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

Dan Bilawsky's Best Releases of 2016

by Dan Bilawsky
December 8, 2016

Another year is almost in the books. And while there were many things to fret about in 2016, a lack of good music wasn't one of them. A quick look back at the year reminds us that jazz legends remain strong, rising stars continue to rapidly ascend, newcomers are making their presence felt, and the dearly departed are gracing us from the great beyond. I had the pleasure of listening to hundreds of new jazz albums for review consideration this ...

Year in Review

Karl Ackermann's Best Releases of 2016

by Karl Ackermann
December 8, 2016

2016 has proven that jazz and creative music in general, are healthier than ever. Artists like Steve Lehman, Nate Wooley and Vijay Iyer continue to push the envelope while those like Bob Gluck find ways to make the old, very new. This list is--for the most part--outside the mainstream because that is where artists risk the most to tell their stories; it is where many listeners go to be challenged. Nate Wooley Seven Storey Mountain V ...

Album Review

Scott Morgan: Songs Of Life

Read "Songs Of Life" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 8, 2016

There's no greater teacher than life. Its bounties and tragedies, triumphs and defeats, and strange flirtations with absurdist theater and dead on truth have a way of enriching perspective and giving us the tools to communicate at a much deeper level. Few embody that fact better than vocalist Scott Morgan, who, after studying music in college in the '80s, taking a protracted time away from the art form, and reengaging with the craft at the dawn of the new millennium, ...

Album Review

Ray Charles Orchestra: Ray Charles Orchestra: Zurich 1961-Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series, Vol. 41

Read "Ray Charles Orchestra: Zurich 1961-Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series, Vol. 41" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 8, 2016

1961 was a classic jazz vintage for Ray Charles. That was the year he delivered unto us Genius + Soul = Jazz (Impulse!, 1961), and the year he took Europe by storm with a big band in tow. He was in good voice and spirits, he had top quality charts in his book--a good number from the pen of Quincy Jones--and he had a talent-filled band that included trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, trombonist Dicky Wells, alto saxophonist Hank Crawford, and tenor ...

Album Review

Teresa Salgueiro: O Horizonte

Read "O Horizonte" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski

by Nenad Georgievski
December 8, 2016

There have long been two sides to singer Teresa Salgueiro's musicality: the first as a master interpreter of a song and the second a gifted songwriter. Ever since Salgueiro left the band Madredeus after 20 years of recording and touring she began a career where she first gave emphasis on covers and guest appearances but soon she blossomed into a serious and distinct songwriter. After three decades as one of the most distinct world chanteuses, what's most heartening is that ...

Album Review

Danish Radio Big Band: Jazzin' Around Christmas

Read "Jazzin' Around Christmas" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
December 8, 2016

Despite the fact that Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dave Brubeck all successfully recorded Yuletide songs, jazz still enjoys a problematic relationship with the so-called festive season. The trouble no doubt is that Christmas is so quintessentially square or unhip. What self-respecting hipster would dream of walking in a winter wonderland or taking a ride on a sleigh drawn by Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Nonetheless, the Danish Radio Big Band have fearlessly come up ...

Profile

Julie Tippetts: Didn't You Used To Be Julie Driscoll?

by Duncan Heining
December 7, 2016

The respect in which Julie Tippetts is held by her fellow musicians and fans is truly heartening--and truly deserved. Back in the late sixties, then Julie Driscoll, she gave up a very different career trajectory in music, one that had begun with Steampacket and continued with Brian Auger & The Trinity, to follow a journey characterised by experimentation and self-discovery. Though the qualities of Tippetts' voice are often acknowledged, her unique and personal approach to song-writing is less ...

Album Review

The Wee Trio: Wee +3

by Dan Bilawsky
December 7, 2016

The Wee Trio delivered quite a bit of variety over the course of its first four albums. The first two--Capitol Diner, Vol. I (Bionic Records, 2008) and Capitol Diner, Vol. II: Animal Style (Bionic Records, 2010)--established the musical ground and syntax that are part and parcel of this three-way partnership; Ashes To Ashes: A David Bowie Intraspective (Bionic Record, 2012) demonstrated much of what can be done to mutate and honor David Bowie's music, almost foretelling the growth of Bowie-inflected ...

In The Biz

Artist Roundtable: Where's the Money?

by Kathy Sanborn
December 7, 2016

In our last roundtable, we delved into the topic of hiring a publicist, and the benefits of doing so. In this article, we will discover how our roundtable peers make money from their musical recordings. Are there any secrets to successfully releasing albums or singles in this era of free streaming and rampant stealing? Let's find out. D. Edward Cheryl Hodge Suzanne Grzanna Grace Garland Laura Ainsworth All About Jazz: ...

Album Review

Various Artists: Tribute to Andrezej Przybielski Vol. 1

Read "Tribute to Andrezej Przybielski Vol. 1" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
December 7, 2016

If the Polish trumpeter and composer Andrzej Przybielski (1944-2011) was under-recognized in his native country, he has been all but unknown in the West. Though he had established his early career in traditional jazz groups, he later became a mythical figure on the Polish avant-garde jazz and free jazz scenes. Later in his career, Przybielski entered a phase that combined the influences of native folk music, improvised jazz, electronics and punk. With more than fifty albums in his portfolio, Przybielski ...