a charming recording: reflective, tranquil and built around the compositions of some of the most distinguished players and composers of what ought to be called the American Jazz Songbook. Here you have music written by Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Cedar Walton and Chick Corea, to name only the figures in one strain. If taste runs to Jimmy van Huesen, Frank Foster, Henry Mancini, or Jules Stein, well, that is more than adequately covered. Pianoless trios are ...
Continue ReadingHard Bop Messengers: Live at the Last Hotel
by Jack Bowers
First came the Jazz Messengers, led by drummer Art Blakey, a high-powered group (usually a sextet), that performed for more than thirty-five years until Blakey's death in 1990. Now come the Hard Bop Messengers, another sextet led by trombonist John Covelli, the title of whose 2022 album, Live at the Last Hotel, is rather misleading, to say the least. First, the album wasn't recorded live but in a studio; second, the studio isn't at the Last Hotel in St. Louis ...
Continue ReadingRob Ryndak & Tom Lockwood: Gratitude
by Nicholas F. Mondello
There's poignancy about the titles of the selections on this fine album that generates reflection. Perhaps that was the intention of the two composers, Rob Ryndak and Tom Lockwood. However, the music of Gratitude—all original, highly textural—solidifies this supposition. Incorporating a crew of fine Chicago-area musicians along with guest trumpeter Brian Lynch, Ryndak and Lockwood send up an eclectic buffet. The fine writing tends to be more contemporary than straight-ahead. There's also a significant percussive aspect to ...
Continue ReadingSherri Roberts: Anybody's Spring
by Geannine Reid
Vocalist Sherri Roberts brings the joy and promise of new beginnings with twelve standards, that offer a spring theme with her 2017 release, Anybody's Spring. Selections come from the jazz compositions of Clifford Brown and Tadd Dameron to the standard and not-so-standard fare of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Hoagy Carmichael, and Blossom Dearie favorite Bob Haymes, the set list is a spring lover's dream come true. The San Francisco based singer is a passionate, expressive singer whose emotive prominence never supersedes ...
Continue ReadingMatt Panayides: Conduits
by Jack Bowers
Conduits, Matt Panayides' second album as a leader, pairs his resilient guitar on the front line with the reliable tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, ably supported by bassist Thomson Kneeland and drummer Mark Ferber. In spite of its esoteric name, the album is unshakably bright and accessible, with everyone abiding by Panayides' muse and playing their roles remarkably well. As Panayides wrote and arranged everything, much of the session's success rests on his musical acuity, which it should ...
Continue ReadingSherri Roberts with Bliss Rodriguez: Lovely Days
by Dan Bilawsky
Sherri Roberts has built her reputation with a trio of well-produced albums featuring top-notch players like pianist Mark Soskin, saxophonist Phil Woods and bassist Harvie S, but her fourth album finds the Bay Area-based vocalist expanding her horizons by trimming down the personnel list. Lovely Days gives Roberts a chance to work in a more open environment that highlights the interpersonal relationship that exists between singer and pianist. Roberts has maintained an on-again/off-again gigging relationship with pianist ...
Continue ReadingSherri Roberts: Lovely Days
by C. Michael Bailey
Lovely Days is a “classical" piano-vocals recital. It is classical in the respect of that this spare pairing is time tested and well respected across musical genres. Bay-area vocalist Sherri Roberts downsizes from her previous three recordings to a duo setting with pianist Bliss Rodriguez. Robert's repertoire comes directly from the Great American Songbook, first half of the 20th Century, but not from the absolutely most dog-eared pages. All ballads, “What's New," “My funny Valentine" and “You'd Be So Nice ...
Continue ReadingMatt Panayides: Tapestries of Song
by Jack Huntley
In the era of frenetic fretboard technique, the art of developing a patient groove sometimes seems lost in the shuffle, but Matt Panyides skillfully cultivates that very asset on Tapestries of Song. This is not to suggest that Panyides' music lacks for technical aptitude, as his guitar playing displays nothing but virtuosity. Specifically, Panyides' playing has the unhurried finesse of a craftsman. Teamed with Rich Perry's dexterous tenor sax, and the solid rhythms of drummer Dan Weiss and bassist Steve ...
Continue ReadingNorman Johnson: If Time Stood Still
by Jerry D'Souza
Norman Johnson was in high school in Jamaica when he heard George Benson and became interested in the guitar. He says that he was mesmerized by Benson, and though he figured that he was too old at 16 to begin playing an instrument he went ahead. Later studying at the Hartt School of Music with Jackie McLean and Brian Keane, his influences grew to include Wes Montgomery, Earl Klugh, and Andres Segovia. Segovia fostered his love for classical music and, ...
Continue Reading
