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.

Interview

Jeff Parker: Reinventing Tradition

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 20, 2016

Is there such a thing as a Chicago sound? Back in the year 2000, a compilation was released that tried to portray a new and exciting musical scene. The album was called Chicago 2018... It's Gonna Change and it highlighted a brilliant mixture of free jazz, electronica, post-rock, art pop and experimental folk music. Of the eighteen different projects on the album, guitarist Jeff Parker was involved in four: Toe 2000, Tricolor, Isotope 217 and Tortoise and one could have ...

Book Review

Whisper Not: The Autobiography Of Benny Golson

by Ian Patterson
September 20, 2016

Whisper Not Benny Golson and Jim Merod 335 Pages ISBN: 9781439913338 Temple University Press 2016 Philadelphia has always been a cradle for outstanding jazz talent, though when it comes to durability surely none can match Benny Golson, who began playing seventy years ago. At 87, Golson--an NEA Jazz Master--still leads small ensembles and fronts big bands who play his charts. “Killer Joe," “I Remember Clifford," “Stablemates," “Whisper Not" and “Along Came Betty" ...

Album Review

Nick Sanders & Logan Strosahl: Janus

Read "Janus" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 20, 2016

Pianist Nick Sanders and saxophonist Logan Strosahl have named their duet outing Janus. The Janus of the Roman Empire era was a God with two faces, a God of time, with one gaze directed forward, the other backward in time. Sanders and Strosahl began playing in the duo format a decade ago, wood-shedding in the dorms at Boston's New England Conservatory, where they were both students. They revisit those sessions, in a sense, a wide-ranging, Janus-ian, forward/backward exploration ...

Album Review

Luís Lopes: Love Song

Read "Love Song" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 20, 2016

I would never arbitrarily dictate the when and how one should consume a particular recording. But, may I suggest that you only listen to the recording Love Song by Portuguese guitarist Luís Lopes</em> late at night and with the lights off (at least for the first time)?. This is not the celebratory {{m: Frank Sinatra music Songs For Swingin' Lovers (Capitol, 1956) sessions, but more like the In the Wee Small Hours (Capitol, 1955) heartbroken lover. That is, if the ...

Album Review

Elizabeth Shepherd's Trio: Start to Move

Read "Start to Move" reviewed by Rokas Kucinskas

by Rokas Kucinskas
September 20, 2016

It's hard to categorize Elizabeth Shepherd's music--much like a windmill with its stable parts, less and less visible in a motion. Yet a sense of direction isn't absent, and Shepherd offers a wide spectrum of textures ranging from musical complexity to lyrical musicality. The singer-songwriter's debut release Start to Move is full of hidden treasures for every jazz lover. Music on the album is filled with streams of ideas: soulful pieces filled with heavy syncopations, modal variations ...

Album Review

Stephan Crump: Stephan Crump's Rhombal

Read "Stephan Crump's Rhombal" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 20, 2016

During the advent of bop and the hot n' heavy mainstream swing years, a session with a stellar lineup of critically acclaimed musicians would often be referred to as the [insert magazine name] Critics' Poll All-Stars or something like John Doe and his Jazz All-Stars. However, venerable bassist Stephan Crump underscores the premise of this album as a “commemoration" that is not about sadness but the “spiritual revolution I witnessed in my brother during our last days together." But the ...

Album Review

Nels Cline: Lovers

by Jerome Wilson
September 20, 2016

When I first heard excerpts from Nels Cline's Lovers project, I wasn't too impressed. I thought it sounded like some kind of archaic “mood music" album. Then as I heard more about the set, including the songs being performed and the personnel performing them, I became intrigued. Now I've heard the entire thing and understand what a monumental work it is. Cline has created a kaleidoscopic orchestral tribute to all the facets and emotions of love that is ...

What is Jazz?

Words and Music: Why Liner Notes Matter

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 19, 2016

It is said that we live in The Information Age, but perhaps, it would be more correct to say that we live in the Age of Too Much Information. If there is something you are looking for, you can often find it on the Internet, but the question is whether it is quantity rather than quality. Of course, in spite of increasing commercialization and an endless pile of trash, there is also much valuable information to be found on the ...

Extended Analysis

John Scofield: Country for Old Men

by John Kelman
September 19, 2016

When guitarist Bill Frisell first began a more decided focus on roots music, bluegrass and country & western music with the release of 1996's Nashville (Nonesuch), despite being largely very well-received, jazz purists rankled when the largely bluegrass/folk-informed album began to garner awards like Downbeat Magazine's Best Jazz Album of the Year. While Frisell's oftentimes Americana-tinged work has, in the ensuing years, become more fully accepted for the wonderful music that it is, fellow six-stringer John Scofield is unlikely to ...

Album Review

Twin Talk: Twin Talk

Read "Twin Talk" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
September 19, 2016

One of the more pleasant listening experiences this year has been Twin Talk from the eponymous Indie group based in Chicago. The jazz trio of drummer Andrew Green, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi and bassist/vocalist Katie Ernst produce a project of fresh music and through original material and inventive performances. Having worked together over the past few years Twin Talk executes on a subconscious level. Whether digging deep into the pocket in “J.J." or the traversing multihued designs in ...