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.

Live Review

Live From Birmingham: Acid Mothers Temple, B.E.A.S.T. & Focus

by Martin Longley
November 14, 2016

Acid Mothers Temple The Flapper September 30, 2016 Acid Mothers Temple can be creatures of habit. In several cities, they often return to the same venue each time they tour. Also, their highly specific orientation towards extreme freak-out psychedelia has the effect of assuring an audience that certain exotic and abandoned Japanese goods will be delivered. For their Birmingham show, both of these promises are fulfilled, but there is another element arriving, a factor ...

Album Review

Steve Fidyk: Allied Forces

Read "Allied Forces" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
November 13, 2016

The military reference in this record's title is right on the mark. For over a quarter of a century, Steve Fidyk has held down the drum chair in the U.S. Army Blues (part of the United States Army Band “Pershing's Own"), an 18-piece ensemble that has performed America's original art form in a variety of venues throughout the U.S. and around the world. Like any great jazz trapster, Fidyk plays the role of commander in chief--which is not to say ...

Album Review

Eliane Amherd: Skylines

Read "Skylines" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
November 13, 2016

It's five years since Swiss-born, New School graduate singer/songwriter Eliane Amherd released Now And From Now On (Self Produced, 2011). The easy-on-the-ear melodies and upbeat rhythms from that debut album are still a central part of Skylines, but those extra five years show in Amherd's more mature writing style and wider musical imagination. Skylines opens with a torch song, of sorts. “Never Is" has all the makings of a classic torch song -strong, evocative, melody and lyrics of ...

Album Review

Steve Heckman: Legacy: A Coltrane Tribute

Read "Legacy: A Coltrane Tribute" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 13, 2016

Saxophonist Steve Heckman has spent a good deal of his career walking in the footsteps of saxophone giant John Coltrane, on CD offerings such as Search For Peace (Jazzed Media, 2014) and With John In Mind (World City Music, 2003). With that in mind, nobody has ever--and almost certainly never will--match 'Trane in his ability to infuse his spiritual side into his music; or to play with half the Coltrane-ian freedom or fervor. To his credit, Heckman doesn't try. He, ...

Extended Analysis

Leonard Cohen: You Want it Darker

by Nenad Georgievski
November 13, 2016

On first listen, Leonard Cohen's album You Want it Darker is a great album. On second listen, it could rank among his best and on third listen, it is obvious that it is the best contender for a Nobel Prize in literature in the next turn of awards. But so are the other albums that have preceded it. It is astonishing that Cohen as an elder statesman is producing some of his best work at this stage of his career. ...

Extended Analysis

On (and Off) The Road

by John Kelman
November 13, 2016

Sometimes the best music--and some of the best bands--are those that come from the most difficult of births. When King Crimson co-founder/guitarist Robert Fripp had the idea for a new band after dissolving the last incarnation of the '70s-era Crimson lineups seven years prior, it was a completely new concept and, with the exception of returning drummer Bill Bruford, a totally revised lineup. Gone were the mellotrons and symphonic leanings of old. In their place: technological advancements including ...

Multiple Reviews

Rolling Stones: Sweet Summer Sun & Havana Moon DVD/CD

by Doug Collette
November 13, 2016

It might be fair to say that any concert appearance by a band with fifty years plus history is an occasion in itself and doubly so (or more) to offer that observation about the Rolling Stones. Who would've guessed in 1963, 1973 or 1983 that the group would not only still be together in 2016, but playing regularly around the world? Or remain a sufficiently popular draw to attract the huge crowds that attended the concert(s) in London's Hyde Park ...

Album Review

Jesper Lundgaard Trio: 2016

by Chris Mosey
November 13, 2016

Danish bassist Jesper Lundgaard likens the making of the latest album with his trio to cooking a successful meal: “Eight new songs, two standards, sax, bass, guitar, three microphones, the recording machine, 12 hours playing, 12 hours mixing, 12 hours design stuff, 12 hours practical stuff, four weeks of waiting, everything stirred thoroughly." Or, in musical terms, “We tried to create an intimate album, utilizing a minimalistic approach." One way or another the result is a wonderfully ...

Live Review

The Ron Steen Jazz Jam at Clyde's Prime Rib Restaurant

by Tom Borden and Eric Gibbons
November 13, 2016

The Ron Steen Jazz Jam Clyde's Prime Rib Restaurant Portland, OR October 2016 Every Sunday night, for the past twelve years, yes, YEARS, Clyde's Prime Rib Restaurant in NE Portland has been home to the Ron Steen Jazz Jam. The jam is a loose format session with Steen and a core group of musicians beginning the evening with a set of popular jazz standards. Clyde's is decidedly old school: a red velvet steakhouse with an ...

Film Review

Bill Evans: Time Remembered The Life And Music Of Bill Evans

by Peter Jurew
November 12, 2016

Bill Evans: Time Remembered The Life And Music of Bill Evans A Film By Bruce Spiegel 2016 Eight years in the making, Bruce Spiegel's touching documentary on the life and music of the late, great, and mysterious pianist is a must-see for jazz history buffs, as well as for anyone who enjoys cool, impressionistic piano--the style Bill Evans pioneered beginning in the early 1950's and owned and expanded up to his death ...