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

Zem Audu: Spirits

Read "Spirits" reviewed by Geannine Reid

by Geannine Reid
July 2, 2017

Saxophonist Zem Audu was born in Nigeria and raised in England before pursuing his musical career in New York City. Along the way, Audu has developed a musical sound that blends his cultural influences to express a musical style that is an amalgamation of: Contemporary jazz, Nigerian Afrobeat, Caribbean rhythms and funk grooves. Audu's album Spirits, released June 16, 2017 on Origin Records, is a musical statement that is fresh and diverse throughout the album's eleven tracks. Audu's in joined ...

Live Review

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue at the Space at Westbury

by Mike Perciaccante
July 2, 2017

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue The Space at Westbury Westbury, NY June 16, 2017 Troy “Trombone Shorty" Andrews is New Orleans musical royalty. His grandfather was R&B and blues singer Jessie Hill, who is known for the classic tune “Ooh Poo Pah Do." Shorty's older brother is trumpeter James Andrews (also known as “Satchmo of the Ghetto") with whom he performed “Ooh Poo Pah Doo" on the HBO series Tremé. James Andrews made his ...

Album Review

Pam Taylor: Steal Your Heart

Read "Steal Your Heart" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 2, 2017

With a voice full of that South Carolina Piedmont Pine, singer/songwriter Pam Taylor begins her ascent to escape velocity from being a local and regional talent to a major one. She has been knocking at the door, starting with the release of the 2011 Hot Mess by the short-lived Pam Taylor Band. That recording revealed a heady talent, but Taylor had some growing to do as an artist. In 2015, Taylor and one Robert Johnson, Jr. (no, not that one) ...

Live Review

The Specials at Higher Ground

by Doug Collette
July 2, 2017

The Specials Higher Ground Ballroom South Burlington, VT June 23, 2017 It should come as no surprise the larger of the two rooms at Higher Ground was packed for the Specials the night of June 23rd. After all, it was the right evening of the week, as their song alludes ("Friday Night Saturday Morning") and the English Beat had primed the ska/Two-Tone pump in their previous appearances at the Vermont venue. But Dave ...

Album Review

Orion Tango: The Apple Of No

Read "The Apple Of No" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
July 2, 2017

In times as strange and uncertain as ever, Orion Tango prefers to remember that there are some silver linings we can count on and “the world doesn't have to go this way," as guitarist Tim Motzer explains it. One steady constant of course is the power of music--edge-of-seat improvisation is this power trio's specialty, and the allure of discovery is one reassuring reminder that “we live with hope." All three members are longtime friends and collaborators ready to jump out ...

New York @ Night

Tim Ries With Randy Brecker at Drom

by Peter Jurew
July 1, 2017

Tim Ries with Randy BreckerDromNew York, NYJune 21, 2017 Saxophonist Tim Ries has made a name for himself internationally as a jazz educator and composer, leader and sideman. A master of tenor and soprano saxophones, since 2007, he's also known for playing in the Rolling Stones's horn section on several world tours. Those side gigs led to two well-received albums of Ries- arranged Stones material performed by jazz ensembles that have included Mick Jagger, Keith ...

In Pictures

Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival 2017

by C. Andrew Hovan
July 1, 2017

The complicated logistics and sizable costs associated with free jazz festivals have made them somewhat rarified these days. By its all-encompassing scope and scale, the Detroit Jazz Festival has served as a model for many decades now. But if you want something a bit earthier and intimate, there's really no equal for the atmosphere that envelops the Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival. Now in its seventh year, this budding diamond in the rough gets its energy from the community that serves ...

In Pictures

Skip Norris Memorial Concert

by C. Andrew Hovan
July 1, 2017

The old saying goes that we all die twice; once when we take our last breath and then a second time when our name isn't spoken anymore. It is highly unlikely that the name of Wesley “Skip" Norris will vanish from the tongues of jazz devotees anytime soon. Especially not after the memorable and extraordinary sendoff that took place last Friday evening in Detroit. An advocate for jazz in so many ways throughout the past decades, Norris fostered a strong ...

Album Review

Nebraska Jazz Orchestra: NJO 40

by Jack Bowers
July 1, 2017

NJO 40, the latest CD by the superlative Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, salutes the NJO's first forty years by presenting a series of in-concert recordings taped between 2010-15 whose roster of guest soloists on Tracks 1-10 reads like a who's who of renowned jazz artists from coast to coast. Tack on exemplary charts by Tom Kubis, Eric Richards, Kerry Strayer, Bobby Watson, Jack Cortner, Sammy Nestico and others, and you have an appetizing banquet for the ears that is as persuasive ...

Album Review

The Black Butterflies: Luisa

by Doug Collette
July 1, 2017

It's a rare musician confident enough in his or her abilities to subsume their own name under a group moniker, but even as saxophonist/composer Mercedes Figueras maintains her independence via a personal presence on the web under her own moniker, she has taken that humble step with the Black Butterflies. Coalescing in 2010, the quintet's previous self-produced albums, 1 De Mayo and Rainbows For Ramon, are both as accessible as they are durable and this new one follows suit.