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.

Multiple Reviews

Another Timbre’s Violin +1 Series

by John Eyles
June 9, 2016

In common with many other labels, Another Timbre is in the habit of releasing its CDs in batches, usually four at a time. Occasionally these batches have an overarching theme linking them, such as its “Silence and After" or “Berlin" Series. The label's latest batch is one such, bearing the title “Violin + 1," because the four releases feature “experimental duos for violin with one other instrument." With four different violinists, each combined with a different instrument--piano, percussion, double bass, ...

Album Review

Ron Thomas: Duo

Read "Duo" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
June 9, 2016

The poet John Keats famously wrote: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever." That's the kind of album this is. It's one stretch of beautiful playing from beginning to end. It's not a “statement," it's not a “thing," it's not a “groove." It's just music that, taken as a whole becomes an “objet d'art," something special to have in your collection and listen to over and over again because its perfection draws you towards it. Pianist Ron ...

Album Review

Janiva Magness: Love Wins Again

Read "Love Wins Again" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
June 9, 2016

There are those whose course in life was altered as music intervened, taking them in another direction. Janiva Magness was headed down a long hard road, when, as a desolate teenager, snuck into a nightclub, and got blinded by the blues. There were the obligatory lean years of paying dues before releasing, “More Than Live" in 1992. Ten albums and twenty-odd years after that, Love Wins Again reveals the singer as a woman brimming with confidence and gratitude for the ...

Album Review

Eden Bareket Trio: Choice

Read "Choice" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 9, 2016

Buenos Aires native and baritone saxophonist Eden Bareket is new to the New York jazz scene but demand has been growing for his presence as a sideman. Having played with the Ari Hoenig Nonet, he has worked prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Choice is his debut recording with, Or Bareket, on bass and Felix Lecaros on drums. Or Bareket was the first prize winner at the International Society of Bassists' jazz ...

Album Review

Lenny Sendersky-Tony Romano Quartet: Intersection

Read "Intersection" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
June 9, 2016

Intersection is the second album from saxophonist Lenny Sendersky and guitarist Tony Romano, following Desert Flower (LeTo Records, 2013)--an all original set with compositions contributed equally by both co-leaders. They are joined by veteran bassist Steve LaSpina (who has considerable history with guitarists, including Jim Hall, Pat Martino, and Vic Juris) and drummer Matt Kane. Romano plays nylon-string guitar--but without emphasizing the latin or classical styles usually associated with the instrument--giving the band a distinctive, contemporary sound. Sandersky's ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with B.D. Lenz

by AAJ Staff
June 8, 2016

About B.D. Lenz: Mix the sophistication of jazz, the grit of blues, and the grooves of funk and soul, and you have the recipe for contempo-jazz guitarist B.D. Lenz. The New Jersey native has played guitar since his early teens, is a graduate of Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, and has studied with such masters as Mike Stern, Vic Juris, and Charlie Banacos along the way. Lenz has released 9 highly-acclaimed recordings as a leader featuring greats such ...

Live Review

Wadada Leo Smith Golden Quartet at La Sala Rossa

by Mike Chamberlain
June 8, 2016

Wadada Leo Smith Golden Quartet La Sala Rossa Suoni Per Il Popolo Montreal, Quebec June 2, 2016 The Suoni Per Il Popolo, the annual June festival organized by the people at La Sala Rossa and Casa del Popolo, opened its Sala Rossa portion of the program with a concert by trumpeter/composer/teacher Wadada Leo Smith and his Golden Quartet of Anthony Davis, John Lindberg, and Pheeroan akLaff playing music from ...

Album Review

Megumi Yonezawa Trio: A Result of the Colors

Read "A Result of the Colors" reviewed by Tyran Grillo

by Tyran Grillo
June 8, 2016

Those outside of New York City, where Megumi Yonezawa currently resides, may only recognize the Japanese pianist, if anywhere, as sidewoman for Greg Osby (see 2004's Public on Blue Note), who brought her onboard following an enthusiastic endorsement from none other than Jason Moran. It was in Osby's band that she developed a rapport with drummer Eric McPherson, and along with bassist John Herbert forms the trio of this, her leader debut. Being such an inaugural enterprise, it invites listeners ...

Album Review

Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord: Play All the Notes

Read "Play All the Notes" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 8, 2016

When we last left Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chord they had just released Bring Their 'A' Game, the second chapter in their four EP tetralogy. Like its predecessor, Make Magic Happen it was full of precarious diversions that went beyond well-mapped terrain. The group approaches the unfamiliar with cleverness, misdirection, and at times, a full-frontal assault on the senses. The third EP in the year-long series is Play All the Notes and the quintet does just that.

Album Review

John Surman: Morning Glory

Read "Morning Glory" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
June 8, 2016

This is the first John Surman-authorised reissue of his seminal album released on the Island Records label in 1973 (ILPS9237) that acted as a signal delineation between what preceded it (a relatively conventional approach with an emphasis on blistering baritone saxophone outings) and what was to follow (the far more pastoral ECM years, albeit with the occasional quartet and big band foray). Up to this point British jazz has been stoking-up a real furnace of excellent and often ground breaking ...