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.

Take Five With...

Take Five with Boris Savoldelli

by AAJ Staff
May 5, 2016

About Boris Savoldelli: Boris is a vocal performer with a brilliant personality. He's always been in love with his “vocal instrument" and its extraordinary possibilities. He loves to find different original ways of singing, due to his eclectic background, from classical studies to jazz singing (thanks to his mentor Mark Murphy), passing from funk-rock to avant-garde experimental approaches. Boris Savoldelli has performed solo and in various projects all around the world, with over 250 performances in over 120 ...

Live Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing at the Philadelphia Art Alliance

by Asher Wolf
May 5, 2016

Mostly Other People Do the Killing Philadelphia Art AlliancePhiladelphia, PA February 15, 2016 “If mostly other people do the killing I guess that means it's sometimes us," replied bassist Moppa Elliot in response to the inevitable question about the name of his band. Though many consider Mostly Other People Do the Killing (MOPDtK) one of the most original and talented ensembles of their generation, others would argue that jazz itself is the object ...

Album Review

Carol Saboya: Carolina

Read "Carolina" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
May 5, 2016

Classic samba from enchanting Brazilian vocalist Carol Saboya and a first-rate band. It's a family affair, with her father, pianist/composer Antonio Adolfo in charge of piano and arrangements. He is working with his regular band, so the arrangements fit like a glove. The core repertoire is unimpeachable, with three songs by the legendary Antonio Carlos Jobim (including “Passarim" and “A Felicidade"), two by the later master Djavan, and one each by Pixinguinha, Joao Bosco and Edu Lobo. Saboya is equally ...

Album Review

Dick Oatts / Mats Holmquist New York Jazz Orchestra: A Tribute to Herbie +1

Read "A Tribute to Herbie +1" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 5, 2016

A Tribute to Herbie +1 is Swedish-born composer / arranger Mats Holmquist's third “tribute" album, following well-received salutes to Chick Corea (2003) and Wayne Shorter (2012). For his encomium to pianist / composer Herbie Hancock, Holmquist called upon two of New York City's most respected sidemen, alto saxophonist Dick Oatts and trombonist John Mosca, known and admired, among other things, for their long association with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, to assemble an ad hoc orchestra comprised of some of the ...

Album Review

Daevid Allen Weird Quartet: Elevenses

Read "Elevenses" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 5, 2016

Australian, Daevid Allen was one of the original progressive rock wizards who founded Soft Machine and Gong, nestled within the British Canterbury movement and beyond. Sadly, he passed away on March 13, 2016. Elevenses will stand-- barring any reissues from the vault--as his final album and the second release by his Weird Quartet. Allen's solo jaunts are quite varied and includes his University of Errors band amid other projects. Perhaps The Daily Telegraph sums up his legacy and ...

Album Review

Mette Rasmussen/Paul Flaherty/Chris Corsano: Star-Spangled Voltage

Read "Star-Spangled Voltage" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 5, 2016

I prefer the moniker 'fire music' over the descriptor 'free jazz.' It does a better job illustrating what improvising musicians achieve when they venture into the driving rhythms and forward momentum of this music. Good free jazz sounds like a bonfire. Great free jazz sounds, and feels like a barely contained wildfire. This first meeting between saxophonists Paul Flaherty and Mette Rasmussen can be classified as a conflagration with drummer Chris Corsano as the accelerant. Corsano brought together ...

Live Review

Wynton Marsalis Quintet at The Palace Theater

by Karl Ackermann
May 4, 2016

Wynton Marsalis Quintet The Palace Theater Stamford, CT April 30, 2016 There are expectations baked into a live performance from the caliber of a Wynton Marsalis. An artist who has won a Pulitzer Prize for Music, nine GRAMMY awards, serves as the Director of Jazz studies at Juilliard and is actively involved in a number of humanitarian activities, Marsalis is as much a brand name as any musician in modern history. And so, maintaining spontaneity ...

Album Review

Jack DeJohnette/Ravi Coltrane/Matthew Garrison: In Movement

Read "In Movement" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
May 4, 2016

There is something of the “six degrees of separation" theory at work in this newly formed trio, led loosely, by the great Jack DeJohnette. The drummer/multi-instrumentalist works in the company of saxophonist Ravi Coltrane whose lineage is well known, and bassist/electronic artist Matthew Garrison whose father Jimmy Garrison was the bassist in John Coltrane's classic quartet. And, of course, DeJohnette, early in his career, played with the fathers of both of his trio mates. In Movement opens ...

Multiple Reviews

Five By Five - More Love From Ivo Perelman

by Mark Corroto
May 4, 2016

2015 saw six releases by tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman. It's early in 2016, and we already have five new releases. At this pace, one can only hope for five more. Certainly, noting the combinations of players presented here and the high level of improvisation, there could easily be ten more sessions with ten different permutations. Or, like Claude Monet painting the same haystacks in different light, it would be just as satisfying to hear Perelman's saxophone with each of the ...

Album Review

The Stryker/Slagle Band Expanded: Routes

by Mark Sullivan
May 4, 2016

Guitarist Dave Stryker and saxophonist Steve Slagle met the night Stryker auditioned for organist Jack McDuff when he first moved to New York, and they have co-led the Stryker/Slagle Band since 2003. Until now the group has always been a quartet (with occasional guests), but with the addition of keyboards and three horns it is definitely “expanded." Both men have experience playing with horns, with arranger Slagle having been a member of big bands like Carla Bley's, Charlie Haden's Liberation ...