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

Josienne Clarke / Kit Downes: Such A Sky

Read "Such A Sky" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
June 25, 2017

Sometimes life's great pleasures creep up almost unnoticed. One day they're not there, next day it seems like they've been around forever. Such A Sky is one such pleasure. A five-track EP, it's the debut release from BBC Folk Award winning singer Josienne Clarke and Mercury Prize nominated keyboardist Kit Downes. Clarke announced the release of Such A Sky on her Twitter feed with a lovely lack of hyperbole: “I've made a little EP with pianoer Kit Downes ...

Album Review

Brian Marsella Trio: Buer: Book Of Angels Volume 31

Read "Buer: Book Of Angels Volume 31" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 25, 2017

How many angels are there? Alto saxophonist/composer John Zorn started his Masada Book Two, Book of Angels endeavor in 2005, with Astaroth: Book of Angels, Volume 1, by the Jamie Saft Trio. Thirty recordings and twelve years later, he offers up Buer: Book Of Angels, Volume 31, by the Brian Marsella Trio. A tune for every angel. That's a lot of angels. The always adventurous and prolific Zorn, who reportedly wrote three hundred songs for his Book of ...

Live Review

Daryl Hall & John Oates and Tears For Fears with special guest Allen Stone at the Prudential Center

by Mike Perciaccante
June 25, 2017

Daryl Hall & John Oates and Tears For Fears with special guest Allen Stone The Prudential Center Newark, NJ June 17, 2017 On a pleasant Saturday evening in mid-June, the Hall & Oates/Tears For Fears co-headlining tour made its way to NJ's Prudential Center. It was definitely pop and soul night in Newark. The evening began with a dose of Pacific Northwestern soul and R&B as Allen Stone took the stage all by ...

Multiple Reviews

Blues Deluxe 2

by Doug Collette
June 25, 2017

The cultural fragmentation of recent decades or so has resulted in such a multiplicity of niche categories that the blues community only benefits by its long-term loyalty to the genre. Yet even the oftentimes arbitrary nature of the categorization(s) can't prevent the cross-pollination of styles. And, reasonably speaking, who wants to argue the dividing lines between country, blues and folk music? Not genuinely devoted music- lovers with an inveterate appetite for the likes of Eric Bibb, Greg Wickham and Steve ...

Live Review

Thievery Corporation at ARM Stadium - Macedonia 2017

by Nenad Georgievski
June 25, 2017

Thievery Corporation ARM Stadium Skopje Calling Skopje, Macedonia June 20, 2017 It's been awhile since I witnessed a show like this. The ARM's stadium which is basically an open field resounded to plenty of driving beats, deep basses and expansive and hypnotic ambient sounds as Thievery Corporation in its expanded form delivered a sharp and hyper-energetic yet relaxed set. Thievery Corporation's music is an interesting amalgam of different sorts of musics. In ...

Live Review

Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival 2017

by C. Andrew Hovan
June 24, 2017

Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival 2017 Pittsburgh, PA June 16-18, 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, ...

Album Review

Bill Cunliffe: BACHanalia

Read "BACHanalia" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 24, 2017

As the title denotes, pianist Bill Cunliffe and his ensemble take a swing (literally) at the great Johann Sebastian on BACHanalia, pivoting as well toward the music of C.P.E. Bach, Sergei Prokofiev, Manuel de Falla, Cole Porter, Oscar Levant and Cunliffe himself. In spite of its classical veneer, this is at its core a jazz session, and as such embodies the essential elements one would expect from such an enterprise. To phrase it another way, Cunliffe transports these masters of ...

Album Review

Jared Hall: Hallways

by Paul Rauch
June 24, 2017

It has been a long road for trumpeter/composer Jared Hall. That road has been a path cloistered in jazz education, starting in his native Spokane, WA studying with Dan Keberle at Whitworth University, to his masters completion at Indiana University under David Baker. At that point, Hall had a decision to make, in terms of continuing his studies, or jumping in headfirst to life as an artist at large. After all, this is a music of feeling, a ...

Album Review

Dave Burrell: The Crave

Read "The Crave" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
June 24, 2017

A leading free jazz pianist playing the music of Jelly Roll Morton? It's not as far-fetched as you might think. Morton has attracted a number of interpreters from the supposedly extreme end of the spectrum, from Sun Ra of course, first issued on Live At The Gibus (Atlantic, 1975), to Chicago trio Air on Air Lore (Arista Novus, 1979) and Japanese pianist Aki Takase's New Blues (Enja, 2012). The Crave makes explicit Dave Burrell's connection to older piano styles. Even ...

Live Review

Mike Zito at the Iridium

by Mike Perciaccante
June 24, 2017

Mike Zito The Iridium New York, NY June 11, 2017 Mike Zito is a blues guitarist, singer, producer, and songwriter from St. Louis, MO. He is a co- founder of the Royal Southern Brotherhood. During his time (2010-2014) with that band the other members were Cyril Neville, Devon Allman, Charlie Wooton and Yonrico Scott. During the course of his career, in addition to recording and touring with the Royal Southern Brotherhood, Zito has released a ...