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

Jeremy Cunningham Quartet: re: dawn (from far)

Read "re: dawn (from far)" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 8, 2016

Since he moved to Chicago in 2009, Jeremy Cunningham has been a vital addition to the jazz environment and his debut as a leader, re: dawn (from far) , shows an assured musician and composer who effortlessly taps into the great musical tradition of the city. Cunningham has teamed up with one of the architects of the modern Chicago sound, guitarist Jeff Parker, who lends his signature sound to the album. His chugging rhythms, beautiful harmonies and ...

Album Review

Faun and a Pan Flute: Traffic

by Dave Wayne
September 8, 2016

Atlanta, the home of OutKast, CeeLo Green, Usher, and really the whole “Dirty South" hip hop thing, is not a place normally associated with bands that play super-complex all-original instrumental art-rock. So, you may have to pinch yourself when you hear Traffic by Atlanta-based prog-rockers Faun and a Pan Flute. And to be totally frank, “prog-rockers" is a pretty poor choice of adjectives to apply to this strangely-named nonet. Starting out as an indie-rock / post-rock outfit with a female ...

Album Review

Lupa Santiago 4teto + Ed Neumeister: Ubuntu

by James Nadal
September 8, 2016

The Brazilian jazz scene has undergone subtle but noticeable changes, as many Brazilian musicians continue to travel, tour, and study abroad, returning with applicable innovative ideas. Expanding beyond the customary bossa and samba boundaries, the music is encompassing global influences with impressive results. Guitarist Lupa Santiago is the embodiment of this positive trend, and throughout his remarkable recording career spanning seventeen records as leader, has been prolific in presenting original jazz compositions, under a variety of ensemble formats.

Album Review

Cameron Mizell: Negative Spaces

Read "Negative Spaces" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
September 8, 2016

Cameron Mizell is not a well-known guitarist but he is a talented one. Working with just keyboards and drums on this CD he goes on an expansive excursion through the realms of jazz, progressive rock, funk and country. Just the first four tracks, which actually run together without a break, he goes through New Age meditation, slow-winding progressive rock, distorted psychedelia and finally twangy roadhouse country with Brad Whiteley switching expertly between electric piano and organ as needed ...

Profile

Tula's Jazz Club: A Seattle Tradition in the Making

by Paul Rauch
September 7, 2016

Life in the Pacific Northwest is hauntingly similar to jazz music itself, from that which is inward, deep in the recesses of our collective soul, to the outward expressionism as a ray of sunlight, an exaltation of joy, harmony expressed in the deep, deep blue of sentient life, and of our enlightened sky. High notes expressed in tall mountain peaks, deep tones expressed by deep, dark waters, all while Tahoma sits like Buddha, the near autumn clouds acting as a ...

Multiple Reviews

Steel Guitar, Snow and Sunny Beaches: Five New Albums on Losen Records

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 7, 2016

Odd Gjelsnes' Norwegian label, Losen Records, has been incredibly prolific in recent years, releasing a staggering amount of quality albums. However, with so much music, it is hard to keep up with the pace. Here is an attempt to summarize a little portion of the recent recording activity of the label. Old names return, new names enter the roster and throughout it all, the visual expression of painter Sylva Karin Johansen connects some of the releases that are otherwise highly ...

Album Review

Andrew McAnsh: Illustrations

Read "Illustrations" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
September 7, 2016

Its liner notes, song titles, and cover art liberally peppered with references to Japanese culture and Zen Buddhism, Andrew McAnsh's debut recording, Illustrations was inspired by the young trumpeter / composer's journeys through the Land of the Rising Sun. However, McAnsh's original compositions--far from displaying any direct influences of Japanese ethnic music--are relentlessly hard-hitting modern jazz inventions along the lines of recent offerings by fellow trumpeters John Blevins and Ron Miles and Dave Douglas. Like Blevins, McAnsh works with a ...

Album Review

Jason Rigby: One: Detroit-Cleveland Trio

Read "One: Detroit-Cleveland Trio" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
September 7, 2016

Jason Rigby's first two releases as a leader, Translucent Space (2006) and Sage (2009), were widely acclaimed both for Rigby's sophisticated compositions and for his voice as an emerging saxophone talent. On these albums, the first with a nonet and the second with a quintet, Rigby evoked the sound of mid-to-late 60s Miles and early fusion, with arrangements that were disciplined and complex but which hinted at openness to the avant- garde. On One: Detroit-Cleveland Trio, Rigby's third ...

Album Review

Shu Odamura: Cloud Illusions

Read "Cloud Illusions" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
September 7, 2016

Guitarist/composer Shu Odamura was born in Kyoto, Japan; graduated from the Berklee College of Music; and now lives in New York. He plays this all original set on nylon string guitar (despite the photo with electric guitar in the album liners) in a trio with bassist Yoshiki Yamada and drummer Yutaka Uchida. “Rain" opens the set with an upbeat feel and a memorable melody. It has a contemporary jazz sound, which doesn't stop Odamura and Yamada from trading fours (then ...

Album Review

Harvey Valdes: PointCounterPoint

Read "PointCounterPoint" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 7, 2016

It makes sense that experimental guitar hero and studio whiz David Torn would be involved to whatever extent on guitarist Harvey Valdes (Butch Morris, Sean Sonderegger's Magically Inclined) debut solo album. Torn mastered this studio session and the parallel here is that both guitarists tend to rip boundaries to shreds. Here, Valdes and violinist Sana Nagano most assuredly delve into PointCounterPoint jaunts, cloaked within an off-centered rumination of progressive metal, jazz rock, jazz improvisation and invigorating journeys, structured on ferocious ...