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

Carrera Quinta: Carrera Quinta Big Band

Read "Carrera Quinta Big Band" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
April 26, 2016

Carrera Quinta is a Colombian quintet established in 2006 by composers Javier Perez Sandoval and Francy Montalvo specifically designed to perform a blend of contemporary jazz with traditional Colombian music from the Andean Region drawing on influences from such Colombian composers such as German Dario Perez, Oriol Rangel, and Trio Morales Pino among others. After recording their debut album En Esencia in 2009, the group expands to an eighteen-piece large orchestra under the direction of Ricardo Jaramillo in delivering their ...

Film Review

Miles Ahead: A Powerhouse Film, But is it the Truth?

by Victor L. Schermer
April 25, 2016

Don Cheadle Miles Ahead Sony Pictures Classics 2015 Miles Davis happens to have been actor Don Cheadle's long-time hero, and he mulled over the idea of a film about him for several years. In contemplating his directorial and screenwriting debut based on Davis' life, Cheadle could have chosen among several formats: a chronological account; the story of his music with documentary footage; or perhaps a “newsflash" version of key events from the trumpeter's tumultuous life ...

Album Review

Henry Robinett: I Have Known Mountains

Read "I Have Known Mountains" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 25, 2016

This fifth release from guitarist Henry Robinett has more than its fair share of hook-laden numbers, deep rivers, tributes, and positive musical offerings. It's a highly personal statement that serves as a journal of sorts, with Robinett stepping forward to musically reflect on a variety of topics and people near and dear to his heart. The dozen pieces that appear here make it plainly clear that Robinett is a man who places a high premium on clarity. ...

Album Review

Eugenia Choe: Magic Light

Read "Magic Light" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 25, 2016

It takes nerve to come from (seemingly) out of nowhere to present a piano trio disc. The history runs deep there: Bud Powell, Tommy Flanagan, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau, Keith Jarrett--just a scratching of the surface of the bop and post bebop players in the game. Eugenia Choe, a new-to-the-scene New York-based pianist, enters the arena in a big way with her debut, Magic Light, and not--as might be expected--on a set heavy on the Standards. ...

Album Review

Nils Økland Band: Kjølvatn

Read "Kjølvatn" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
April 25, 2016

Norwegian Hardanger fiddle specialist Nils Økland has a broad range of musical interests, as illustrated by his eclectic discography. His solo album Monograph (ECM, 2011) spotlighted his lyrical, folkloric side; Lysøen--Hommage à Ole Bull (ECM, 2011) with keyboardist Sigbjørn Apeland payed tribute to the Norwegian classical tradition; Lumen Drones (ECM, 2014) found him making trance music with two rock musicians; and the recent Felt Like Old Folk (Smeraldina-Rima, 2016) collaboration with the Belgian duo Linus was almost completely improvised. He ...

Album Review

Rolf Sturm: Young

Read "Young" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
April 25, 2016

Guitarist Rolf Sturm has found himself on two recent and exceptional recordings: Roswell Rudd and Heather Masse's August Love Song (Red House, 2016) and Jenna Mammina & Rolf Strum's Spark. He is a guitarist of expansive facility and a sense of humor, to boot. Take his present Young as an example. The release began conceptual life as a collection of Victor Young compositions. You know...the guy who wrote “When I Fall in Love," Moonlight Serenade," “Love Letters," My Foolish Heart," ...

Book Review

Stan Levey: Jazz Heavyweight

by David A. Orthmann
April 24, 2016

Stan Levey: Jazz Heavyweight Frank R. Hayde 224 Pages ISBN: #13-978-1-59580-086-2 Santa Monica Press 2016 During the course of Stan Levey: Jazz Heavyweight, Frank R. Hayde integrates Levey's personal perspective by frequently including excerpts of interviews released with the cooperation of the drummer's family. In a little over two hundred pages, Hayde's third person narrative and Levey's commentary illuminate a large complicated life filled with musical and personal transformations. Not unlike a ...

Album Review

Butch Lacy / Jesper Løvdal / Kresten Osgood / Mark Dresser: Being Playing

Read "Being Playing" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
April 24, 2016

The reason why it is so important to musicians and listeners alike that records are released is that they are artistic statements, but also because they document the development of the musicians. Sometimes, when a musician releases very few records, the release of an album becomes an event and a rare chance to catch up with the musical language of the artist. Such is the case with the album Being Playing that shows the transformation of the eminent pianist Butch ...

Extended Analysis

Buena Vista Social Club presents Ibrahim Ferrer

by Nenad Georgievski
April 24, 2016

BVSC presents Ibrahim Ferrer is the second album from the series of records by artists who participated in the legendary Buena Vista Social Club sessions, an album which exploded around the world and is now the most succesful release in the world music genre. Apart from achieving enormous success and critical acclaim, the Buena Vista Social Club has managed to introduce Cuban music to the rest of the world and give this music faces and names that people can identify ...

Album Review

Jackie Gage: Siren Songs

Read "Siren Songs" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
April 24, 2016

It is an era of difficult choices for young vocalists, but the ones that follow their heart are certainly the better for it. Jackie Gage is a determined singer who self-produced Siren Songs as a commitment toward her career in jazz. The production features a refined string quartet, augmenting the rhythm section, but the highlight is Gage's genuinely gifted vocals.The title track is a brief instrumental introduction with soft vocal texture joining the marimba in a luring invitation, ...