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

Tom Challenger and Kit Downes: Black Shuck

Read "Black Shuck" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
December 17, 2016

"Atmosphere" is one of those oft-used, hard to pin down, words that music writers are wont to distribute across their outpourings. Sometimes, it's used without qualification--an “atmospheric" piece, a song that has “atmosphere"--much in the way that people speak of having “blood pressure." So when a work such as Tom Challenger and Kit Downes' impressive Black Shuck appears, laden with atmosphere, some further discussion of the term is crucial--especially when the album's own press release refers to it as “dusty ...

Album Review

Daniel Diaz: Swan Song

Read "Swan Song" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
December 17, 2016

French composer Daniel Diaz makes his living composing soundtrack music, but Swan Song is more of a personal travelogue/soundscape. It's based around memorable melodies, supported by sophisticated harmonies and gentle, sometimes elusive rhythms. The overall effect is not unlike some of Brian Eno's ambient music: a series of brief atmospheric tunes that make more of an impact collectively than they do individually. But Diaz is working with more explicit World music and jazz influences. Opener “Otoño y Martes ...

Album Review

Frank Kimbrough: Solstice

by Budd Kopman
December 17, 2016

Pianist Frank Kimbrough's latest offering, Solstice on the Pirouet label, is a joy from beginning to end. Pirouet is the home of some other fine piano trios, including those of Marc Copland (see Some Love Songs, Modinha, Voices and Night Whispers). Copland, arguably working from the Bill Evans aesthetic is, of course, quite different than Kimbrough, who resides much more within the aesthetic of Paul Bley, who worked with and influenced many players including Satoko Fujii ...

Album Review

David S. Ware/Matthew Shipp: Live in Sant’Anna Arresi, 2004

Read "Live in Sant’Anna Arresi, 2004" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
December 17, 2016

Describing David S. Ware as a maverick would be a gimmicky shortcut around the depth of the late saxophonist's vision. Outside of John Coltrane we have not seen a Ware contemporary with more depth of spirituality, presented in such a visceral way. Similarly, Matthew Shipp employs a type of unimaginable creative mysticism that transcends technique and peer comparisons with an approach and sound that is wholly his own. Live in Sant'Anna Arresi, 2004 showcases two masters--with a long working history--in ...

Film Review

The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi

by Marc Davis
December 16, 2016

Vince GuaraldiThe Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi Jazz Casual Productions 2016 In 1962, jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi scored a surprise hit with his catchy, upbeat record “Cast Your Fate to the Wind." Three years later, millions of Americans who thought they didn't like jazz discovered Guaraldi's music on the debut of the TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas--and they loved it. His signature song, “Linus and Lucy," is perhaps the most popular jazz tune ...

Year in Review

Mark Corroto's Best Releases of 2016

by Mark Corroto
December 16, 2016

Nothing gives me such simultaneous joy and grief as selecting my top discs of the year. The task is akin to choosing your favorite child. Regretfully, I give you (in no particular order) my top 12. Please email mail me separately if you want my top 30 and include your top discs, I may want to spend my Christmas money on a few more titles. Matt Wilson Beginning Of A Memory (Palmetto) ...

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Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff: Blooming Tall Phlox

Read "Blooming Tall Phlox" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 16, 2016

While the art of playing jazz qualifies as a multisensory experience, involving listening, touching, and seeing, it usually doesn't extend so far as to include the sense of smell. But that's not to say that a nose for scents has no place in musical and artistic spheres. If you need convincing, just look at Blooming Tall Phlox. For her tenth album in six years, pianist Yelena Eckemoff uses life and nature's bouquets as her muse. Her memory ...

Album Review

João Hasselberg & Pedro Branco: Dancing Our Way To Death

Read "Dancing Our Way To Death" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
December 16, 2016

Portuguese bassist João Hasselberg and guitarist Pedro Branco both hail from Lisbon, but are currently living and studying elsewhere--Hasselberg in Copenhagen, Branco in Amsterdam. They each contribute compositions to this co-led project, as well as play the core instrumental tracks, aided by additional players and vocalists. First, it must be said that the music is not nearly as bleak as the album title implies. It's contemplative and sometimes atmospheric--so there's not much dancing, but there's not much death either.

Album Review

Azure Hiptronics: Ignacio

Read "Ignacio" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
December 16, 2016

Azure was established in 2006, by guitarist Rogier Scheemann and pianist Pierre-Francois Blanchard, both studying at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Only Scheemann remains from that original group. With their first recording There Were Stars (Self-Produced, 2007), the group laid a framework for style-hopping, not just from track-to-track, but even within specific compositions. The latest iteration of the group--now rechristened as Azure Hiptronics--exponentially builds on that premise with Ignacio.As a core quartet, Scheemann is joined by keyboardist ...

Album Review

Olga Konkova and Jens Thoresen: December Songs

Read "December Songs" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
December 16, 2016

It's a Christmas album even a Grinch can love. The title December Songs already hints that this affair is themed around the general season and mood rather than one particular holiday. The format (sparse piano/guitar duets) smoothly follows suit. The song selection includes a few of the same carols that always get overplayed at the end of every year, then mixes in some traditional pieces that won't be very familiar to many outside Scandinavia. In the best spirit of exploration, ...