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
David Sylvian: There's a Light That Enters Houses With No Other House in Sight
by Phil Barnes
David Sylvian's extended flight from pop stardom in the middle years of the 1980s was an enthralling counterpoint to that decade's facile obsession with surface and relapse into materialism. While mainstream pop retreated from the innovations and musical openness of post-punk into the empty banalities of bean counting corporate rock, Sylvian among a few others appeared to plot a different idiosyncratic path routed in improvised music and jazz. Central to this were his often inspired choices of collaborators ...
read moreJan Bang / Erik Honore: Uncommon Deities
by John Kelman
Jan Bang / Erik Honoré Uncommon Deities SamadhiSound 2012 As the 2012 Punkt Festival debuts its eighth annual edition at its home base of Kristiansand, Norway--but this time, in the brand new, state of the art Kilden Performing Arts Centre--it has gradually evolved into something more than just a festival. The brainchild of co-artistic directors Jan Bang and Erik Honoré has even managed to transcend its founding premise of live remixes--taking performances in the main ...
read moreDied In The Wool - Manafon Variations
by Nenad Georgievski
Inventive and beautifully direct, Died In The Wool is another masterpiece in a long string of albums that singer and composer David Sylvian has recorded. His varied career portrays a restless creative spirit who makes engaging work, and Died In The Wool is another winner. Few artists at this point of their career would accept such challenges or would stray from their identifiable core. Ever since Blemish (Samadhi Sound, 2003), Sylvian has been commissioning sister records for his ...
read moreDavid Sylvian: Died In The Wool - Manafon Variations
by John Kelman
David Sylvian Died In The Wool: Manafon Variations samadhisound 2011 As the world becomes a smaller place, so, paradoxically, do musical communities expand to reach around it. British singer/composer David Sylvian--first of 1980s pop group Japan, but then a solo artist taking increasing chances with each successive album--has been busting down boundaries of geography and genre since 1984, when he released his first solo album, Brilliant Trees (Virgin), bringing together Fourth World progenitor, trumpeter ...
read moreJan Bang: ….and poppies from Kandahar
by Nenad Georgievski
Imagination knows no boundaries and, as Einstein has said, more important than knowledge is the imagination that embraces the whole world and all there will be to know and understand. Clearly, a man whose imagination knows no boundaries and embraces opportunities, live sampler Jan Bang's debut is an album of pioneering intensity and diverse expression. A notable producer and collaborator, Bang's ....and poppies from Kandahar is his sprawling introduction to the world at large. The title--as well ...
read moreJan Bang: ….and poppies from Kandahar
by John Kelman
It's rare for an album to quietly shake the foundation of what music is...and can be. Fifteen years after Jan Bang first innovated the concept of live sampling--turning an Akai MPC 3000 sampler into a true improvising instrument by sampling other musicians in real time and feeding processed musical ideas back; pushing and pulling the music just as any “conventional" musician does in a live context--he's finally released his first album under his own name, and it's a stunner. Filled ...
read moreDavid Sylvian: Manafon
by John Kelman
David Sylvian Manafon samadhisound 2009 Since first emerging as the lead singer of 1980s synth pop group Japan, singer/multi-instrumentalist David Sylvian has turned, in many ways most surprisingly, into one of pop music's most intrepid explorers. As early as his first solo album, the crooner with a distinctive and intentioned vibrato has been connected with the experimental and jazz scenes, with trumpeters Jon Hassell, Mark Isham and Kenny Wheeler appearing on Brilliant Trees (Virgin, 1986). ...
read moreSweet Billy Pilgrim: Twice Born Men
by John Kelman
In the 21st century nothing is sacred, but in the best possible way. Cultural, stylistic and sonic cross-pollination is today's de facto standard, with sound processing, sampling and post-production creating previously unheard aural landscapes. Sweet Billy Pilgrim--largely the brainchild and creation of lead singer/songwriter/multi- instrumentalist Tim Elsenburg, but unmistakably colored by band mates, banjoist Anthony Bishop and drummer Alistair Hamer--explored the vaster landscapes of folktronica on its widely praised debut, the enigmatically titled We just did what happened and no ...
read moreSteve Jansen: Slope
by Nenad Georgievski
Steve Jansen takes a new leap of faith by plunging into global jazztronica. This amazing musician, drummer and producer has been dwelling on the cutting edge of contemporary music for 25 years, venturing into many musical styles, without ever a dull moment or definitive sound. Now, blending different strands of music on Slope, Jansen has made an eclectic foray into disciplines that miraculously come together. His reserved but wide-ranging tracks wend their way through--but never dwell on--blip-hop, ...
read moreNine Horses: Money For All
by Nenad Georgievski
With each consecutive project, David Sylvian always manages to amaze. Money for All is a remarkably cohesive collection of unreleased tracks, remixes and alternate takes, and even as a collection, it presents a challenging expedition into electronic music. The featured material is fully invested with ideas and it shows how fruitful and strong the partnership between Sylvian, Jansen and Burnt Friedman is. This EP consists of two new tracks (the title track and “Get the Hell Out"), ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 5
