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.

New York @ Night

Benny Golson at Jazz Standard

by Peter Jurew
November 3, 2016

Benny Golson Quartet Jazz Standard New York, NY October 21, 2016 By now it's well established that you don't go to see the octogenarian Benny Golson expecting to be blown away by a titan of the tenor sax--a fact he's only too happy to confess to his audience at a packed Jazz Standard in October. Sure, Golson can still handle his sax just fine but his real mastery is--and has always been--making ...

Album Review

Carol Robbins: Taylor Street

Read "Taylor Street" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
November 3, 2016

In the context of jazz, the harp is a rare instrument indeed and there are proportionately few players in the field. Two exponents of this rare art are Alice Coltrane and the British harpist David Snell whose library composition “International Flight" is a jazz harp classic. A third is Carol Robbins, whose album Taylor Street is the follow-up to her 2012 album Moraga. It's important to emphasise that this is an ensemble album, so the musicians are afforded ...

Album Review

The UNT One O'Clock Lab Band: Lab 2016

by Jack Bowers
November 3, 2016

The year ending in May 2016 was quite an eventful time for the University of North Texas' flagship One O'Clock Lab Band. Besides hosting regular concerts and clinics in Denton and the surrounding area and holding its three yearly performances in Fort Worth, the band welcomed acclaimed drummer Dennis Mackrel as guest artist for its fall concert, the superb pianist Danilo Perez in the spring, and crowned the year with a trip to Australia to perform with the jazz world's ...

Album Review

Stick Men: Prog Noir

Read "Prog Noir" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
November 3, 2016

Following up Stick Men's exhilarating recent 2-CD live set Midori (Moonjune, 2016) featuring legendary King Crimson violinist David Cross, the trio now supplements its monstrous attack with vocals, and tinted with a noir (dark) panorama via the lower tonal registers. Moreover, the King Crimson connection is in-place with current members, Tony Levin (Stick & voice) and Pat Mastelotto (drums) fusing their talents with Markus Reuter (Touch Guitars) who recorded with the The Crimson ProjeKCt. Respectively, the musicians reside ...

Album Review

Tony Moreno: Short Stories

Read "Short Stories" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 3, 2016

Manhattan-native drummer Tony Moreno was born into and for music, his mother, Nina Dunkel Moreno, a noted harpist, pianist and educator. Oh, and he received his first drum kit at ten-years old from... Elvin Jones who became his early mentor and teacher. Moreno has had a long and storied career, filled with memories and mementos, many of the latter lost when Hurricane Sandy made East Coast landfall in October 2012. After losing his studio, library, and trove of his mother's ...

Live Review

Live From Birmingham: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Erja Lyytinnen & The Impossible Gentlemen

by Martin Longley
November 2, 2016

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Hare & Hounds September 29, 2016 The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble don't struggle to cram the main upstairs room of the Hare & Hounds, as now-regular guests of its Leftfoot promoters. Although now dwelling in Brooklyn, the Hypnotics mostly grew up in Chicago, and seven of them are brothers, sons of Phil Cohran, who is famed for being a Sun Ra disciple in the late 1950s and early '60s. Amidst the ongoing ...

Live Review

SLIXS At Derry International Choral Festival 2016

by Ian Patterson
November 2, 2016

SLIXS Derry International Choral Festival St. Columb's Hall Derry, N. Ireland October 20, 2016 In just four editions the City of Derry International Choral Festival has carved its place among the world's leading choral festivals, attracting the very best international choirs to the Walled City. A pleasing aspect of the CDICF, beyond the marquee names, has been its desire to think outside the box. Neil Cowley's collaborations with local choir Codetta and pan-European choir ...

Album Review

Jasmine Lovell-Smith's Towering Poppies: Yellow Red Blue

Read "Yellow Red Blue" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 2, 2016

Soprano saxophonist/composer Jasmine Lovell-Smith released her excellent debut CD, Fortune Songs in 2012, two years after her move from her native New Zealand to New York. Four years later--after studies with Anthony Braxton and a move to Morelia, Mexico--she offers a follow-up effort, Yellow Red Blue. First rate debuts set up the expectations. Sophomore outings can disappoint through risk aversion or a wavering of artistic vision. Or they can delight via a broadening of the original vision--especially composition-wise--and ...

Album Review

Peter White: Groovin'

Read "Groovin'" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
November 2, 2016

Some musicians simply have an affinity for certain genres. Peter White, having assumed the crown from George Benson has established himself as the gold standard for smooth jazz guitarists and this means he now has the freedom to do whatever he wants. What White wants to do with Groovin' is demonstrate how deft a touch he possesses in not simply covering classic pop and soul music, but putting an individual signature to his interpretations. There's a certain inherent ...

Album Review

Ken Silverman: Guitar Fantasies

Read "Guitar Fantasies" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
November 2, 2016

With Guitar Fantasies Ken Silverman continues on the path he started on the 2015 release Parallel Man (Soundseer). The focus is again on the multifaceted melodies that simultaneously reflect elements of various genres while remaining anchored in the jazz idiom. While on Parallel Man there were more western classical motifs on the current album rock influences predominate. The three “Guitar Fantasies" demonstrate this amply. On number 2 Silverman's nimble and brisk strums together with bassist Sam McPherson's taut ...