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

Jari Haapalainen Trio: Fusion Machine

Read "Fusion Machine" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 3, 2017

Short sharp shocks, describes the music of Fusion Machine. The twenty-eight minutes of sound is Jari Haapalainen's knuckle sandwich of a recording. Actually it's thirteen jabs, hooks, and uppercuts; let's call them the track list. The disc contains no composition longer than two minutes-fifty, the shortest, “Flykten Från Djursholm" (Escape From Djursholm), is just 1:34. The Jari Haapalainen Trio performs a familiar type of compressed mayhem, a sort of punk haiku music that draws as much from the ...

Album Review

Joe Henderson: Mirror, Mirror

Read "Mirror, Mirror" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 3, 2017

As anticipated, Germany-based MPS' famed audio engineering expertise--besides its tenure as a prominent jazz record label-- lives up to expectations with a superb remastering effort of the 1980 LP led by tenor sax great John Henderson and a band featuring jazz giants, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Ron Carter and drummer, Billy Higgins. The packaging includes the original liners and a photo of the original master tape box. The 180-gram vinyl offering boasts a detailed soundstage, but more importantly ...

Year in Review

2016: The Year in Jazz

by Ken Franckling
January 2, 2017

The year 2016 bubbled with events and initiatives to strengthen jazz's place in American and world culture, as well as a variety of venue openings, closings and cancellations. Jazz hit the silver screen in many ways throughout the year, and International Jazz Day continued to thrive--complete with a major all-star concert at the White House. Pop star David Bowie put his farewell musical ride in a jazz context. There were a few more twists and turns to the New Orleans ...

Album Review

Bill Anschell: Rumbler

by Paul Rauch
January 2, 2017

Seattle's eclectic jazz scene has produced a long line of significant voices that have impacted the music on a national and international level. Bill Anschell, as a pianist and composer certainly falls into that category that has produced the likes of Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Ernestine Anderson, and presently, trumpeter Thomas Marriott. His new Origin Records CD Rumbler, represents his ninth album as a leader, and his first featuring original compositions and arrangements since More to the Ear Than Meets ...

Album Review

Club d'Elf: Live at Club Helsinki

Read "Live at Club Helsinki" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 2, 2017

Who (and what) defines the Boston-based, dub-jazz Club d'Elf is an enigma. At the core, the “group" is bassist and composer Mike Rivard and drummer Dean Johnston. Rivard has far-flung history ranging from Either-Orchestra to the Boston Pops Orchestra and the cult rock group Morphine. Johnston had perused a career in the Athens, Georgia music scene before returning to the Northeast. Club d'Elf is as much a performance entity as a musical group and with each performance, the surrounding sphere ...

Album Review

Dragonfly Breath III: Live at the Stone: Megaloprepus Caerulatus

Read "Live at the Stone: Megaloprepus Caerulatus" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 2, 2017

Today's zen koan: why does a watched pot never boil? The answer to that question is found in the music of Dragonfly Breath III: because it is always boiling. The roil we speak of comes from the quartet of saxophonist Paul Flaherty, trombonist Steve Swell, violinist C. Spencer Yeh, and drummer Weasel Walter. The III of Dragonfly Breath III denotes the quartet's third release, their self-titled first disc was a live date released in 2013, and Swell's Kanreki: ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp Trio: Piano Song

Read "Piano Song" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
January 2, 2017

Depending on your perspective, tradition can both be a blessing and a burden. Especially in jazz, it is hard to say something new and this is true as well when it comes to the noble art of the piano trio. Thelonious Monk has been there, Bill Evans has been there and Cecil Taylor has been there--just to name a few innovators. It has become harder to identify gigantic stylistic leaps, but subtle innovations happen all the time. Recently, ...

Year in Review

Top 30 MP3 Downloads: 2016

by Michael Ricci
January 1, 2017

All About Jazz tracks how often a featured MP3 is downloaded, and the following represent our top 30 in 2016. If you missed them the first time around, give them a listen now, and enjoy! Nuevo Día By: Javier Alcántara From: Resilience (Youkali Music S.l.) Featured: 2016-12-31 Stella By Starlight By: Mort Weiss From: Mort Weiss Is a Jazz Reality Show (SMS Jazz)

Year in Review

Top 25 "Read" Album Reviews: 2016

by Michael Ricci
January 1, 2017

All About Jazz tracks how often an album review is read, and the reviews listed below represent our top twelve published in 2016. Evolution Dr. Lonnie Smith by Dan Bilawsky Published: January 4, 2016 Spark Hiromi by Jeff Winbush Published: April 1, 2016 A Multitude of Angels Keith Jarrett by Karl Ackermann Published: ...

Year in Review

Top 25 "Recommended" Album Reviews: 2016

by Michael Ricci
January 1, 2017

All About Jazz tracks how often an album review is recommended, and the reviews listed below represent our top 25 published in 2016. Local Color University of Northern Iowa Jazz Band One 2014-15 by Jack Bowers Published: February 9, 2016 Blues, Ballads, and Beyond: Influences Outside the Concert Hall Mark Hetzler by C. Michael Bailey Published: March 5, 2016 ...