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.

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

Tuning Under Duress, Now Was the Time, and Quid Pro Dough

by Mr. P.C.
April 16, 2026

Tuning Under DuressDear Mr. P.C.: Usually when I'm setting up for a gig, there will be other musicians doing the same, such as horn players. My question is: Why, when I am ready to tune my bass, do the rest of the musicians in the band suddenly feel it is time to warm up on their horns or noodle on their instruments? How can I tune when I can't hear? I realize it is a democratic society, but ...

Album Review

Adam O'Farrill: Elephant

Read "Elephant" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 16, 2026

On Elephant, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill steers his ensemble through music that is deliberate and quietly volatile. The writing favors asymmetry without sounding academic, and the group responds with alert patience. Moreover, brass lines hover and fracture while the rhythm moves in angled cycles. The album avoids easy dramatics, building tension through restraint. O'Farrill often treats the trumpet as a colorist's tool--sketching edges rather than bold outlines, entering sideways to shade harmony rather than lead it. The band functions ...

Play This!

Michael Formanek: aka the Stinger

by Ludovico Granvassu
April 16, 2026

An invitation to perform at the 2023 Guimarães Jazz Festival in Portugal gave bassist and composer Michael Formanek the perfect opportunity to explore the sonic possibilities of the organ--an instrument he first loved in the rock bands of his Bay Area youth, and later rediscovered in the visionary works of Olivier Messiaen.Alexander Hawkins proves an ideal partner on Hammond B3, alongside two longtime collaborators from the trio Thumbscrew--Mary Halvorson on guitar and Tomas Fujiwara on drums--joined by João ...

Album Review

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: Serpentine

by Don Ball
April 16, 2026

Any jazz band, especially a brass band, that is willing and capable of taking on the erratic rhythms and wild fluctuations of a Frank Zappa instrumental is worthy of kudos. And the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's take of “Son of Mr. Green Genes" on their release Serpentine demonstrates their immense musical capabilities. The group was formed by saxophonist, flautist and composer Ken Field in 1990, and the album documents their performance at the Regattabar in Boston as part of their ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Music From Smith, Barakan, LDL, Harrington Jaffe & Shiroishi, And More

by Bob Osborne
April 16, 2026

This playlist of all new releases offers a sophisticated journey through the expansive landscape of contemporary and classic jazz, seamlessly transitioning between structured elegance and avant-garde exploration. Listeners are invited to traverse a sonic terrain that ranges from intimate, tradition-steeped trio performances and lush big band arrangements to the more challenging, textural fringes of free improvisation. Whether grounded by melodic warmth or propelled by experimental rhythmic structures, the collection captures a broad spectrum of instrumental dialogue, celebrating both the quiet ...

Album Review

Hendrik Meurkens: Samba Tonto

Read "Samba Tonto" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 16, 2026

Among the myriad jazz musicians practicing their art in countries around the world, there are few to whom the term “virtuoso" may readily be applied. Australia's James Morrison is one; Germany's Hendrik Meurkens is another. Widely known and admired as a master of the harmonica, Meurkens is equally adept on vibraphone and as a composer and arranger whose voice is strong and articulate. Meurkens displays all those remarkable traits on Samba Tonto, wherein he removes himself from the ...

Radio & Podcasts

Eli Howell, Peter Erskine, Brian Lynch, Fuller Sound and more

by Benjamin Boddie
April 16, 2026

Today's Music--Right Now! Fantastic music by Charles Ruggiero, Eli Howell, Peter Erskine, Isabella Isherwood, Pete Mills, Brian Lynch, Ben Flocks, Daphne Roubini & Black Gardenia, Fuller Sound, Mike Bruzzese, Russ Spiegel, Chris Aschman, Entre Amigos, The Sistering, Alexa Tarantino, Bria Skonberg, Monika Herzig, The BLCK Madonna, Arvind Ramdas, Stephen Philip Harvey, Dave Slonaker Big Band, Daggerboard, The Skipper And Mike Clark, April Varner, Diane Marino, Darren Litzie, Corcoran Holt, Tierney Sutton & Tamir Hendelman, Julian Davis Reid, Pat Bianchi, Dan ...

Album Review

Michel Petrucciani: Kuumbwa

by Jack Kenny
April 16, 2026

Recorded live on May 11, 1987, at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, California, this album catches pianist Michel Petrucciani during an inspired phase of his career. It was not his first visit to the venue. While living in Big Sur--about an hour south of Santa Cruz--Petrucciani had befriended saxophonist Charles Lloyd, who was on a hiatus from music. Encouraged by the young French pianist, Lloyd gradually resumed playing, eventually forming a duo with Petrucciani that performed at the ...

Radio & Podcasts

Take the Smoove with the Rough

by Patrick Burnette
April 16, 2026

Every now and then the boys bring vocal albums into the mix, but vocal group albums--now those are rarities. This time, they take on two, at as opposite ends of the soul spectrum as it's possible to get. There's still room for releases led by instrumentalists, this time by a somewhat “out" bassist and a vibraphonist playing with how “in" he can get.Playlist Discussion of Mario Pavone's album Toulon Days (New World Records) 2:13 Discussion of Warren Wolf's ...

Live Review

Kendrick Scott Quintet at Smoke

by Paul Reynolds
April 15, 2026

Kendrick Scott Quintet Smoke Jazz Club New York NY April 11, 2026 Kendrick Scott mopped his sweat-streaked face with a towel as he walked from the bandstand at Smoke Jazz Club after his third set of the night on Saturday evening. Plenty of players work hard at America's music, but few do so with the relentless energy and invention the drummer demonstrated during an engrossing hour of leading his quintet in this uptown club. The Houston ...