Home » Jazz Articles

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

10
Album Review

Josh Nelson: Live At Bluewhale, Volume 1

Read "Live At Bluewhale, Volume 1" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist, composer and--maybe most importantly--conceptualist, Josh Nelson must be a big reader. For his album Exploring Mars (Origin Records, 2015) he drew from, in part, Ray Bradbury's fantastical science fiction story collage Martian Chronicles. And he took a deep look into science and science fiction (H.G. Wells, Jules Verne) for his Discoveries (Steel Bird Music, 2011). Live At Bluewhale features recordings from Nelson's Discovery Project originally performed at the Bluewhale jazz club in Little Tokyo in downtown Los ...

8
Album Review

Josh Nelson: The Discovery Project: Live In Japan

Read "The Discovery Project: Live In Japan" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


In the golden age of television commercials, one commercial distinguished between a product that was popular because it was associated with good taste and one that was popular because it tasted good. The Discovery Project Live in Japan has nothing to do with canned food but it demonstrates pianist Josh Nelson's excellent taste in repertoire and that his performance of that repertoire with bassist Alex Boneham and drummer Dan Schnelle sure lands deliciously in your ears. Nelson's lovely ...

14
Album Review

Josh Nelson Trio: The Discovery Project: Live In Japan

Read "The Discovery Project: Live In Japan" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


When pianist Josh Nelson's name surfaces in conversation, the art of the trio isn't typically a topic that comes up. A first-call accompanist and collaborator for the vocal elite, and a conceptualist who's crafted smartly arranged musical love letters to everything from steampunk sci-fi to the City of Los Angeles as part of his ongoing Discovery Project, Nelson is a creative force to be reckoned with. You just don't really hear much about triangular pursuits in his portfolio. That's what ...

3
Album Review

Sara Gazarek and Josh Nelson: Dream In The Blue

Read "Dream In The Blue" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


The success of a story often hinges on the art of the telling. Listen to vocalist Sara Gazarek with pianist Josh Nelson and you immediately see that to be true. These two use ripples of inflection to elicit tidal waves of emotion, uncover new wrinkles in the oldest of thematic fabrics, paint scenes and/or inhabit characters so deeply and convincingly that they blur or erase the lines separating true self from role, and willingly reveal all that this world has ...

269
Album Review

Josh Nelson: Discoveries

Read "Discoveries" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Nothing fuels the creative impulses like the art of discovery. A new chord voicing can unlock a door to a different world, and different rhythmic permutations can prove to be an endless source of inspiration, but discovering these things and utilizing them to good effect are two different things. Few artists can see the world through the eyes of the uninitiated while writing with the intellect of the musical elite, but pianist Josh Nelson is one of them.


Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.