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

Rick Roe: Wake Up Call

Read "Wake Up Call" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 6, 2026

Gregg Hill writes music. Other musicians play--and record--Hill's music. Pianist Rick Roe's latest album, Wake Up Call, marks the 19th time that has happened (and the second in 2026 alone). True, Hill and Roe are both Michiganders, but that is not always the case; Hill's nearly 200 compositions have seen the light of day on albums recorded from coast to coast and beyond including several with his name in lights. Even so, it is hard to envision Hill's ...

Radio & Podcasts

Tunes released on and inspired by Record Store Day, plus International Jazz Day flavours

by Andy Crowther
May 6, 2026

Music from Cuba, Argentina and Brazil, with a sprinkling of Andalucian vibes. New sounds from Emmet Cohen, Flea, Gary Bartz, plus Record Store Day highlights from Buster Williams and Charles Tolliver. Playlist Rob Garcia's Sizzle Ensemble “Maiden Voyage" from Sizzle Ensemble (Connection Works) 00:00 Emmet Cohen “Well You Needn't" from Universal Truth (Mack Avenue) 04:59 Mark Wade Trio “Iberia" from Stages (Dot Time) 10:27 Charles Tolliver “Earl's World" from Right Now... And Then (Strata East) 19:00 Juan Pablo Torres ...

Live Review

Billy Hart Quartet and BlankFor.ms with Jason Moran and Marcus Gilmore at the Long Play Festival

by Paul Reynolds
May 5, 2026

Billy Hart Quartet and BkankFor.ms with Jason Moran/Marcus Gilmore Roulette Long Play Festival New York, NY May 1, 2026 It's the “most important classical music festival in New York City," according to the New York Times. Yet the programmers for the Long Play Festival in Brooklyn also have big ears. Woven between Long Play's 40-plus classical performances this year--mostly of the contemporary classical bent of Bang on a Can, the festival organizer--were a smattering of ...

Interview

Davidsson: A Lifeline from the Land of Fire and Ice

by Dean Nardi
May 5, 2026

Icelandic artist Thorleifur Gaukur Davidsson grew up on a volcanic island called Heimaey, four miles off the coast of Iceland. He records by his Swedish patronymic surname, meaning “son of David." His debut album Lifelines (OPIA, 2024) is filled with memories and emotions culled from family and the natural beauty of his home island. Davidsson took up guitar and harmonica at age 15, playing blues and folk music then adding pedal steel to his tools. He joined the Icelandic blues ...

Album Review

Christoph Irniger and Marc Perrenoud: New Lines

Read "New Lines" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 5, 2026

Christoph Irniger and Marc Perrenoud rank among the most thoughtful voices in Switzerland's contemporary jazz scene. Irniger, trained at the Zurich University of the Arts and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, is best known as leader of the ensemble Pilgrim. Perrenoud, raised in Switzerland, studied at the Geneva Conservatory and the Lausanne jazz school. Although they had known each other for years, the two only began performing together as a duo in 2022--proof, perhaps, that the best musical ...

Album Review

Ahmad Jamal: At The Jazz Showcase: Live In Chicago

Read "At The Jazz Showcase: Live In Chicago" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
May 5, 2026

There was something Buddha yet cool-as-all-hell about Ahmad Jamal. Who else would give the whole story away with the set-opening, barn-raising ingenuity of “Ahmad's Song"--a CV of everything Jamal--his musings on time and space; his insatiable swing-- and dares you to keep up on At The Jazz Showcase: Live in Chicago. A gig to remember, no matter what side of history it happened on, Jamal, bassist John Heard, and drummer Frank Gant take a chill, take-no- prisoners attitude at ...

Radio & Podcasts

Shalosh, Triple Blind, Shake Stew, Steve Khan, Miroslav Vitous, Jack DeJohnette

by Ludovico Granvassu
May 5, 2026

Enjoy a playlist bringing together three compelling genre-defying bands and two previously unreleased recordings that offer a posthumous opportunity to remember the enduring artistry of Jack DeJohnette.Happy Listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Shake Stew “Intro / Wood" Ten One Two (Traumton) 0:16 Host talks 10:43 Shalosh “Hysteria" What We Are Made Of (ACT) 12:13 Triple Blind “Bask" Cold Walk (AISA) 15:55 Host talks 19:38 Miroslav Vitous feat. Jack ...

Album Review

Richard Andersson with Rudi Mahall, Artur Tuznik and Kasper Tom: Monk & More

Read "Monk & More" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
May 5, 2026

A versatile bassist whose work encompasses everything from lyrical Nordic jazz to more avant-garde projects, Richard Andersson has drawn heavily from the talent pool in his native Denmark to help support his numerous releases. For Monk & More, he is fortunate to have alongside him bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, pianist Artur Tuznik and drummer Kasper Tom, each of whom fits perfectly into an album deftly bridging the “cool school" of composers like Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz and Jimmy Giuffre with ...

Radio & Podcasts

Sarah L. King, Joe Gransden, Maria Grand, Rebecca Rafla, Emie R. Roussel, Andrea Miller & More

by Mary Foster Conklin
May 5, 2026

This broadcast closes out Jazz Appreciation Month with new music from Sarah L. King, Joe Gransden, Maria Grand, Rebecca Rafla, Emie R. Roussel and Andrea Miller, with birthday shoutouts to Jazz Foremother Ma Rainey, Ella Fitzgerald, Roxy Coss, Rebecca Martin, Laufey, Kendra Shank, Lara Downes and Honorable Man Charles Mingus, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy their music so they can continue to comfort, distract, provoke and remind the world that A ...

Album Review

Diana Torti: Fearless

Read "Fearless" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
May 5, 2026

Coming off of their 2023 collaboration, It's All We Have (Tambora Music), vocalist Diana Torti and guitarist Sabino de Bari are once again teaming up for Fearless, another showcase for Torti's ear-pleasing yet subtly adventurous approach to modern jazz. But the two are now complemented by bassist Andrea Colella and drummer Francesco De Rubeis, the rhythm tandem that last worked with de Bari on his excellent 2024 release, Ashanti (Self Produced). Together, the four bring an insouciant spirit to Torti's ...