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.

Under the Radar

The Politics of Dancing: Jazz and Protest, Part 1

by Karl Ackermann
March 20, 2017

In 1964, Civil Rights workers, known as Freedom Riders, were increasingly becoming the victims of violent attacks from the Ku Klux Klan as they initiated a program to register black voters in the Deep South. As members of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the advocates were franticly racing against time in an effort to send representatives to the 1964 Democratic National Convention to push the party agenda toward a Voter's Rights Act. ...

Multiple Reviews

Duke Ellington on Storyville Records

by Chris Mosey
March 20, 2017

The legend of Duke Ellington--one of very few jazzmen worthy of the overworked accolade “genius"--continues to unfold four decades after his death. In large part this is thanks to the efforts of Ellington himself. From 1950 to 1974, he kept a private “stockpile" of recordings made for his own pleasure... and with an eye on posterity. Following his death on May 24th 1974, Duke's son Mercer donated this “stockpile" to Danish Radio. Since then ...

Album Review

Kadi Vija & Lucas Dann: Ugly Beauty

Read "Ugly Beauty" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
March 20, 2017

Countless musicians have tackled the songs of Thelonious Monk, but it's arguably a rare performer who comes out just as angular and quirky as the man himself. When two such voices join together, both sharing an excellent feel for his tricky offbeat sensibility, it's a distinctly unusual pleasure. Through the brief half-hour of Ugly Beauty, Kadi Vija and Lucas Dann manage to pay loving respect exploring the skewed nooks of Monk's pieces while improvising their way through to ...

Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Jazz Marathon 2

Read "Jazz Marathon 2" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 20, 2017

For those who thought that guitarist Doug MacDonald's happy-go-lucky jazz marathon had crossed the finish line with the release more than a year ago of Just for Fun, the good news is that MacDonald and his talented teammates have found their second wind and the marathon continues through a second effervescent two-CD session taped at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Redondo Beach, CA. The group remains largely intact, with trumpeter Carl Saunders and saxophonist Pete Christlieb added and trombonist Linda ...

Album Review

Joyce Moreno: Cool

Read "Cool" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
March 20, 2017

Cool is the album that Brazilian singer-songwriter Joyce Moreno simply refused to make for decades. “For over 20 years I've been requested to make an album with North American jazz standards. Nothing against it, but I always said no," she explains. “I had the strange feeling that such an album would look weird in my discography, too commercial--like I didn't have any new tricks up my sleeve, and yes, I always have plenty. Music has never ceased to bless me ...

Album Review

Partikel: Counteraction

Read "Counteraction" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
March 20, 2017

Counteraction is Partikel's fourth album to date and their follow-up to 2015's String Theory. Without wishing to wrap this review up in a couple of sentences, it's probably their best to date and adopts their customary deployment of heterogeneous instrumentation--strings and reeds notably--and characteristically unorthodox structures. “Land And Sea" begins tentatively but soon leads into a short saxophone melody and onto a strident ensemble vamp redolent of King Crimson. “Scenes And Sounds" opens with a brief melee of ...

Live Review

Rodrigo Amado, Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler, Chris Corsano, live at Bimhuis Amsterdam

by Henning Bolte
March 19, 2017

Rodrigo Amado, Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler, Chris Corsano Bimhuis Amsterdam March 8, 2017 As part of a European tour through nine countries, the Portuguese-North American configuration of Lisbon tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado, multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee (saxophones, trumpet, didgeridoo), bassist Kent Kessler from Chicago, and young drummer Chris Corsano also from New York, finally made its first appearance at Amsterdam Bimhuis. Many will associate these musicians with something like 'raucous free jazz.' The ...

Album Review

Ben Markley Big Band, featuring Terell Stafford: Clockwise: The Music Of Cedar Walton

Read "Clockwise: The Music Of Cedar Walton" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 19, 2017

Pianist Cedar Walton (1934-2013) is one of the giants, as well known for his compositions and arranging as he is for his piano chair stints in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, his steering vocalist Etta James to an Emmy Award for Mystery Lady: The Songs Of Billie Holiday, (RCA, 1994), and his prolific recording career, beginning with Cedar! (Prestige Records, 1967) through The Bouncer (Highnote Records, 2011). Like many of us, pianist Ben Markley got hooked on the music ...

Album Review

Peter Erskine New Trio: In Praise of Shadows

Read "In Praise of Shadows" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
March 19, 2017

Expecting the delicately brooding pastel hues of his piano trio recordings for ECM Records, my socks were pleasantly knocked off from the git-go by Peter Erskine's New Trio. In Praise of Shadows opens with a slyly sweet, reggae-infused rendition of “Sukiyaki," a Japanese folk tune that became a surprise novelty hit for Kyu Sakamoto back in 1963. Erskine's version, featuring guest Judd Miller on electronic whistling, hints at the deeper meaning of the song, whose title--literally translated--means “I Look Up ...

Live Review

Keith Oxman Quartet at Nocturne

by Douglas Groothuis
March 19, 2017

Keith Oxman Quartet Nocturne Denver, CO March 10, 2017 Jazz is enjoyment. Lent is denial. Or so it seems. Can the twain meet? Yes, for me. I am observing Lent for the first time in my sixty years. The significance of Lent is clear and compelling. My church has taught and celebrated this eloquently. We set aside what does not give us life and embrace the Cross of Christ and his life. Few are ...