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

Polly Gibbons: Is It Me...?

Read "Is It Me...?" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
May 7, 2017

With half a dozen albums to her name, British vocalist Polly Gibbons has no need to prove her worth but that hasn't inhibited her from pulling out all the stops on her second album for Resonance following on from 2014's My Own Company. Thomas Dolby's “Ability To Swing" proves just that, courtesy of a first class powerhouse of an American horn section (the album was recorded in the States where Gibbons plays gigs with increasing frequency, such is ...

Album Review

Art Pepper: The Art Pepper Quartet

Read "The Art Pepper Quartet" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
May 7, 2017

Omnivore Records has struck up a dandy relationship with Laurie Pepper and the Art Pepper Estate, resulting in an impressive discography, that when coupled with Laurie Pepper's own Widow's Taste Records, has provided fans many hours of previously unreleased music. First released by the label was the 2015 Neon Art Series: Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3. These recordings were first released as neon-colored vinyl long players in 2012, taking advantage of the renewed interest in analogue vinyl and ...

Bailey's Bundles

Choral Music – Profeti della Quinta, Glorea Die Cantores, The Sixteen, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Tigran Mansurian

by C. Michael Bailey
May 7, 2017

Profeti della Quinta, Elam Rotem The Carlo G Manuscript: Virtuoso liturgical music from the early 17th century Glossa Records 2016 One gets to the point where only the most obscure music is satisfying. Enter The Carlo G Manuscript. The only thing this story lacks is murder and a donkey. About 15 years ago, a portfolio now known as the “Carlo G Manuscript" was purchased at a Vienna yard sale for the equivalent of $65. This ...

Album Review

Bruno Råberg: Triloka: Music for Strings and Soloists

Read "Triloka: Music for Strings and Soloists" reviewed by Marithe Van der Aa

by Marithe Van der Aa
May 7, 2017

The number three has always had a symbolic and spiritual significance in many different religions and cultures--and, in his latest album Triloka (literally translated as 'Three Realms'), Swedish bassist Bruno Råberg pays his own personal homage to the trinity of...well, everything. Inspired by South Indian carnatic music, the album immediately cuts to the chase with its enchanting title track, “Triloka," which--not too surprisingly--has a threefold structure. The entire album is written for strings only, and despite not having ...

Extended Analysis

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood: Betty's Blends Volume Three - Self-Rising Southern Blends (Limited Edition at The Warfield)

by Doug Collette
May 7, 2017

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood deserves special kudos for the creative approach they've taken to the latest release in their series of live concert recordings. The limited edition three-LP version of Betty's Blends Vol. 3 Self Rising Southern Blends includes a pair of CD's containing a West Coast concert recorded on a 2015 tour earlier than the main content. Unlike those recordings, selected from shows on a swing through Southern states late that year, these two discs manifest an ...

Getting Into Jazz

Together (Maxine Sullivan Sings The Music Of Jule Styne)

by Mark Barnett
May 7, 2017

Getting Started If you're new to jazz, go to our Getting Into Jazz primer for some hints on how to listen. CD capsule What do you get if you take a 76 year old jazz singer who's seen a lot of life, surround her with a small group of premier jazz musicians and give her a bunch of vintage Jule Styne songs to sing? You get something you really ought to hear, a disc ...

Album Review

John McLean / Clark Sommers Band: Parts Unknown

Read "Parts Unknown" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 6, 2017

It's amazing what can happen when you take a tight-knit, deep-dish duo reflective of Chicago's jazz riches, add one of the world's most dexterous and expressive vibraphonists, and sweeten the deal with a grooving up-and-comer. Charts are mapped over uncharted territories, musical assuredness carries the day in uncertain realms, and surprises await around every well-constructed corner. This is not-so-simply a beautiful case of known parts moving toward parts unknown. Guitarist John McLean and bassist Clark Sommers have ...

Album Review

Daniel Herskedal: The Roc

Read "The Roc" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
May 6, 2017

Here we have a title that's both fitting and misleading. In Arabian mythology, a roc is a large and dangerous bird of prey capable of sinking ships and feeding on elephants. Daniel Herskedal offers a pan-Asian chamber-jazz travelogue through some exotic landscapes with his second solo release on Edition Records, but there's nothing intimidating about it. Instead The Roc is a vivid experience both adventurous and inviting.The folk roots of Herskedal's native Norway are certainly evident and there's ...

Album Review

Duende Libre: Duende Libre

Read "Duende Libre" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
May 6, 2017

As world music proliferates into the mainstream, there are countless musicians attempting to capture its exotic rhythms and enticing melodies, some succeed, others falter. Taking their name from a Federico Garcia Lorca lecture on artistic inspiration and creation, Duende Libre's self-titled release manages to incorporate some of the essence of world music in what they term as global jazz fusion. The group's leader, composer and pianist is Alex Chadsey, accompanied by bassist Farko Dosumov, and drummer Jeff Busch. Moving to ...

Album Review

Ella Gahnt: Third Stage of Elegance

Read "Third Stage of Elegance" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
May 6, 2017

Modern composers of jazz vocal pieces have much to contend with: first, the Great American Song Book. Jazz was largely developed from learned reinterpretation of Tin Pan Alley standards composed as showtunes in the 1930s through '50s. That is a dearth of music already existing that anything newly composed is compared against. So, hats off to all who try their hand at newly composed jazz vocal music. That said, Philadelphia vocalist Ella Gahnt has been doing exactly that over the ...