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.

Live Review

Houston Person at Kiawah Island, South Carolina

by Rob Rosenblum
January 10, 2017

Houston Person Quartet Turtle Point Club House Kiawah Island Concert Series Kiawah Island January 8, 2017 No rough edges, no experimentation, music just as smooth as chocolate pudding. A perfectly molded musical travelogue down memory lane. Not a formula for a grand performance, but somehow tenor saxophonist Houston Person makes it work, time after time. Person is a throwback to the simpler and easier times of the 1940's. The songs familiar, the ...

Bailey's Bundles

Dorian Devins Hits a Double in the Bleak Midwinter

by C. Michael Bailey
January 10, 2017

New York centered jazz singer and lyricist Dorian Devins first rocked my sensitive Southern Consciousness in 2013 with the release of The Procrastinator (Rain1 Jazz). Devins marked a return to that jazz step-child, vocalese: the application of lyrics to well-known wordless jazz compositions. The recording was a cornerstone of that year. Devins played a very large part on The Lou Rainone Quintet +1's Skydance singing two of her compositions (Rain1jazz, 2015). Here on the fulcrum between then and now, Devins ...

Album Review

Chip Wickham: La Sombra

Read "La Sombra" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 10, 2017

Twenty-five years into his career as a professional musician, saxophonist and flautist Chip Wickham has released his solo debut. La Sombra, recorded in Madrid with three excellent musicians from that city's jazz scene, is gorgeous. Wickham hails from Manchester, in north-west England. The area is home to some distinctive musicians, most notably trumpeter Matthew Halsall and saxophonist Nat Birchall. Much of La Sombra shares the spiritual vibe that characterizes the music of both these men and takes inspiration, ...

Album Review

Phil Parisot: Lingo

by Paul Rauch
January 10, 2017

Seattle based drummer/ composer Phil Parisot has straddled several 20th century musical traditions in his career as a sideman, and member of the eclectic big band, Big Neighborhood. His understanding of funk, Afro-Cuban, rock and symphonic music has influenced his approach as a composer, and more so as a drummer on numerous projects in recent memory. His most recent work on the OA2 label, Lingo reflects that all embracing understanding, as a well conceived, expertly performed album that swings unabashedly, ...

Album Review

Luca Aletta: Il Dodicesimo Nano

Read "Il Dodicesimo Nano" reviewed by Jim Olin

by Jim Olin
January 10, 2017

Sicilian pianist, composer, and teacher Luca Aletta graduated with honors in jazz music from the Conservatory of Trapani and studied with Salvatore Bonafede, Lauro Rossi, and Gian Carlo Mazzu. In other words, Aletta has jazz flowing through his veins. Equipped with such knowledge and vast experience, Aletta has created an album that personally reflects his emotions and passion for his craft. “Il Ciclista" opens Il Dodicesimo Nano with a stellar example of a musical creation that is modern, ...

Album Review

Adam Berenson / Scott Barnum: Penumbra

Read "Penumbra" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 10, 2017

Not one to be tethered to genres or styles, pianist and composer Adam Berenson has been long at home as a jazz pianist, a classical composer, an electronics player or any permutation of those roles. His previous double-CD Lumen (Dream Play, 2014)--complete with two string quartets--was indeed a far-ranging collection of styles and genres that the composer positioned in the broad category of chamber music. With the duo release Penumbra, Berenson and bassist Scott Barnum take to yet another experimental ...

Interview

Erik Friedlander: A Little Cello?

by Ian Patterson
January 9, 2017

Normally lumped into the 'miscellaneous instruments' category of jazz awards, the cello has been something of a bit player in the colorful history of jazz. That said, today there are arguably more cellists in jazz and contemporary improvised music--and some extraordinary ones at that--than ever before. One of the best known cellists is undoubtedly Erik Friedlander, whose discography as a leader straddles acoustic jazz, film soundtracks, Americana roots, literature-inspired improvisations, extended suites, avant-garde/contemporary classical music, and compositions inspired by ancient ...

Live Review

Buenos Aires Jazz Festival 2016

by Mark Holston
January 9, 2017

Buenos Aires International Jazz FestivalBuenos Aires, Argentina November 23-28, 2016 The Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival is slowly but steadily becoming one of the elite events of its kind. The recently-concluded 16th edition of the annual series of concerts, clinics and films was more stylistically-expansive than in past years. The six day run of daily presentations in venues ranging from concert halls to neighborhood cultural centers and jazz clubs provided opportunities--many without charge--to experience everything from ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp Trio: Piano Song

Read "Piano Song" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 9, 2017

Recent months in 2016 have seen the release of at least a half-dozen albums featuring Matthew Shipp including The Uppercut (ESP-Disk) with Polish reed player Mat Walerian, Live in Sant'Anna Arresi, 2004 (AUM Fidelity), a duo release with the late David S. Ware, the Bobby Kapp duo recording Cactus (Northern-Spy Records) and The Core Trio Live Featuring Matthew Shipp (Evil Rabbit Records). The four represent a broadly diverse array of music and now Piano Song further expands the artist's portfolio. ...

Album Review

Dave Soldier: The Eighth Hour Of Amduat

Read "The Eighth Hour Of Amduat" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
January 9, 2017

Let's be honest, this extraordinary recording isn't going to float everyone's boat. However, there are a lot of highly praiseworthy elements to be assimilated in this hour long CD. Dave Soldier (real name Dr. Dave Sulzer, a neuroscientist at Columbia University) has assembled an avant-garde jazz opera based on the oldest known musical score (the 8th hour of the book of the Amduat) the hieroglyphics of which have been translated into Italian by Egyptologist Professor Ritat Lucarrelli. Each of the ...