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

Tom Kennedy: Points of View

Read "Points of View" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
March 26, 2017

Tom Kennedy is one of those behind-the-scenes players who's been all over the place in the jazz world. His bass is adaptable to just about any context, simple or tricky; he's been recruited for a solid low end by players from crooner Tania Maria to prog wizard Derek Sherinian. One of his steadiest ongoing stints has been a spot alongside Dave Weckl in several of his ensembles, mostly (though certainly not always) in the electrified fusion realm. With his fifth ...

Album Review

Eric Bibb: Migration Blues

Read "Migration Blues" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
March 26, 2017

Eric Bibb says in the sleeve note to Migration Blues, his most politicized album to date: “The way I see it, prejudice towards our brothers and sisters who are currently called 'refugees' is the problem. Fear and ignorance are the problems. Refugees are not 'problems'--they are courageous fellow human beings escaping dire circumstances." Not the way Donald Trump sees it. Bibb, probably America's most important folk blues artist, shouldn't have much to fear from ...

Album Review

Harris Eisenstadt: Recent Developments

Read "Recent Developments" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 26, 2017

Canadian native and Brooklyn resident Harris Eisenstadt has built a solid reputation as a composer, matching accolades for his eclectic expertise as a drummer. His passion as a student of the art has taken him to West Africa, where he has studied the music of the Wolof people and Cuba, where he has delved deeply into Afro-Cuban music. A leader/co-leader on more than two-dozen releases, beginning with Last Minute of Play in This Period (Questionable Records, 2001), Eisenstadt is also ...

Album Review

Masakowski Family: N.O. Escape

Read "N.O. Escape" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
March 26, 2017

The NOLA Masakowski's are a household name in the New Orleans area. Singer Sasha Masakowski has released several notable CDs including Sasha Masakowski & the Sidewalk Strutters Old Green River (Louisiana Music Factory, 2015); Hildegard (Self Produced, 2015); and Wishes (Hypersoul, 2011). Her father, the principle member here, multi-instrumentalist Steve Masakowski, is on faculty at the University of New Orleans, an educator under whom Katrina-refugee-now-Little-Rock-native Ted Ludwig studied. Bassist Martin Masakowski, Sasha's brother chips in with the one non-family member, ...

Live Review

Dwiki Dharmawan's Pasar Klewer Plays Indonesia

by John Ephland
March 25, 2017

Dwiki Dharmawan's Pasar Klewer Various Locations Bandung and Jakarta, Indonesia March 2-5, 2017 It was supposed to just be a soundcheck and rehearsal. But the energy and focus delivered as Indonesian pianist/composer Dwiki Dharmawan ran his Pasar Klewer band through the various numbers most of this group had recorded in London in 2015 (and had only performed once later in Bali) manifested in what was clearly a tight and orderly rollout. And not without ...

Album Review

Xavi Reija: Reflections

Read "Reflections" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
March 25, 2017

Spanish drummer Xavi Reija's previous trio was a fusion outfit with guitarist Dusan Jevtovic and bass guitarist Bernat Hernandez, as heard on Resolution (MoonJune Records, 2016) and Live at RZZ Barcelona (MoonJune Records, 2016). He turns to a traditional acoustic piano trio here, with pianist Nitai Hershkovits and bassist Pau Lligadas. There's a different kind of energy in this band, but there is energy aplenty. That energy is especially audible in a track like “Capella (we still dance)," ...

Live Review

Colin Hay at the Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture

by Mike Perciaccante
March 25, 2017

Colin Hay Concert Hall at the New York Society for Ethical Culture New York, NY March 18, 2017 Had Colin Hay not made his mark as a musician with Men At Work and as a solo performer, he'd surely have gained fame as a stand-up comedian. Hay has a wickedly funny sense of humor. This sense of the absurd was very much in evidence during his performance at the Concert Hall at the New ...

Album Review

Greg Poppleton: Back In Your Own Backyard

Read "Back In Your Own Backyard" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
March 25, 2017

There is something about early jazz before the Swing Era, especially that of the 1920s. Its infectious happiness, innocence and floating lightness, its close ties to Tin Pan Alley and the Great American Songbook and how much this music was an integral part of the times makes it irresistible to almost anyone even remotely interested in the history of jazz. However, jazz is forever restless, and, even back then, always in search of new means of expression. Those ...

Live Review

The 2017 Tibet House Benefit Concert

by Mike Perciaccante
March 25, 2017

The 2017 Tibet House Benefit Concert Carnegie Hall The 30th Anniversary of the Tibet House Benefit Concert New York, NY March 16, 2017 The Tibet House is dedicated to preserving Tibet's rich and unique culture here in the United States. This is especially important because up to 95% of Tibet's material culture on its home soil has been lost or destroyed. The Tibet House U.S. was founded in 1987, by the Dalai ...

Album Review

Dan Hicks And The Hot Licks: Greatest Licks - I Feel Like Singin'

Read "Greatest Licks - I Feel Like Singin'" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
March 25, 2017

You never knew quite where you were with Dan Hicks And The Hot Licks--that was the great thing about them. Sometimes Hicks would come on stage looking like Cab Calloway in a red jacket, rainbow tie and black hat. Next night he'd be in his psychedelic cowboy outfit. And he nearly always wore a sardonic look that said, “Don't take this serious, folks." He kick-started the Haight-Ashbury scene in San Francisco in the 1960s, writing and singing ...