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.

Live Review

Drum Tao at Zellerbach Hall

by Harry S. Pariser
April 3, 2026

Drum Tao Zellerbach Hall CalPerformances Berkeley, CA March 21, 2026 Way back in 1993, Taro Harasaki had an epiphany. He had just exited Mystère, the Cirque du Soleil show then running in Las Vegas. The performance had made a huge impression on him. “I can do this in Japan," he thought. His concept was to marry Kumi-daiko (組太鼓, literally “set of drums"), a small-group Taiko drum performance first developed in 1951, to polished performance and choreography ...

Album Review

Chad McCullough: Watch As The Echo Falls

Read "Watch As The Echo Falls" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 3, 2026

The music ensemble Atlantic Road Trip started as a quintet that made folk sounds stirred with jazz modes. One (Calligram Records, 2023) was the album. It featured trumpeter Chad McCullough in the leader's spot. He was joined by alto saxophonist and multi-reedist Paul Towndrow, Miro Herak on vibraphone, bassist Connor Murray, with Alyn Cosker in the drummer's seat. The cultures and geographies did not collide there. They danced. Towndrow's use of whistles and flute evoked images of Ireland and Scotland. ...

Radio & Podcasts

Joel Ross, Jesper Thorn, Naoya Ogura, Alessandro Castriota Scanderbeg & more

by Marek J. Śmietański
April 3, 2026

Episode 123th is a regular edition of the show, though broadcast at an unusual time due to a significant delay. In this episode, we explore January jazz releases from around the world--including the USA, Denmark, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Sweden, and Italy--as well as some rarer international collaborations: Argentine-Swiss, Danish-American, and German-Spanish. Emotional, reflective, lyrical, and at times experimental, this collection offers multidimensional stories that invite you to pause, step out of the rush of time, and create real space for ...

Radio & Podcasts

The Sistering Project, Joe Williams, Gillian Margot, Nicole Zuraitis and Many More

by Jua Howard
April 3, 2026

Hey Music Family! I hope you all are taking care of yourselves and protecting your peace. It's time for another episode of the “First Instrument Jazz Show"! I've got a lot of new music including from Tierney Sutton, April Varner, Kurt Elling and a powerful collaboration between Kate McGarry, Nnenna Freelon, Lenora Zenzalai Helm and Lois DeLoatch known as the Sistering Project. I've also got more timeless music to share including from Joe Williams, Irene Kral, Gillian Margot, Jo Lawry, ...

Radio & Podcasts

Plays Duke, Part III: More contemporary covers of Ellington's best loved tunes.

by Larry Slater
April 3, 2026

Duke Ellington's legacy lives on today largely through his compositions, and musicians from around the globe continue to embrace his music, finding new ways to re-interpret his songs.In this hour, you'll hear some immortal selections from the Ellington canon, including “Cotton Tail," “Solitude," “In A Sentimental Mood," “Come Sunday," “Reflections in D," and “The Feeling of Jazz."Featured artists include Emmet Cohen, Wes Montgomery, the gypsy jazz guitarist Angelo DeBarre, Shai Maestro, Sean Jones, Delfeayo Marsalis, Enrico ...

The Great American Songbook

The 1920s: Jazz Becomes America's Soundtrack

by Joan Merrill
April 2, 2026

With the end of both World War I and the deadly flu pandemic that killed untold millions of people, the United States welcomed the new decade with open arms and a sense of optimism. The 1920s were one of the most eventful periods in American history. The Prohibition Era, from 1920 to 1933, gave rise to gangster bootleggers like Al Capone running speakeasies. Women got the vote with the 19th Amendment in 1920 and were inspired to rebel ...

Multiple Reviews

Guitar and Bass Reviews featuring Josh Achiron

by Jerome Wilson
April 2, 2026

These are short reviews of recent guitar or bass-led albums. Dave Stryker Blue Fire--The Van Gelder Session Strikezone Records 2026 Guitarist Dave Stryker fulfilled a long-time dream by recording this album with his longstanding organ trio at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The studio enhances everyone's sound. Drummer McClenty Hunter's cymbal work really sizzles and Jared Gold's organ is a strong presence whether brooding in the background ...

Live Review

Emmet Cohen at Strathmore Music Center

by Mark Edelman
April 2, 2026

Emmet Cohen Strathmore Music Center 100 Years of Miles and ColtraneBethesda, MD March 24, 2026 Amidst the gnashing of teeth over the demise of the Kennedy Center and the departure of its jazz series and estimable leader Kevin Struthers, DC music fans have had little to smile about in recent weeks. But, tucked up north, ten or so stops on the Red Line in Bethesda, MD, the Strathmore Music Center offers a wonderful ray of ...

Album Review

Jeremy Sassoon: Older And Wiser

Read "Older And Wiser" reviewed by Neil Duggan

by Neil Duggan
April 2, 2026

UK singer and pianist Jeremy Sassoon has followed a remarkably unusual path. After qualifying from Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London and completing postgraduate training as a hospital psychiatrist in Manchester, he made the bold decision in 1995 to leave medicine behind and pursue a full-time career in music. He first established himself as an accompanist, forming a close partnership with singer Paul Bentley, and following Bentley's retirement, he stepped forward as a performer in his own right. That journey ...

Album Review

Josh Achiron: Climbing

by Jack Bowers
April 2, 2026

On his debut album, Climbing, Chicago-based guitarist, composer and educator Joshua Achiron leads a trio of battle-tested musicians through a program that consists of seven of his original compositions and Duke Ellington's frisky “Take the Coltrane." If diversity was the goal, mission accomplished. No two tracks are comparable, and the quartet traverses a broad expanse of harmonic and rhythmic territory, touching on ballads and blues to fusion and funk. Much of what Achiron has to say is ...