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

Oscar Pettiford & Jan Johansson: In Denmark 1959-1960

Read "In Denmark 1959-1960" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
November 7, 2016

Oscar Pettiford was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, in 1922, of a Choctaw Indian mother and a half Cherokee, half African American father. He became one of the most influential bass players in the history of jazz, building on the innovations of Jimmie Blanton to make the bass a genuine solo instrument. He jammed with the founders of bebop at Minton's Playhouse then followed Blanton by joining the Duke Ellington Orchestra from 1945-48. In 1958 ...

New York @ Night

Les Brers at Brooklyn Bowl

by Peter Jurew
November 6, 2016

Les Brers Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY October 12, 2016 Despite multiple breakups and long hiatuses, the Allman Brothers Band survived successfully for as long as it did by adding fresh, complementary talent that reinvigorated the original members, and through the players' fierce, collective focus on exploring and expanding the sturdy blues-rock-jazz fusion created by founder Duane Allman and his guitar protégé Dickie Betts almost five decades ago. Now, in the wake of ...

Album Review

Nikolett Pankovits: Magia

by Mark Sullivan
November 6, 2016

Vocalist Nikolett Pankovits was born in Hungary, but she found her musical direction in New York City melding Hungarian songs with Latin American rhythms. She has a lovely warm voice, with almost no vibrato. Magia (the Spanish and Hungarian word for magic) is an eclectic mix of traditional Hungarian songs, torch songs, one Great American Songbook standard, and one original. The album opens in traditional territory, with the Béla Bartók arrangement of “Kis Kece Lányom." “Madárka, madárka" is also a ...

Album Review

Neil Finn & Paul Kelly: Goin' Your Way

Read "Goin' Your Way" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
November 6, 2016

The essays written by Neil Finn and Paul Kelly enclosed inside the booklet within this double-CD set are, like the two men's original songs, wholly and completely without affectation. These two kindred spirits instead speak frankly about the pragmatic aspects of their collaboration, such as choosing the songs and rehearsing with the band, for a concert tour that yielded this recording of their very last show. The refreshing simplicity of material such as “Four Seasons in a Day," ...

Album Review

Jimi Hendrix: Machine Gun: Live At The Fillmore East First Show

Read "Machine Gun: Live At The Fillmore East First Show" reviewed by Sacha O'Grady

by Sacha O'Grady
November 6, 2016

When Jimi Hendrix walked onto the stage of the Fillmore East on 31st December, 1969, with Billy Cox (bass) and Buddy Miles (drums), virtually no-one would have had any idea what to expect, since this was not The Experience people had paid to see, but The Band Of Gypsys, an entirely different group altogether. As Billy Cox remembered: “There was a lot of pressure... because at one point in time you had Jimi Hendrix standing there with two white boys ...

Interview

Shye Ben Tzur: Music For The Upliftment of the Soul

by Nenad Georgievski
November 6, 2016

The Urdu word Junun denotes “Passion"and that is the perfect term to describing not just the breathtaking interplay and common purpose among the many diverse musicians taking part in this project, but also the deep spiritual love that emanates from this music and takes up everyone in the excitement of the moment: playful, joyous and inclusive. Junun is a dynamic meeting of passionate musicians with different backgrounds and geographies but the result to that is gorgeous music. Shye Ben Tzur ...

Album Review

Sting: 57th & 9th

Read "57th & 9th" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski

by Nenad Georgievski
November 6, 2016

Throughout his long and illustrious career, Sting has enjoyed an enviable set of circumstances. Not only does he have total artistic freedom but he has been accompanied by elite musicians and has a devoted, global fan base. In return, that has yielded many artistic triumphs as he explored almost every genre known to man. He has been eclectic in his choice of inspiration which is filtered through an ever expansive musical worldview. That incorporates all kinds of sounds and music ...

Profile

Duane Allman at 70: A Reflection

by Alan Bryson
November 5, 2016

The actor James Dean once said, “If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live after he's died, then maybe he was a great man." James Dean is perhaps the charter member of a modern subset of such individuals who, due to modern technology, live on in the consciousness of others. They remain frozen in time—ascendant, vibrant, and youthful. When you think of James Dean, chances are you can visualize his magnetic ...

Album Review

Glen Phillips: Swallowed by the New

Read "Swallowed by the New" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
November 5, 2016

It's not wholly fair to say Glen Phillips' is the sound of Toad the We Sprocket (with whom he still works when not going solo). But it was usually his insinuating voice and engaging way with words that shaped the group's sound and those virtues are readily apparent on this exotic sounding record Swallowed by the New. The title of the album suits its vivid music as much as the cover graphics, which go unbesmirched by the printing ...

Album Review

Anna Danes: Find Your Wings

Read "Find Your Wings" reviewed by Jim Trageser

by Jim Trageser
November 5, 2016

On her 2014 debut, San Diego's Anna Danes came across as what she admittedly was: A woman who only came to singing in her 40s, who had limited training, only a rudimentary grasp of technique and theory--in short, a beginner. The voice was unpolished, the delivery often hesitant, the choice in material suspect for someone aspiring to be a serious jazz musician. Danes proves herself an adept student of the art, though, on Find Your Wings, her follow-up ...