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

Rahul Mukerji: Ma De Re Sha

Read "Ma De Re Sha" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
June 28, 2017

From the first glance at his debut album, Rahul Mukerji makes clear that one of his chief qualities is an open mind. The cover reflects both sides of his background (born in India and now based in the eastern US) and the music within follows suit. His expressive guitar playing through Ma De Re Sha demonstrates a dizzying range of technique and tone, while the compositions make a highly electrified fusion mix that borrows from Joe Satriani as much as ...

Album Review

Samuel Eagles' Spirit: Ask Seek Knock

Read "Ask Seek Knock" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
June 28, 2017

Spirit is the brainchild of British alto saxophonist Samuel Eagles and should not be confused with the now defunct American rock band of that name featuring the late Randy California. Eagles is joined here by his brother and tenor saxophonist Duncan Eagles who leads his own burgeoning band Partikel, which also includes bassist Max Luthert. Vibraphonist Ralph Wyld, whose notable debut album Subterranea, released in 2016 on Edition Records under his group name of Mosaic, plays a vital role here ...

Album Review

Mark Winkler: The Company I Keep

Read "The Company I Keep" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 28, 2017

The Beatles had it right when they noted that we get by with a little help from our friends. It's a fact that vocalist Mark Winkler can surely testify to. In the wake of losing his husband, Winkler found the comfort and strength he needed through the company he keeps and in the music that feeds his soul. That's the beautiful story behind this jazz soirée. The company of which the title of this record speaks is ...

Album Review

Pan-Scan Ensemble: Air and Light and Time and Space

Read "Air and Light and Time and Space" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
June 28, 2017

For many years, Scandinavian jazz and improv have mixed and matched musicians with no great concern about their nationalities. While the music has maintained its high quality, most listeners have not been overly concerned with the players' countries of birth. Now, as its name suggests Pan-Scan Ensemble has adopted a pan-Scandinavian approach and brought together nine fine players from across the region. Far more exciting than the ensemble's roots is its line-up of three female saxophonists and three male trumpeters ...

Interview

Nicole Johänntgen: Henry And The Free Bird

by Ian Patterson
June 27, 2017

In Richard Bach's book Jonathon Livingston Seagull (Macmillan 1970), the tale of a seagull with a passion for flight and freedom, there is a line that goes: “Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly." Nicole Johänntgen, jazz musician, composer, bandleader, educator and advocate for women musicians, saw the way to fly from an early ...

Live Review

Will Butterworth Trio/Adam Turns at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast

by Ian Patterson
June 27, 2017

Will Butterworth Trio/Adam Turns: The Nightingale & The Rose Crescent Arts Centre Belfast Book Festival Belfast, N. Ireland June 17, 2017 Fortune and happenstance collided beautifully at the Belfast Book Festival with the performance of pianist Will Butterworth's jazz suite “The Nightingale & the Rose," inspired by Oscar Wilde's children's tale of the same name. That Wilde's tale--written in 1888--has been frequently adapted for the opera, ballet, cantata and even Sufi poetry, says ...

Album Review

Dan Tepfer Trio: Eleven Cages

Read "Eleven Cages" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 27, 2017

Pianist Dan Tepfer makes an excellent point here, reminding us that the concept of freedom is actually built on architectural stability. With Eleven Cages Tepfer has his Thomas Merton moment, likening the framework of each song to the walls of his newfound freedom. He recognizes and emphasizes the fact that different structures are housings for exploration and creation, not handcuffs on the imagination or rigid dictates in design methodology. Tepfer's well-formed views on the permanence and plasticity ...

Album Review

Nicholas Payton: Afro-Caribbean Mixtape

Read "Afro-Caribbean Mixtape" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
June 27, 2017

In 2011 New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton set fire to social media with his outspoken views on the death of jazz, race and Black American music. The backdraft produced not only fiercely opposing views but also hate-mail directed towards Payton. While the debate continues on what is and what isn't jazz, there's never been a question about Payton's talent or abilities. Throughout his discography as a Postmodern New Orleans musician, Payton's mastery of the horn is without reproach and sung ...

Album Review

Ed Neumeister & His NeuHat Ensemble: Wake Up Call

Read "Wake Up Call" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 27, 2017

If you are one of those restless wanderers who is searching high and low for easy listening, look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you are drawn to music that is more or less off the beaten path and challenges your mind and spirit, composer / arranger / trombonist Ed Neumeister's new album may well serve as the anomalous Wake Up Call you've been waiting for. It takes no more than a few moments of listening to the labyrinthine, through-composed ...

Album Review

Denys Baptiste: The Late Trane

Read "The Late Trane" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
June 27, 2017

When a church is named after a jazz musician you know there's something more than music involved here. The spirituality with which John Coltrane immersed himself as exemplified by A Love Supreme, was just one of the drivers that helped make the saxophonist one of the greatest innovators of jazz. His later works were even more iconoclastic, embracing abstract themes and a conscious move towards free jazz, but still utilising time as propelled by the rhythmic powerhouse that was Elvin ...