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.

Year in Review

Budd Kopman's Best Releases of 2016

by Budd Kopman
December 18, 2016

Of the seventy or so albums I was fortunate to review this year (with many still waiting in the wings), the releases below (in chronological order) are those that moved me the most and hence that I remember the clearest, even after a year. The quality of the music is uniformly high, and leaving something off this list was a bit difficult. Of course, reactions to music are completely subjective, so one man's gold is another's lead--your mileage may vary. ...

Film Review

Bob Dylan: No Direction Home - Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition

by Doug Collette
December 18, 2016

Bob Dylan No Direction Home: Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition Capitol Records 2016 As originally released a decade ago, Martin Scorcese's Bob Dylan documentary No Direction Home is so deeply illuminating it really bears no revisionism that would improve it, at least on its own terms. In turns exhilarating and chilling, particularly in the final scene where the subject of the film appears the embodiment of infinite fatigue, the vaunted filmmaker's comprehensive depiction of the Nobel ...

Album Review

Steve Slagle: Alto Manhattan

Read "Alto Manhattan" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
December 18, 2016

Alto Manhattan is Latino for the New York City neighborhood “upper Manhattan" (or “the heights"). It's also where veteran alto saxophonist/flutist Steve Slagle lives, making for a nice bit of wordplay in the album title. This is a well-balanced program, with just a bit more Latin tinge than average. “Family" launches the set with Latin-flavored hard bop, featuring fiery interplay between Slagle's alto sax and guest Joe Lovano's tenor sax (guest conga player Roman Diaz also makes his first appearance). ...

Film Review

Rolling Stones - Ole Ole Ole!: A Trip Across Latin America

by Doug Collette
December 18, 2016

Rolling Stones Ole Ole Ole!: A Trip Across Latin America Fathom Events2016 Although it is compels watching more than once to absorb the varied detail within its two-hours plus duration, The Rolling Stones' Latin American tour documentary, Ole Ole Ole!, is worth seeing just for a single, priceless five minute interval near its mid-point. After guitarist Keith Richard and vocalist Mick Jagger laughingly reminisce about their visit to Brazil in the Sixties, they ...

Album Review

The Seth Yacovone Band: Shovel Down

Read "Shovel Down" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
December 18, 2016

Vintage hard rock with heavy metal overtones that should appeal as much to fans of the original Gov't Mule as those of early Black Sabbath, the initial studio album by The Seth Yacovone Band 2.0., Shovel Down is the initial and fairly lofty plateau in a judicious plan by the bandleader to remain as independent as he is prolific. Convened with no small amount of serendipity back in 2013 by three mainstays of the Burlington Vermont music scene-the ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo: Peace

by Budd Kopman
December 18, 2016

If pianist Satoko Fujii is known for anything, it is for the enormous amount of energy that she brings to her work, plus the pace she maintains with groups scattered all over the world. Her latest offering, Peace, with her Tokyo Orchestra was recorded in 2014, as was Ichigo Ichie (her Berlin Orchestra), Uminari (the Kaze quartet) and Yamiyo Ni Karasu (the Tobira quartet), making for quite a year. Peace is a tribute to guitarist Kelly ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Tokyo: Peace

Read "Peace" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 18, 2016

The rumor rolled out in mid-2016 that Japanese pianist/composer/bandleader Satoko Fujii had another orchestral album on the way. Peace was the title. “Peace" isn't a word that normally comes to mind when considering Fujii's music. “Bedlam," maybe, but not “peace." In preparation for the oncoming Peace, three previous Fujii orchestral CDs on Libra Records came down off the shelf and spun onto the sound system: Ichigo Ichie (2015), by her Berlin Orchestra; Shiki (2014) from her New York ...

Top Ten List

Top Ten Musicians Who Embody Cool

by Alan Bryson
December 17, 2016

America has produced some very cool things: jazz, rock, blues, country, hot rods, Hammond organs, and electric guitars. Another one of the coolest things is the language itself, brewed in the melting pot that is America. Like jazz, blues, and rock, American English itself can't be imagined without the influence of African Americans. “Hep," “hip," “funky," “groovin,'" and “cool" are words I had assumed were coined by the early jazz musicians; however, as I dug a little deeper it seems ...

Live Review

Mary Ellen Desmond: Comfort and Joy Concert 2016

by Victor L. Schermer
December 17, 2016

Mary Ellend Desmond Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany Comfort and Joy Philadelphia, PA December 11. 2016 Mary Ellen Desmond is one of the most highly regarded Philadelphia-based vocalists, and for the last thirteen years she has provided the inspiration and fronted a top of the line quartet for the annual Comfort and Joy holiday concert at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany. This reviewer, no particular fan of holiday ...

Year in Review

C. Andrew Hovan's Best Releases of 2016

by C. Andrew Hovan
December 17, 2016

It is hard to believe I have been writing about jazz for All About Jazz for almost 18 years now. During that time period, vinyl was scarce as can be, only to come back recently with a vengeance. With many classic jazz recordings working their way into the area of public domain, ubiquitous CD reissues have offered up even some of the rarest jazz classics to the masses. It has been an exciting ride to say the least. Nonetheless, I ...