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.

Bailey's Bundles

Art Pepper: Presents “West Coast Sessions” Volumes 3 & 4

by C. Michael Bailey
June 22, 2017

Today is the day that I finally come clean about Art Pepper and me. In 1984, I was taking a year off between having finished Pharmacy School and beginning a graduate program in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design. During this time, I had my yearly eye appointment with my ophthalmologist, one Dr. A. Henry Thomas, with whom I struck up a conversation regarding jazz. Up to this point, the only jazz recording I owned was...of course...Miles Davis's Kind of Blue ...

Album Review

Django Bates / Frankfurt Radio Big Band: Saluting Sgt. Pepper

Read "Saluting Sgt. Pepper" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 22, 2017

Django Bates stellar career has been far less celebrated than it deserves to be, at least on this, somewhat myopic, side of the Atlantic. Born in Kent, on the outskirts of London, he has achieved prominence as a multi-instrumentalist, band leader and composer. In the early part of his career he created Human Chain and the large-scale orchestra Delightful Precipice but drew the most attention for his pivotal composing for Loose Tubes. That large cooperative included Julian Argüelles, Steve Argüelles, ...

Album Review

Meilana Gillard: Dream Within A Dream

Read "Dream Within A Dream" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
June 22, 2017

There are eight years between Ohio-born, Belfast-based tenor saxophonist Meilana Gillard's impressive debut, Day One (Inner circle Music, 2009), and her follow-up, Dream Within A Dream (Lyte Records, 2017) -simply way too long a gap for a musician and composer of her talents. Her debut, backed by Nir Felder, Tyshawn Sorey, Marcos Varela and Sam Barsh, flitted between classic jazz balladry and a more contemporary, upbeat vibe. For this all-acoustic outing, Gillard pins her old-school colors firmly to the mast, ...

Album Review

Bob Lark-Phil Woods Quintet: Thick As Thieves

Read "Thick As Thieves" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 22, 2017

Remember the good old days when jazz groups came out swinging and took no prisoners until the battle had been won? Well, why settle for memories when you can lay your cares aside for an hour or so and groove to Thick as Thieves, the third and last album by the unrivaled and always-aggressive Bob Lark / Phil Woods Quintet, recorded, as were the first two, in concert at Joe Segal's venerable Jazz Showcase in Chicago. This is as close ...

Album Review

Phat Phunktion: Live at the High Noon

Read "Live at the High Noon" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
June 22, 2017

If you have an abiding appetite or innate taste for old school funk a la Tower of Power, then Phat Phunktion is right in your wheelhouse. This band is poetry in motion-constantly-but without the off-putting histrionics and faux showmanship that so often undermines the impact of the musicianship. Consequently, as with “Don't Destroy the Funk," the frequent exhortations to the audience in the band's hometown Madison, Wisconsin venue pale next to the grinding rhythm section of bassist Nick ...

Interview

Aaron Parks: Rising To The Challenge

by R.J. DeLuke
June 21, 2017

"I'm always trying to put myself into scenarios with people who play in a way that challenges me and gives me a chance to grow," says pianist Aaron Parks, who has carved an impressive career in jazz since going to New York City early in the new century and eventually garnering a major gig with trumpeter Terence Blanchard's band. The group's he's played in are nothing but challenging, as he serves music made by people like Kurt Rosenwinkel ...

Album Review

Michael Pedicin: As It Should Be: Ballads 2

Read "As It Should Be: Ballads 2" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 21, 2017

With Ballads...Searching For Peace (Self Produced, 2011), saxophonist Michael Pedicin managed to produce a work that satisfied by focusing on subdued sentiments while also shining a light on the compositions of some of the great tenors of all time. On this perfectly complementary companion piece, Pedicin dims the lights and wears his heart on his sleeve again. But this time it's guitarist Johnnie Valentino's music that's in the spotlight. Eight of the ten tracks that comprise As ...

Album Review

Cristián Alvear, Seijiro Murayama: Karoujite

by John Eyles
June 21, 2017

Before coming together in this duo, the Chilean acoustic guitarist Cristián Alvear and the Japanese percussionist Seijiro Murayama were both well-established Potlatch artists. Alvear has built a reputation as a performer of compositions by Wandelweiser members such as Jürg Frey and Antoine Beuger, as exemplified by his fine album of Michael Pisaro pieces Melody, Silence (Potlatch, 2015). Seijiro is represented on the label by a pair of 2011 duo albums alongside French improvising saxophonists, Window Dressing with Jean-Luc Guionnet and ...

Album Review

Dominique Eade & Ran Blake: Town And Country

Read "Town And Country" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
June 21, 2017

Pianist Ran Blake has a long track record of collaborations with vocalists starting over 50 years ago when he made the album The Newest Sound Around with Jeanne Lee and continuing in the years since in recordings with Chris Connor, Christine Correa and Sara Serpa among others. This is his second meeting on disc with his fellow instructor at the New England Conservatory, Dominique Eade. The first, Whirlpool, fit snugly in with Blake's prominent film noir interests. This remarkable new ...

Album Review

Camille Thurman: Inside The Moment

Read "Inside The Moment" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
June 21, 2017

As a first call saxophonist and vocalist, Camille Thurman has appeared as guest accompanist on so many albums and performances by acclaimed artists, it's hard to imagine where she found the time for Inside The Moment . Having released both Origins and Spirit Child back to back in 2014, and as the recipient of prestigious awards for her musical talents, Thurman has been steadily adding to her impressive resume; this live set proving why and how she is one of ...