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

Yusef Lateef: Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase

Read "Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
May 12, 2026

One of the legendary figures of Detroit jazz, Yusef Lateef experienced a truly distinctive path of artistic development, with a trajectory which took him from swing, bebop and R&B in the 1940s and 1950s through a deep immersion in world music, funk and classical idioms during the 1960s and beyond. Somehow incorporating all of these disparate strands and more, Resonance Records' three-disc extravaganza, Alight Upon the Lake, gives us a thorough glimpse of Lateef's multifaceted identity in the company of ...

Album Review

Scott Routenberg Trio: Live at Merrimans' Playhouse: Oscar Peterson Tribute

Read "Live at Merrimans' Playhouse: Oscar Peterson Tribute" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 12, 2026

The indomitable spirit of Canada's gift to pianistic supremacy is ever-present on the Scott Routenberg Trio's radiant and swinging centennial Oscar Peterson Tribute, recorded in concert at Merryman's Playhouse Jazz in South Bend, Indiana, on October 11, 2025. Routenberg, an award-winning pianist, composer, arranger and educator, knows as well as anyone that there has been and likely will always be only one Oscar Peterson, a giant of jazz piano whose peerless ingenuity and mind-numbing technique were (and remain) ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jazz Classics from Jackie McLean, Horace Silver and Others; Currents from Jacques Lesure, Billy Childs, and More

by David W. Daniels
May 12, 2026

Artists as described in title. Plus classics from Art Blakey, Gerald Wilson, Art Pepper, and more. Additional new music from Roy Hargrove, Brian Lynch, and a re-release from Dianne Reeves. Finally, birthday recognition for Ron Carter, Mary Lou Williams, Dennis Chambers, and others.Playlist Don Friedman “You Stepped Out Of A Dream" from Dreams And Explorations (Riverside) 00:00 Art Blakey “Deciphering The Message" from The Jazz Messengers (Columbia) 9:06 Jackie McLean “Riff Raff" from Destination Out (Blue Note) 15:32 ...

Album Review

Jon Henriksson: Shapeshifter

Read "Shapeshifter" reviewed by Konstantin N. Rega

by Konstantin N. Rega
May 12, 2026

Without the bassist, who would keep the band together? Well, Stockholm-based bassist Jon Henriksson keeps his group in line while still allowing for a fluid sound on Shapeshifter . Furthering the smooth turns turning up in Scandinavian jazz, the musician is softer in tone but nonetheless exciting. Of course, the album would not be half as good without a great team: including pianist Rasmus Sørensen, Jonas Backman on drums, saxophonist Karl-Martin Almqvist, as well as guitarist Pelle von Bülow and trombonist Rasmus Holm on ...

Radio & Podcasts

Four New Jazz Releases from John Beasley, Mike Clement, Catherine Russell and Joe Syrian

by George Graham
May 12, 2026

George Graham presents four new jazz releases from John Beasley and the SWR Big Band, Guitarist Mike Clement, vocalist Catherine Russell and drummer Joe Syrian and the Motor City Octet. Playlist John Beasley and the SWR Big Band “Invisible Piano" from Invisible Piano (o-tone) 7:26 John Beasley and the SWR Big Band “Galaha" from Invisible Piano (o-tone) 5:17 Mike Clement “Access Granted" from Polka Dots and Ray Bans (Cellar) 4:14 Mike Clement “The Tempo" from Polka Dots and ...

Album Review

Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts

Read "Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
May 12, 2026

Another insanely good Record Store Day release from Elemental Music, Fragments, The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts, is available as a limited-edition, 180-gram, 3-LP gatefold set or as your standard 2-CD version, but truth be told and told plainly, any version will serve one well. Talk about rumble in the jungle. Fragments, The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts pushes at you like a gang fight on the 49-minute “Fragments of a Dedication to Duke Ellington Evening Set Version." ...

Radio & Podcasts

María Grand, Marilyn Crispell, Anders Jormin, Benjamin Herman & More

by Ludovico Granvassu
May 12, 2026

And here we go again--another edition of Mondo Jazz, dedicated to recent and upcoming releases from across the jazz globe, where you can travel from Tokyo to New York in less than half an hour. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Benjamin Herman “Tokyo Moon" The Tokyo Sessions (P-Vine/Roach/Dox) 0:16 Host talks 3:58 Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns “Bitches Blues" Bitches Blues (Rune Grammofon) 5:42 Host talks 13:05 María ...

Interview

Tigran Hamasyan’s Manifeste Destiny

by John Chacona
May 11, 2026

Tigran Hamasyan does not shy away from the big gesture. His fearsome keyboard technique, compositional ambition and improvisational daring have defined his international career, which ignited at age 18 with the release of his first album, World Passion (Plus Loin Music, 2006). Two decades later, these qualities have been refined and expanded with the results on display on his 2026 Naive Records release Manifeste. Yet in conversation, Hamasyan was thoughtful, reserved, and deeply in touch with the culture ...

Live Review

Joe Alterman, Adam Dorn and Special Guests at Rizzoli Bookstore

by Paul Reynolds
May 11, 2026

Joe Alterman and Adam Dorn (aka Mocean Worker) and special guests Rizzoli Bookstore Les McCann Tribute / All About Jazz 30th Anniversary Party New York, NY May 3, 2026 A landmark birthday calls for a party, preferably with live music. And that's just what was thrown for All About Jazz on Sunday to celebrate the website's 30 years of history. In remarks to open the festivities, AAJ founder--and still the site's publisher--Michael ...

Album Review

The Paul Keller Orchestra: Thank You Notes--The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "Thank You Notes--The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 11, 2026

Bassist Paul Keller 's Michigan-based orchestra was formed in 1989. For those who are keeping score, that was 37 years prior to the release of the disc at hand, Thank You Notes--The Music of Greg HIll. Big bands have undergone a large number of twists and turns, some for better, others for worse, since then, but thankfully, Keller and his mates have kept their eyes squarely on the ball and decided it would be in everyone's best interest simply to ...