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

Vinnie Sperrazza: Juxtaposition

Read "Juxtaposition" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
March 9, 2017

The most intriguing thing about Juxtaposition, Vinnie Sperrazza's recently released recording, is its loose grip on the jazz tradition. The disc's twelve tracks don't come with a set of standard, recognizable references. Not unlike many of today's leading young artists, Sperrazza has absorbed the lessons of the music's past, and is currently interested in doing things on his own terms instead of dwelling in the accomplishments of his elders. The other essential aspect of the record is it's overall disposition--the ...

Album Review

BvR Flamenco Big Band: Luz de Luna

Read "Luz de Luna" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 9, 2017

Luz de Luna is the second album by the BvR Flamenco Big Band, which is based in the Netherlands, and not, as might be assumed, in Spain. The band's Spanish roots are strong, however, as leader Bernard van Rossum (hence the name BvR) was born and raised in that country and has lived in the Netherlands for less than a decade (after studying at the University of North Texas in Denton). He was also raised on flamenco, whose colorful rhythms ...

Album Review

Michel Sajrawy: Floating City

Read "Floating City" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
March 9, 2017

In his ongoing quest to create a singular jazz alignment bridging traditional and contemporary music of his homeland, Israeli guitarist Michel Sajrawy explores the multicultural background of the city of Nazareth, in Floating City. Though Jerusalem gets all the headlines and global attention, Nazareth stands apart as a city epitomizing co-existence in a region ravaged by religious strife, and turmoil. With his previous releases exposing a western slant on Arabic maqam music, this record has Sajrawy burrowing into ...

Album Review

Gianni Iorio/Pasquale Stafano: Nocturno

Read "Nocturno" reviewed by Tyran Grillo

by Tyran Grillo
March 9, 2017

Nocturno pairs Italian bandoneon virtuoso Gianni Iorio with pianist Pasquale Stafano in a program consisting largely of Argentine tango that is sure to delight fans of the genre. Despite the title, sunshine abounds, although to be sure, there's enough late-night passion in the three Astor Piazzolla selections to satisfy those hungering for it. Of these, the opening “Verano Porteño" best displays the duo's phenomenal arranging skills. What begins as a dissonant conversation smooths out into a tightly knit fabric of ...

Interview

Johnaye Kendrick: In The Deepest Way Possible

by Paul Rauch
March 8, 2017

Since arriving in Seattle, Johnaye Kendrick has enriched the Seattle jazz community with her performances, recordings, and as Associate Professor of Jazz Voice at the prestigious Cornish College of the Arts, as a mentor to her many students. Her vocal style is centered in the jazz and blues tradition, but embellished by her own interpretation based on her diverse and unique musical and life experiences. After receiving a Bachelor of Music from Western Michigan University, Ms. Kendrick attended ...

Album Review

Bill O'Connell: Monk's Cha Cha

Read "Monk's Cha Cha" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 8, 2017

Pianist Bill O'Connell has long been valued for his blazing Latin chops, enlivening bands lead by flutist Dave Valentin and legendary conguero Mongo Santamaria as a sideman and delivering his own burning leader dates on a variety of respected imprints in recent times--Zoho, Challenge, and Savant, to name just three. He's been a steady though occasionally under-documented force in the music for decades, putting his dependable pianistic stamp on many absorbing projects, but he's never delved deeply into the art ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with Brian Kastan

by AAJ Staff
March 8, 2017

About Brian Kastan Brian Kastan plays electric/acoustic guitar, electric bass, and composes soundtracks for T.V. and Film. He played guitar on Rhys Chatham's A Crimson Grail (Nonsuch Records, 2010) which was recorded live at Lincoln Center. is an award winning nature photographer with gallery shows in NYC, Europe and Asia. He holds a Bachelor's degree in both Jazz Performance and Psychology from Suny New Paltz, a Masters Degree in Music from Brooklyn College, Brian is a Certified Clinical Hypnotist, ...

Album Review

The UNL Jazz Orchestra: The Good Life

Read "The Good Life" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 8, 2017

The UNL in question is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln whose Jazz Orchestra has taken so many emphatic steps forward under director Paul Haar that it deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with such elite programs as North Texas, Miami, Northern Iowa and a host of others. On its fourth CD, The Good Life, recorded in March 2016, the orchestra glides easily through a program of standards and originals that would test the resources of almost any ensemble, university ...

Album Review

Matt Otto with Ensemble Iberica: Iberica

Read "Iberica" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 8, 2017

Saxophonist Matt Otto presents the ambitious Iberica, a trip into the sounds of music from the Iberian Peninsula--Spain and Portugal. Ensemble Iberica joins him, a guitar trio that adds--in addition to their guitars--the cavaquinto, the oud, and the Cuban tres, crafting a delicate yet expansive soundscape in this tranquil, flowing, chamber jazz outing. This is Otto's first Origin Records outing since 2005's Red, a superb quartet recording, featuring the tenor saxophonist with a guitar/bass/drums rhythm section. Iberica has ...

Album Review

Geir Sundstol: Langen ro

Read "Langen ro" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 8, 2017

Indeed, there are serene, drifting and stunning passages on this album by longtime Norwegian session musician Geir Sundstol, who after twenty-something years in the business releases only his second solo album, following up Furulund (Hubro, 2015). The accompanying marketing material cites Sundstol as a guitarist and instrument collector, although the CD jacket only lists the musicians, sans the instruments they play, other than what is disclosed on the press kit and noted at the bottom of this review. No doubt, ...