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.

Interview

Don Falcone: Daevid Allen’s Weird Quartet and Weird Biscuit Teatime

by Jack Gold-Molina
December 22, 2016

Don Falcone is a multi-instrumentalist and music producer who has been working with known psychedelic and space rock musicians since the 1990s with his band Spirits Burning as well as other projects. The late Daevid Allen, founder of Soft Machine and Gong, appeared on Spirits Burning's first album, 1999's New Worlds By Design, performing on much of the recording playing lead, rhythm and glissando guitars and singing. Falcone and Allen, with Michael Clare, later formed Weird Biscuit Teatime, releasing DJDDAY ...

Catching Up With

John Scofield: Jazz Inspires You To Try Something Different

by Nenad Georgievski
December 21, 2016

In a career that has spanned over several decades with releases that have encompassed various types of musical styles and sounds, guitarist John Scofield has always managed to emphasize the importance of melody by building fragments of hummable tunes around musically abstract compositions. His record Country for Old Men (Impulse!, 2016)--the title is a play on the Coen brothers film No Country for Old Men--is comprised of classic country songs, where he pays tribute to songwriters including George Jones, Hank ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil – 1964

by Marc Davis
December 21, 2016

It's hard to imagine a jazz musician who has had more success with more bands than Wayne Shorter. His tenor sax was an essential part of three landmark combos: Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (1959-1964), Miles Davis' classic quintet (1964-70) and Weather Report (1971-86)--27 consecutive years of uninterrupted magnificence. In other words, if Shorter had never recorded a single album as a bandleader, he still would be among the greats on jazz's Mount Olympus. But ...

Year in Review

Hrayr Attarian's Best Releases of 2016

by Hrayr Attarian
December 21, 2016

Many other writers have submitted superb Best of/End of year lists, so another similar one would be redundant. As women instrumentalists in jazz have been historically underrepresented to great degree and remain a minority even today, below is a list with a feminist bent. These 12 exquisite albums are either by women or prominently feature women. An example of the latter is cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum's Enter the Plustet that showcases, among other masterful improvisers, guitarist Mary Halvorson, cellist Tomeka ...

Album Review

Shawn Baltazor: Lionsong

Read "Lionsong" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 21, 2016

Never judge an album by its title. That parallel to the book-and-cover adage is worth remembering, as you can never truly know what sits beyond a name or an idea until you give something a listen. Take Lionsong, for example. The roar and thunder that one might associate with the most majestic of wildcats is a far cry from much of the music that greets the ears on this protean production from drummer-composer Shawn Baltazor. Everything from dream sequences with ...

Album Review

Neuköllner Modelle: Sektion 1-2

Read "Sektion 1-2" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 21, 2016

The finest free jazz, that which is played at the highest levels, is actually quite tuneful. Not that the musicians rely on riffs or licks, or traditional themes. It is simply that the music, like an Abstract Expressionist painting, converges to form a whole. Just as a novice art student or someone without any art history background might not appreciate a painting by Willem de Kooning or Franz Kline, it's interesting to observe that both schooled artists and little children ...

Album Review

Hackney Colliery Band: Sharpener

Read "Sharpener" reviewed by Nick Davies

by Nick Davies
December 21, 2016

East London's Hackney Colliery Band continue to reinvent the brass band sound for the 21st century with Sharpener. Comprised of trumpets, trombones, saxophones, sousaphone, marching percussion and electronics, the band are as inspired by contemporary rock and electronica as New Orleans marching bands and traditional British brass bands, to which their name pays homage. Their shows are raucous, loud and energetic with the added surprise of audience participation. Since their debut release in 2012, the 9-piece have blown ...

Out and About: The Super Fans

Celebrating the 2016 Super Fans

by Tessa Souter and Andrea Wolper
December 20, 2016

You've seen them around. They're at all the gigs, their attention focused deeply on the bandstand, as much a part of their local jazz scenes as the musicians and venues. They know and love the music, and musicians love them back. These passionate music-goers are The Super Fans, and they are an essential part of the concert experience. “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force... When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and ...

Year in Review

James Nadal's Best Releases of 2016

by James Nadal
December 20, 2016

Having had the honor and pleasure to review over eighty records in 2016, choosing a dozen is a difficult task. There are featured blues and soul vocalists, which are maintaining the significance of these genres alive with the authentic talent and dedication required. Included are stimulating offerings from innovative fusion and experimental artists, as well as diverse instrumental and vocal performances from Africa and the Caribbean. My sincere appreciation to all the musicians, producers, promoters, publicists and friends who send ...

Album Review

Jerome Jennings: The Beast

Read "The Beast" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 20, 2016

Jerome Jennings has occupied the drum throne on plenty of high profile gigs since arriving in New York just over a decade ago, working with everybody from vocalist Paula West to bassist Christian McBride and trumpeter Bria Skonberg to saxophonist Craig Handy. But his is a name that still may not be familiar to many jazz fans, as he's preferred those supporting roles to playing the leading man. He's been biding his time, waiting for just the right moment to ...