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

Miguel Angel Tolosa: Ephimeral

Read "Ephimeral" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 28, 2017

Spanish sound designer Miguel Angel Tolosa is a Renaissance man, performing on all instruments and / or devices while demonstrating his audio engineering prowess on his inaugural solo album for the Norwegian experimental record label, SOFA Music. Moreover, he's been an integral part of this label's output while also recording for other US and European entities and having his compositions interpreted by flutist Allesandra Rombala and Trio Arbus among others. Per Tolosa, the premise for this outing is ...

Album Review

Avishai Cohen - Trumpet: Cross My Palm With Silver

Read "Cross My Palm With Silver" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
April 28, 2017

If trumpeter Avishai Cohen's ECM debut, Into The Silence was a work of deeply personal content, Cross My Palm With Silver plays out with the same emotional impact, but on a global stage. Cohen composed the five pieces on this album in his native Israel, while contemplating the impact of political division on the human psyche. His hope is that the music contributes to a healing process. Returning from Into The Silence quintet is drummer Nasheet Waits, a ...

Album Review

Jaimie Branch: Fly Or Die

Read "Fly Or Die" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
April 28, 2017

Improvisational trumpeter and electronics artist Jaimie Branch, a Chicago native, began playing trumpet at the age of nine. Doing double-duty, she has also worked around her home town as a sound engineer for Tim Daisy and Ken Vandermark. A relative newcomer, Branch moved to New York to complete a Master's degree in in Jazz Performance and settled down in the music mecca of Brooklyn. Fly or Die is her solo debut and it is a unique and unconventional introduction.

Book Review

The Cultural Politics of Jazz Collectives: This Is Our Music

by Ian Patterson
April 27, 2017

The Cultural Politics of Jazz Collectives: This Is Our Music Edited by Nicholas Gebhardt and Tony Whyton 250 Pages ISBN: 978-1-138-780602-0 Routledge 2016 The recording of jazz history has overwhelmingly focused on individuals. Yet while biographies that lionize great jazz men--women are sorely underrepresented--abound, the socio-political environment in which all musicians make and play jazz--the networks and collaborations that help nourish the music--is often ignored, or considered only in passing. In The ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with Sherry-Lynn Lee and George Paolini of 23rd Hour

by AAJ Staff
April 27, 2017

About 23rd Hour For singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Sherry-Lynn Lee and George Paolini, a chance meeting at an open mic transformed unlikely bedfellows into sympathetic artistic souls. Together now, the duo, who perform under the moniker 23rd Hour, announces its debut album--Perfect Strangers--a body of original compositions and jazz standards that melds eclectic and urbane musicality with pop accessibility and poetic sentiments. Sherry and George's artistry encompasses jazz, classical, rock, folk, and pop. They hit ...

Album Review

Champian Fulton: Speechless

Read "Speechless" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 27, 2017

Speechless is a date that may be best classified as a centrist statement, but it's far from the norm for Champian Fulton. While many have come to know and admire Fulton for her arresting vocals and piano work, both usually given in service to Great American Songbook classics, she's not conforming to those expectations here. For her eighth album in total, and her debut on the Posi-Tone imprint, Fulton is staying completely mum for the first time, putting her piano ...

Album Review

Torben Waldorff: Holiday On Fire

Read "Holiday On Fire" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 27, 2017

Two impressions stick in the mind after a couple of spins of guitarist Torben Waldorff's Holiday On Fire: one--he rips like a rock star; and two--the band he has put together has a sharply distinctive, modern, maybe even futuristic sound. The rock star aspect: not a surprise, for a musician whose introduction to the art began with American blues and rock and roll. As for the assemblage of the band: he's put together great groups on his four previous CDs ...

Album Review

Woodlander: Calvins Toboggan

Read "Calvins Toboggan" reviewed by Matthew Aquiline

by Matthew Aquiline
April 27, 2017

Woodlander is an intriguing jazz combo out of Europe dedicated to breathing life into the original compositions of its founder, Swiss pianist Luzius Schuler. A trio marked by its sparseness, Woodlander is rounded off with trumpeter Mats Spillmann and drummer Jonas Ruther, both of whom recently collaborated with Schuler on Lucerne Jazz Orchestra's Oaktree (QFTF) (Schuler and Ruther performed; Spillmann contributed a composition). Given the existing connections between these musicians, the persisting synergy that drives Calvins Toboggan should come as ...

Album Review

Dominic Miller: Silent Light

Read "Silent Light" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
April 27, 2017

Classical guitarist Dominic Miller makes his ECM debut with a largely solo program. It's a gentle, lyrical affair, reflecting his experience living in Argentina, the United States, England, and France, as well as decades of international touring as a working musician. The Brazilian influence is especially strong in pieces like opener “What You Didn't Say" and “Baden" (dedicated to Brazilian guitarist/composer Baden Powell). Percussionist Miles Bould plays with a light touch, reminiscent of Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos' playing with guitarist ...

Live Review

Mark Hagan's Jazz Salon At The Old 76 House

by David A. Orthmann
April 27, 2017

Mark Hagan The Old 76 House Jazz Salon Tappan, NY April 19, 2017 There's nothing quite like the experience of being captivated by a live performance in a matter of seconds after the band hits. Without having to stop to think about it, you realize that the intellect and pleasure centers are being stimulated in equal measure. Somehow, everything is exactly the way it should be, and regardless of what the musicians play ...