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.

Bailey's Bundles

Jazz Quanta April – Five Women III: Erica Papillion-Posey, Meli’sa Morgan, Daphna Levy, Gabriela Martin, Sofia Ribeiro

by C. Michael Bailey
April 19, 2016

We are enjoying a rich period of jazz vocals creation, the story continues... Erica Papillion-Posey The Standard Reimagined: When Jazz... Self Produced 2016 Vocalist Erica Papillion-Posey recently published a book entitled Musings From the Mind of a Mezzo, Poetry & Prose of Passion, Pain & Plight (2015), a title revealing a lot about the singer. Posey is classically trained (a mezzo-soprano to be precise) at home in the realms ...

Album Review

Rich Brown: Abeng

by Dave Wayne
April 19, 2016

In jazz, it's all about the company you keep. The press accompanying bass virtuoso Rich Brown's third album, Abeng, specifically calls out Roy Ayers and Weather Report as musical reference points. And while there's a breath of Ayers' silky R&B feel to the slinky “Promessa," and though Brown's use of his fretless electric bass as a lead voice favorably recalls Jaco Pastorius' tenure in Weather Report, Abeng is more intensely colored by the music of Brown's past and current associates, ...

Album Review

Bruno Råberg/Phil Grenadier/Allan Chase: For The Unknown

Read "For The Unknown" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
April 19, 2016

Bassist Bruno Raberg returns with three-quarters of the quartet from last year's acclaimed Hot Box (Orbis Music, 2015). This outing was based on free improvisations (with extensive electronic sound design by Råberg)--it could be seen as an extension of the two collective improvisations on the previous album. No drums this time, just trumpeter Phil Grenadier, saxophonist Allan Chase (playing soprano, alto and baritone saxophones), and the leader's acoustic bass. It is still common to present improvisation sessions in full (or ...

Album Review

Various Artists: Oscar, with Love

Read "Oscar, with Love" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 19, 2016

To mark the ninetieth anniversary of the legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson's birth (August 15, 2015), Peterson's widow, Kelly Peterson, produced a tribute album for the ages: Oscar, with Love, a marvelous three-disc set comprising ten never-before-recorded Peterson compositions, nineteen of his better-known works and seven compositions written especially for him, performed by sixteen contemporary piano masters on Peterson's personal Boesendorfer Imperial piano at his private studio in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Makoto Ozone has the honor of ...

Album Review

Bill Frisell: When You Wish Upon a Star

Read "When You Wish Upon a Star" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
April 19, 2016

There's something undeniably powerful about the music of one's youth, whether it be the theme tune to a much loved children's TV show, the pop music of our teens or the soundtracks to the classic films that signpost the passing of the years. When You Wish Upon a Star pays tribute to well-known film and television theme tunes from the 1950s to the 1970s and represents the latest foray from Frisell, following his John Lennon tribute All We Are Saying... ...

Live Review

Ralph Peterson's Triangular III at Nighttown

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 18, 2016

Ralph Peterson's Triangular III Nighttown Cleveland, Ohio April 9, 2016 With the official CD release happening just the day before, there was a good deal of buzz surrounding a Saturday evening performance in Cleveland featuring drummer Ralph Peterson and his new trio. In fact, the tables were packed in tightly and a bursting crowd had gathered for the evening. Although already established in Latin jazz circles, pianist Zaccai Curtis and bassist Luques Curtis might have ...

Album Review

Joan Jeanrenaud: Visual Music

Read "Visual Music" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 18, 2016

Cellist Joan Jeanrenaud spent more than twenty years as a member of the experimental and always innovative Kronos Quartet. She left the group in 1999, and has since created an adventurous and captivating body work, including four previous CD releases, including the Grammy-nominated Strange Toys ( Talking House Records, 2008) and 2010's Pop-Pop (Deconet Records), in collaboration with percussionist/multi-instrumentalist PC Munoz. As with all her recordings, Visible Music is a work of art that was created without consideration ...

Album Review

The Oatmeal Jazz Combo: Instant Oats

Read "Instant Oats" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
April 18, 2016

Formed at Stony Brook University in 2009, The Oatmeal Jazz Combo returns with Instant Oats, their fifth album, following Whole Wheat Oats (LGY Records, 2015). There have been some changes on the front line, and there are no vocalists featured this time. The program opens with the gentle bossa nova of Antonio Carlos Jobim's “Look to the Sky," a beautiful, infrequently played tune that serves as a kind of prelude. The group really introduces itself with the fanfare-like “Searching for ...

Album Review

Falga: Falga

by Karl Ackermann
April 18, 2016

Originally formed in the Netherlands in 2013, the group Falga brings together four artists from Italy and one from Serbia, all of whom have past connections in duo and trio formations. This like-minded quintet has created a debut that reflects their individual sense of innovation and the synthesis of ideas nurtured over a two-year period. The self-titled album is a revealing and challenging avant-garde outing. Amsterdam-based baritone saxophonist Giuseppe Doronzo has a background that includes modern classical, jazz ...

Album Review

Fanfare Ciocarlia: Onwards To Mars!

Read "Onwards To Mars!" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
April 18, 2016

Onwards To Mars! is the twentieth anniversary release from the big Balkan brass band that is Fanfare Ciocărlia. One of the finest live acts on Earth, the band's energy, musicality and sheer unfettered sense of fun readily translate to record, making this album one of the most uplifting and cheerful collections one could wish to hear. Fanfare Ciocărlia sets out its stall on the a cappella opening to “Crayfish Hora"--funny, unpretentious, and immediately engaging, it draws the listener ...