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

Mark Winkler: The Company I Keep

Read "The Company I Keep" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
May 9, 2017

The utility of music, at its very core, is entertainment. It is not all about dissonance and consonance, tonal conflict and resolution; heart and intellect, pathos and ethos. Somewhere in everything music has to offer, there must be a smile. It is in music's smile that vocalist Mark Winkler exists. An elegant West Coast mainstay, vocalist/lyricist/composer Winkler, drove across my radar first with his 2011 recording Sweet Spot (Café Pacific Records). I was struck by how well Winkler could skirt ...

Album Review

Mark de Clive-Lowe: Live at the Blue Whale

Read "Live at the Blue Whale" reviewed by Phillip Woolever

by Phillip Woolever
May 9, 2017

This fine, four-song EP provides testimonial insight to de Clive-Lowe's influences and inspiration, through three cover songs and one extended original piece recorded at a Los Angeles club during March of last year. Contrasting some of de Clive-Lowe's more recent beat-based techno projects this is primarily and predominately a jazz record, and quite an enjoyable one, indeed. De Clive-Lowe joins a well-rounded quartet with Josh Johnson on sax and flute, Brandon Eugene Owens on bass and ...

Live Review

The Comet Is Coming at Black Box

by Ian Patterson
May 8, 2017

The Comet Is Coming Black Box 18th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Belfast, N.Ireland May 3, 2017 The Comet Is Coming knows how to make an entrance. Even the electronic sci-fi effects that kick-started its Black Box concert like some futuristic fanfare was loud enough to send vibrations through every pore of the body. It was a portent of the unrelentingly powerful sonic waves that King Shabaka (Shabaka Hutchings), Danalogue The Conqueror (Dan Leavers) ...

Live From Philadelphia

Glenn Zaleski Trio at Chris' Jazz Cafe

by Geno Thackara
May 8, 2017

Glenn Zaleski TrioChris' Jazz CafePhiladelphia, PAMay 3, 2017 It might not seem all that difficult to get together with friends in your own neighborhood, but sometimes it's more tricky than you'd think. Glenn Zaleski has made his previous two records as a leader in the span of two years, both with the same trio-mates who are also based in New York City with him, and yet they almost never seem to make it onstage at ...

Live Review

Omar Sosa Residency at SFJAZZ

by Harry S. Pariser
May 8, 2017

Omar Sosa Residency SFJAZZ Spring Season San Francisco, CA April 21-23, 2017 “You don't really listen to an Omar Sosa concert so much as experience it. The Cuban-born pianist's overall demeanor exudes a sense of calm and deep reflection, while a spiritual connection to music and his ancestors comes through in his piano playing." --NPR Music At the commencement of each evening of his four-night residency at SFJAZZ, Omar Sosa, clad ...

Album Review

Hubert Dupont: Golan/Al Joulan Vol. 2

Read "Golan/Al Joulan Vol. 2" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
May 8, 2017

French bassist, composer and activist Hubert Dupont had been touring with a trio called Sabil, playing their initial concert at the Institute of the Arab World in 2013. It was there that he formulated the concept for his multi-cultural, genre-bending Golan/Al Joulan Vol. 1 (Ultrabolic, 2016). In biblical lore, Golan is described as “a city of refuge" while geopolitically, the area had been part of Syria, then captured, occupied and later annexed by Israel. Dupont allows the music to develop ...

Album Review

Dalava: The Book of Transfigurations

Read "The Book of Transfigurations" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
May 8, 2017

On the tender and haunting The Book of Transfigurations vocalist Julia Ulehla and her partner guitarist Aram Bajakian interpret thirteen Moravian folk songs with a personal and contemporary touch. Joining them in the ensemble Dálava are a quartet of Canadian improvisers who add an additional layer of spontaneous lyricism to this memorable music. Majority of these ballads come from transcriptions that Ulehla's Czech great grandfather made. Although the melodies, as well as the words, are original Ulehla and ...

Album Review

NYSQ: Sleight Of Hand

Read "Sleight Of Hand" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
May 8, 2017

Acronymically if not quite stylistically taking its cue from the Modern Jazz Quartet, the New York Standards Quartet delivers the goods in a respectful and often driving manner as evidenced by the opener, Mal Waldron's ballad “Soul Eyes" which is given an allegro makeover.Instantly recognisable as a Monk tune, “Ask Me Now" bears the characteristic TM trademark rhythmically choppy irregularity and irresistible charm. Following a loyal and Coltrane-esque reading of Duke Ellington's “In A Sentimental Mood," the only ...

Album Review

Organissimo: B3tles: A Soulful Tribute To The Fab Four

Read "B3tles: A Soulful Tribute To The Fab Four" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
May 8, 2017

When one thinks of jazz cities responsible for contributing some of the music's most important artists, Detroit is always a name that pops up at the top of the list. A short list of icons who hail from the city would have to include Ron Carter, the Jones Brothers, James Carter, Pepper Adams, Louis Hayes, and many more. Truth be told, Michigan in general is a fertile area for budding musicians of all persuasions and many fine college programs contribute ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp: Invisible Touch At Taktlos Zurich

Read "Invisible Touch At Taktlos Zurich" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 7, 2017

Pianist Matthew Shipp is prolific. Under his own name and in collaboration with with numerous other free-thinking jazzers--saxophonist Ivo Perlman in the forefront of these--CD releases seem to pour out of him. His best under his own name comes in the trio/duo/solo format. Piano Sutras (Thirsty Ear, 2013); The Conduct Of Jazz (Thirsty Ear, 2013); Piano Song (Thirsty Ear, 2017); and a duo set with drummer Bobby Kapp, Cactus, (Northern Spy Records, 2016) attest to his artistic focus and excellence. ...