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

Five Women V – Kathleen Potton, Ariel Pocock, Christina Morrison, Michelle Bradley, Donna E. Scott, Kellye Gray

by C. Michael Bailey
June 20, 2017

There is no end to very good jazz vocals. Kathleen Potton Nero Self Produced 2017 Australian-born singer/songwriter Kathleen Potton's debut recording Nero is a sly nod in the direction of female singer/songwriters who came before. The title refers to the Laura Nyro ("Eli's Coming," Stoned Soul Picnic") and the disc contains eight original compositions and a sweeping cover of Joni Mitchell's “Chelsea Morning." Potton's compositional style reflects both of these artists as influences. ...

Album Review

Charnett Moffett: Music From Our Soul

Read "Music From Our Soul" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 20, 2017

Bassist Charnett Moffett is one of those figures that we tend to take for granted, mostly because it seems like he's simply always been here. The once-upon-a-time child prodigy has been omnipresent on the scene since the mid '80s, holding down the low end for jazz's elite while bringing strength, consistency, and creativity to the fore through his bass work. A short list of Moffett's employers and colleagues reads like a jazz history lesson--saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Kenny Garrett, drummers ...

Album Review

Trio 3: Visiting Texture

Read "Visiting Texture" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
June 20, 2017

For a band whose moniker puts such emphasis on the number of its participants, another release featuring the core threesome of saxophonist Oliver Lake, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Andrew Cyrille has been a long time coming. Not since the outstanding Time Being (Intakt, 2007) in fact, with subsequent albums matching them with an eye catching parade of pianistic talent in Irene Schweizer, Geri Allen, Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer. But once back to basics, they certainly ...

Album Review

Meridian Trio: Triangulum

Read "Triangulum" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
June 20, 2017

2017 is proving to be something of a breakout year for alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella. He recently released Signaling, a superb freely-improvised duo recording with cellist Tomeka Reid, and now he's followed it up with this excellent outing from the Meridian Trio, where he is joined by his colleagues Matt Ulery on bass and Jeremy Cunningham on drums. Whereas on Signaling we are given a glimpse of Mazzarella's substantial prowess as a sympathetic partner in an unstructured context, here the ...

Album Review

David Doruzka: Autumn Tales

Read "Autumn Tales" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
June 20, 2017

David Doruzka is from the Czech Republic. He plays impressionistic guitar very much in the Pat Metheny tradition. Indeed, while studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Doruzka was chosen by Metheny to participate as the only guitarist in the 2000 Aspen Snowmass Jazz Colony. Another major influence on his playing has been a teacher at Berklee, saxophonist Joe Lovano. After graduating, Doruzka stayed on in the US for a year, based in New York, where ...

Live Review

Grand Union Orchestra at Wilton's Music Hall

by Duncan Heining
June 20, 2017

Grand Union Orchestra Wilton's Music Hall London June 14, 2017 Song of Contagion, Grand Union Orchestra's latest show, would be a strange subject indeed for any other ensemble. But for leader/composer Tony Haynes and his comrades, it sits perfectly within the orchestra's progressive dialogue between the musics and diverse histories of this small planet. Emerging from a conversation between Haynes and epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani, Song of Contagion is about disease. ...

Interview

Generation Next: Four Voices From Seattle

by Paul Rauch
June 19, 2017

Each generation, an insidious notion arises, and is passed about the musical world that jazz music, the only uniquely American art form is somehow experiencing a slow, but certain death. Inevitably, this notion is set aside, and somehow projected forward in time, as a new generation of artists rise to the occasion, not only facilitating the survival of, but enabling the forward journey of the genre. In Seattle, the vibrant scene has moved forward from Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson, ...

Album Review

Pete Malinverni: Heaven

Read "Heaven" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 19, 2017

New York City-based pianist Pete Malinverni is a spiritual man. It's a side of his musical personality that he explores with depth and clarity on Heaven, a mostly trio affair that puts his succinct feel for the sacred, his supple and exquisite touch and his improvisational elan in the forefront on a gorgeous set of music. He serves up the traditional-- “Shenandoah," “A City Called Heaven," “Wade In the Water--along with Duke Ellington's “Heaven" and “Come Sunday," and more, including ...

Album Review

Trail Magic: Trail Magic

Read "Trail Magic" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
June 19, 2017

The term “trail magic" is a well-known concept among hikers and other nature enthusiasts. It refers to the time-honored tradition of travelers leaving nice things (usually helpful objects or notes) along the road for others to find someday. The electric tone of this recording may evoke highways and festival stages more than the wilds of nature, but the duo behind Trail Magic show that same generosity to each other and their listeners nonetheless. Their self-titled debut is a rollicking helping ...

Album Review

Elliott Sharp: Dialectrical

Read "Dialectrical" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
June 19, 2017

Dialectrical constitutes the third entry in the discography of Elliott Sharp's most jazz-focused outfit, following on from the eponymous debut Aggregat (Clean Feed, 2012), and subsequent Quintet (Clean Feed, 2013). Although perhaps best known for his idiosyncratic guitar work, Sharp here demonstrates his chops as an adept reedman, with a talented NYC crew on board. Special mention must go to grizzled drummer Barry Altschul replacing Ches Smith who helmed the engine room on the previous two outings. Other constants are ...