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

Ben Wolfe: Any Time After Now

Read "Any Time After Now" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
June 3, 2026

In this recording by bassist, composer and bandleader Ben Wolfe, titled Any Time After Now, there is a quiet assurance, with nothing straining for effect or feeling manufactured. Recorded in a single studio day alongside vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Sullivan Fortner, tenor saxophonist Chris Lewis and drummer Aaron Kimmel, the album spans ten tracks of original Wolfe compositions and exhibits a natural cohesion that reflects musicians deeply attuned to one another. The opener, “Any Time After Now," swings ...

Live Review

Miguel Zenon Quartet at Sam First

by Hobart Taylor
June 3, 2026

Miguel Zenon Quartet Sam First Los Angeles, CA May 29, 2026 Miguel Zenon and his compadres modus operandi was to start tunes in the middle, drive past a climax and find a new revelatory center to conclude. It's as if the tunes were soaring overhead and the band reached up to snatch them from the air midflight. Wonderous. For folks in need of a category, I suppose you could say something silly like ...

Album Review

The Birdland Big Band: Storybook—The Music Of Mark Miller

Read "Storybook—The Music Of Mark Miller" reviewed by Samuel Chell

by Samuel Chell
June 3, 2026

Storybook: The Music Of Mark Miller is at one level the unfolding narrative of its 10 musical selections. At another, it is a tale about its primary author, Mark Miller, who prefaced his journey from Racine to New York City with a preliminary solo album, Mark Miller: The Return Of Slide Huxtable, before retaking the long road that is a serious jazz player's dream of making it in the Big Apple. But most of all, this new album is a ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jacques Lesure, Lakecia Benjamin, Emmet Cohen, Carlos Henriquez and more

by Benjamin Boddie
June 3, 2026

Today's Music--Right Now! Fantastic music by Jacques Lesure, Lakecia Benjamin, Emmet Cohen, Malene Mortensen & Christian Sands, Vladimir Redzic, Jan Harbeck Quartet, Carlos Henriquez, Charlie Wood, JabFung, Malcolm Strachan, Andrew Moorhead, Altin Sencalar, Russ Spiegel, Javon Jackson, Eva Cortes, Virginia MacDonald, New Jazz Underground, Faye Carol, Chris Hazelton, Ben Markley Big Band, Charles Ruggiero, Billy Childs, Brian Lynch, Andrea Miller, Mark Winkler, Dominic Walker Trio, Jared Hal,l Flying High, Sergio Pereira, Geri Allen & Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Beasley & SWR ...

Album Review

Harvie S: Bright Dawn

Read "Bright Dawn" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 3, 2026

At a time when economics often dictates the size and scope of a jazz group, adding a guitarist to a typical piano-bass-drums trio makes a world of difference. And when said guitarist is Peter Bernstein, the difference is even more pronounced. That gives bassist Harvie S a clear headstart on Bright Dawn, a modest studio date with Bernstein broadening the usual trio setting on the bassist's 21st recording as leader of his own ensemble--the first, however, following a 15-year hiatus. ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Music from Lakecia Benjamin, Yazz Ahmed, New Jazz Underground and Brad Goode with Ernie Watts

by Hobart Taylor
June 3, 2026

Loads of new releases and Sonny Rollins answers the question, “Why was I Born?"Playlist Host Speaks 00:00 Claudia Acuña “Meditation in Two Chords" from Ave de Luz (Delfin) 00:11 Okan “Ajé (Owo Nla Nla)" from (Single) (Lulaworld) 05:33 Julian Muro “Ay (feat. Bergamot Quartet, Ethan Cohn)" from Apfus, Vol.1 (ears&eyes) 08:30 Host Speaks 14:15 Brad Goode/Ernie Watts “Half Moon" from Live Your Dream (Origin) 15:43 Zela Margossian “In Flight" from Remedy (Ropeadope) 26:53 Host Speaks 34:48 Moor Mother/BlankForms ...

Radio & Podcasts

Four new releases including Chick Corea's last concert, Chris Hazelton, The Sistering and Billy Childs

by George Graham
June 3, 2026

Four new releases, including the last concert by Chick Corea , organist Chris Hazelton , the vocal quartet The Sistering and Pianist Billy ChildsPlaylist Chick Corea “Armando's Rumba/It Could Happen to You/Overjoyed" from Forever Yours--The Farewell Performance (Candid) 15:06 Chris Hazelton “Summer in Central Park" from In Rotation (Cellar) 8:04 Chris Hazelton “Paris of the Plains" from In Rotation (Cellar) 6:29 Kate McGarry, Lenora Zenzalai Helm, Lois Deloatch & Nnenna Freelon “River Song" from The Sistering (Self Released) ...

The Great American Songbook

The 1930s: Soup Kitchens, Shirley Temple and Swing

by Joan Merrill
June 2, 2026

Just as the 1920s were defined by the Jazz Age, the 1930s were also defined by swing, the popular music of the time. Jazz had become danceable. But as America swung through the decade, the country endured two horrendous disasters: the Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929, and the Dust Bowl caused by drought, erosion and wind storms that drove millions of people off their lands in the Great Plains. They packed ...

Rising Stars

Introducing Vocalist Ava Preston

by Sanford Josephson
June 2, 2026

On Saturday, October 18, 2025, there was live jazz on 12 corners in Manhattan--from Harlem to the financial district. The musicians were jazz studies majors from several colleges and universities including Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, William Paterson, Oberlin, SUNY Purchase, and The New School. The event was called Sidewalk Swing, and it was created by Ava Preston, a Juilliard graduate student. Preston, the winner of this year's Blues Alley Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Competition, explained how it happened. ...

Live Review

Terence Blanchard & Ravi Coltrane: Miles Davis & John Coltrane Centennial At Miner Auditorium

by Steven Roby
June 2, 2026

Terence Blanchard & Ravi Coltrane Miner Auditorium Miles Davis & John Coltrane Centennial San Francisco, CAMay 31, 2026 At SFJAZZ's Miner Auditorium, Blanchard and Coltrane treated the Miles Davis songbook as an ongoing conversation. Over the past six months, Bay Area jazz fans have enjoyed a series of centennial celebrations honoring Miles Davis and John Coltrane. This past weekend in Oakland, as part of the Coltrane Centennial, the Saint John Will-I-Am Coltrane ...