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.

Book Review

Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of An American Guitar Hero

by Doug Collette
August 27, 2016

Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of An American Guitar Hero Ed Ward 224 Pages ISBN: # 1613733283 Chicago Review Press 2016 Whether he meant to or not, in writing Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of an American Guitar Hero, Ed Ward mirrors his subject's style of guitar-playing. Flurries of facts precede extended statements of clarification, elongated for the purpose of emphasis, further reaffirmed (and suspense thus created) by the finality of ...

Live Review

Davy Knowles at Higher Ground

by Doug Collette
August 27, 2016

Davy Knowles Showcase Lounge, Higher Ground South Burlington, Vermont August 19, 2016 Davy Knowles took more than a few chances during his two-hour set at Higher Ground August 19th, but to his great credit, he made them all pay. Granted the audience was on his side, but their lust to cheer him on (right from the opening notes) was no greater than the precocious guitarist's determination to meet their expectations. In fact, it's ...

Interview

Marina Albero: The Sweetness of the Edge

by Paul Rauch
August 26, 2016

Marina Albero burst onto the Seattle jazz scene in April of 2014, playing a brilliant set on vibraphone in a duo with flamenco jazz master, pianist Chano Dominguez. That evening we were not only introduced to her music, but to our new neighbor, as she was moving her family to Seattle from Barcelona. Since that time she has energized the scene with her quartet, and in duo and solo piano performance. Her style reflects her musical journey that began with ...

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Interview

Rudy Van Gelder

by C. Andrew Hovan
August 26, 2016

This interview was originally published in June 1999.For many decades now, the name Rudy Van Gelder has been synonymous with recorded jazz music. The number of sessions he's done over the years easily numbers in the tens of thousands. He's been actively involved in the recording work of such quintessential jazz labels as Prestige, Impulse, Verve, CTI, and of course, Blue Note. In more recent times, Van Gelder has cut sessions for Highnote, Milestone, Reservoir, Venus, and N2K, ...

Album Review

Kevin Brady: Ensam

by Ian Patterson
August 26, 2016

The trans-Atlantic trio of drummer/composer Kevin Brady, Bill Carrothers and Dave Redmond first came together in 2006, since when it has toured more frequently than it's recorded. Ensam (LRP Music, 2016), the group's third outing, following Common Ground (The Livingroom Project, 2007) and Zeitgeist (Fresh Sounds, New Talent, 2009), is an intimate three-way dialogue, with veteran English singer Norma Winstone adding lustre to several tracks. Brady--who penned all the original tunes--leaves an abundance of room for his colleagues to explore ...

Album Review

Bobby Kapp / Matthew Shipp: Cactus

Read "Cactus" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
August 26, 2016

After a productive period in the 1960s, drummer Bobby Kapp revived his career at the start of the millennium. Among his latter projects was The Fine Wine Trio with pianist Richard Wyands and bassist Gene Perla. The group was commissioned by the US State Department to tour Africa and Jordan as “Jazz Ambassadors." That music, being decidedly mainstream, did not reflect Kapp's free jazz affinity having played with the likes Archie Shepp and much more recently with alto saxophonist Noah ...

Album Review

Denny Zeitlin: Early Wayne: Explorations of Classic Wayne Shorter Compositions

Read "Early Wayne: Explorations of Classic Wayne Shorter Compositions" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
August 26, 2016

Early Wayne has many things going for it: it is a well recorded, live concert; pianist Denny Zeitlin, who has been recording for over fifty years, is masterful to the point of completely taking over the listening space, and, last but not least, the material used as the base for his improvisation is a set of ten Wayne Shorter tunes, mostly from the mid-60s. The list of tunes, and the albums from which they come is below; the ...

Album Review

Susana Santos Silva, Lotte Anker, Sten Sandell, Torbjörn Zetterberg, John Fält: Life and Other Transient Storms

Read "Life and Other Transient Storms" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
August 26, 2016

Many fans of contemporary creative jazz and improvised music have in recent years become aware of Susana Santos Silva. Despite her relative youth (37), this extraordinary Portuguese trumpet player possesses a remarkably self-assured and distinctive voice on her instrument, and she excels in straddling the lines between composition and free improvisation. For this release, she's assembled a star-studded ensemble, called “Life and Other Transient Storms," for two long, unstructured improvisations, and the result is a first-rate, eminently enjoyable collaboration.

What is Jazz?

Jazz Popularity and You

by Douglas Groothuis
August 26, 2016

Twenty years ago I read in a William Bennett book that jazz made up only 3% of the music market. I often lamented that when jazz came up in any of the classes I taught. I further wondered if that lamentable percentage included sales by Kenny G. If so, all the worse, since, as Pat Metheny said, G is either not jazz or very bad jazz. I opt for not jazz, since a necessary element in America's classical music is ...

Interview

Dominick Farinacci: Sharing Stories

by R.J. DeLuke
August 25, 2016

Dominick Farinacci, a trumpeter from Cleveland, is a strong improviser with a wide, round tone. It's suited for his predilection for the melodic side of the music. But his vision of music extends beyond the act of playing and the art of performing--something he has done around the globe for years, carving out a successful career after being mentored by Wynton Marsalis. Farinacci truly envisions music as something that can bring people in a community, from diverse backgrounds ...