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

Blues Women – LazyEye, Teresa James, Kate Riggins, Lauren Mitchell, Eliza Neals

by C. Michael Bailey
April 3, 2017

Men have no monopoly on having or playing the blues. Here are five women serious about their music. Lazy Eye Live at Chapel Lane Self Produced 2016 Live at Chapel Lane is a nice left turn on the greasy archetype of the guitar-organ jazz trio. That these funky greens are being produced by the Australian band Lazyeye somewhere in the southern Australian climes is just the international gravy made by the music. The ...

Album Review

Benny Green: Happiness!

Read "Happiness!" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 3, 2017

Happiness is listening to Benny Green. He brings joie de vivre to the piano keys with his Herculean chops, in-the-pocket soulfulness, and tight arrangements, all of which can be heard in spades on this live date. The scene for this spirited recording was the Kuumbwa Jazz Center--a gem of a venue in California that's been a near-annual stop for Green for more than three decades. This particular event, taking place in June of 2016, found him in ...

Album Review

Freddie Gavita: Transient

Read "Transient" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
April 3, 2017

Freddie Gavita graduated from London's Royal Academy of Music in 2008 after having taken a degree there in jazz trumpet under the watchful eye of Nick Smart, the Academy's Head of Jazz and a virtuoso trumpet player himself. Gavita is increasingly in demand both in big bands (including Ronnie Scott's Jazz Orchestra) and small groups alike (including The Ronnie Scott's Club Quintet). He's also played with Peter Erskine, Curtis Stigers and Gregory Porter to name just a few. Born in ...

Album Review

Dominic Miller: Silent Light

Read "Silent Light" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
April 3, 2017

Dominic Miller is a guitarist you've undoubtedly heard somewhere or other, whether you've knowingly heard of him or not. A life circling the globe (from Argentina to England and currently France) has let him absorb folk, Baroque and Latin American sensibilities, among other things, which leads to collaborations with similarly eclectic names. His widest exposure has been with numerous tours alongside Sting, who's happy to offer some poetic words of praise in the liners here alongside Paul Simon. Miller's ECM ...

Album Review

Lajos Dudas: Some Great Songs Vol. 2

Read "Some Great Songs Vol. 2" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
April 3, 2017

The predecessor to clarinetist Lajos Dudas' Some Great Songs Vol. 2 appeared some twenty years ago, with his previous release being Radio Days from 2015. Dudas gives no hint of letting up; his playing and arrangements are full of life and also depth. Dudas is one of those players who fills every note with meaning allowing his joy of playing to infuse the listener. The supporting players from the first disc return: guitarist Philipp van Endert and percussionists ...

Album Review

Tom Graf: Wish You Were Here

Read "Wish You Were Here" reviewed by Jim Olin

by Jim Olin
April 3, 2017

Wish You Were Here is the latest full-length from songwriter/composer Tom Graf. Graf is an industry vet -he co-wrote Merry Clayton's “Yes" from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack in 1987 -and he has been known to create head--turning music. He is an accomplished talent who considers jazz as one of his first loves. On Wish You Were Here, Graf weaves together his lyrical skills with various stellar vocalists.“No One Loves You More," featuring Marc Russo and Kimiko Joy, boasts ...

Extended Analysis

Charlie Watts Meets the Danish Radio Big Band

by Nenad Georgievski
April 3, 2017

A film director once said that you can't make a great film with a weak script. The same goes for bands of any kind be it jazz or rock or any kind. You can't have a great band without a great drummer. A band can get by with an average bassist or guitarist, but not with an average drummer. It's the heartbeat of any band. One of the things that has made the band Rolling Stones what they are is ...

In The Biz

Matthew Shell: Making Art with Substance

by Kathy Sanborn
April 2, 2017

Matthew Shell is a Washington, D.C.-based music producer and engineer. Founder and CEO of publishing house and record label MTS Music, Shell writes and produces music for his own solo releases as well as for bands and other solo artists. Currently working on an hour-long jazz opus, “First Light," Shell shares his upbeat philosophy of life and music success tips with our readers. All About Jazz: In this changing world of the music business, how ...

Live Review

Soule Indomitable at Nectar's

by Doug Collette
April 2, 2017

Soule Indomitable Nectar's Burlington, VT March 29, 2017 Continuing to nurture their intermittent but nevertheless ongoing collaboration, members of two of the most distinctive ensembles of Burlington Vermont's current music scene played together each Wednesday evening during March at Nectar's and this final night, the culmination of the run, radiated more than a little of cumulative momentum generated throughout the month Soule Monde consists solely of two musicians, drummer Russ Lawton and keyboardist ...

Album Review

Kenny Warren Quartet: Thank You For Coming To Life

Read "Thank You For Coming To Life" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
April 2, 2017

Born in Denver, Colorado Kenny Warren is now an established member of the New York improvised music scene having moved to NYC in 2002. He's been kept busy with various projects including his folk-jazz outfit Laila and Smitty, and playing with pianist Bobby Avey and tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby amongst many others. Listening to this set entirely composed by Warren, the perceived mood is one of angularity. The opener “Stones Change" is indicative of the territory in which ...