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

Tigran Hamasyan/Arve Henriksen/Eivind Aarset/Jan Bang: Atmosphères

Read "Atmosphères" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
September 13, 2016

This quartet came together at the suggestion of ECM label head Manfred Eicher after hearing a Punkt Festival recording of pianist Tigran Hamasyan in duo with live sampling musician Jan Bang. The addition of trumpeter Arve Henriksen and guitarist Eivind Aarset increased the textural possibilities, as well as providing a solo trumpet voice. Hamasyan was preparing an album of choral arrangements of Armenian sacred music--his ECM debut Luys i Luso (2015)--so Armenian themes from Komitas Vardapet were incorporated into this ...

Film Review

Jimmy Scott: I Go Back Home

by Victor L. Schermer
September 12, 2016

Jimmy Scott: I Go Back Home Kemper Music, Sine Qua Non Music 2016 “Little" Jimmy Scott (1925-2014) was for a long time the world's greatest jazz singer nobody ever heard of. Enormously talented, with an intuitive grasp of the jazz idiom and the blues, he began his ascendance as a singer with Lionel Hampton's band in the 1950s, and then almost vanished from the scene for three decades. In 1991, Velvet Underground guitarist Lou Reed and ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Louis Smith: Here Comes Louis Smith – 1957

by Marc Davis
September 12, 2016

I'm not a musical snob. I'm not a guy to drop obscure musical names to impress friends and hipsters. But when I come across a name that is undeservedly obscure, I don't mind shouting it out the window. So here's my shout for today: Louis Smith! Chances are you've never heard of Louis Smith. You should. He put out exactly two albums as a Blue Note bandleader, in 1957 and 1958, then disappeared for the next ...

Album Review

Sara Serpa & André Matos: All The Dreams

Read "All The Dreams" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 12, 2016

There may be no combination better capable of painting and promoting aural iridescence than that of vocalist Sara Serpa and guitarist André Matos. The work they've produced together, both on their first duo album--Primavera (Inner Circle Music, 2014)--and on this alluring outing, pits consistency against the transient nature of sonic coloration in understated yet spectacular fashion. Their music is art at the point where minimalism and cangiante merge, resulting in an otherworldly sound that's utterly enthralling and completely unique.

Album Review

Tim Ray Trio: Windows

Read "Windows" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 12, 2016

The Tim Ray Trio supplied the spirited accompaniment on Kindred Spirits (Whaling City Sound, 2016), behind saxophonists Greg Abate and the legendary Phil Woods. But they got the chance to step out--sax men taking a break--with a peppery take on Kurt Weill's classic “Speak Low," which serves as a preview of sorts for the Tim Ray Trio's Windows. Ray, and his cohorts, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Mark Walker, bounce into a joyful opening track, Duke Ellington's “I'm ...

Album Review

Jon Lundbom’s Big Five Chord: Make The Changes

Read "Make The Changes" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
September 12, 2016

Earlier in the year, guitarist Jon Lundbom, and his Big Five Chord quintet, began the unusual business approach of releasing a stratified set of four EPs, eventually culminating in a complete box set on Hot Cup Records. The approximately one half-hour of content on each disc was a lavish proposal from the start, giving each EP a solid stand-alone value. The idea, in and of itself, has been an appealing one, and like serialized books, each of the previous three ...

Album Review

Quinsin Nachoff: Flux

by Mark Corroto
September 12, 2016

Listening to Flux by saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff, it's easy to see in your mind's eye the DNA double helix beautifully spinning in the dark space of the human cell. That's because Nachoff composes tight, complex chamber pieces, seemingly delicate in structure, but able to withstand the attack of the jazz infantry. Nachoff's training and experience writing for orchestras, chamber ensembles, plus new music, brings a depth to his jazz bona fides. Plus, working with heavyweights like Ralph Alessi, ...

Album Review

Enten Eller: Tiresia

by Mark Corroto
September 11, 2016

The Italian super-gruppo Enten Eller returns with Tiresia a set of improvisations for the epicurist. I suggest the music connoisseur who prefers to indulge in the prolonged unwrapping of their experience can get the most out of the three lengthy compositions this quartet delivers. Maybe a better phrase would be, gives birth to. A working quartet since the 1980s, Enten Eller's members, drummer Massimo Barbiero, trumpeter Alberto Mandarini, guitarist Maurizio Brunod, and bassist Giovanni Maier have made nearly ...

Album Review

Michael Vlatkovich: Mortality

Read "Mortality" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 11, 2016

Esteemed West Coast trombonist Michael Vlatkovich's second release with the large ensemble outfit Ensemblio, features a cast of largely, So. California artists including tuba performer Bill Roper and keyboardist Wayne Peet, who is also credited with the engineering duties on this pristinely recorded studio set. Nonetheless, Vlatkovich tosses more than just a few curveballs into the mix. The ensemble frequently subdivides into smaller factions during mini-motifs, but the program is an off-centered case study when considering how numerous ...

Extended Analysis

The Beatles: Live At The Hollywood Bowl

by Doug Collette
September 11, 2016

In casual talk and conversation now some half a century since the explosion of their popularity, the Beatles can seem a quaint phenomenon from the Sixties. But such a notion disappears when their music is playing as is the case with The Beatles: Live At The Hollywood Bowl. A companion piece to Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years, the Ron Howard film devoted to their years on the road, this audio title is a modified and expanded ...