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.

Jazzin' Around Europe

Bergamo Jazz 2016

by Francesco Martinelli
April 18, 2016

For the first time under the artistic direction of trumpeter Dave Douglas, the 38th edition of the Bergamo Jazz Festival--one of Europe's longest running jazz events--invaded the ancient and noble city in the North of Italy with a joyous celebration of the music's diversity. The beautifully restored Teatro Sociale in the Città Alta--Bergamo's ancient city center is atop a steep hill--saw for the opening night the concert of pianist Franco D'Andrea's Traditions Today band, with Daniele D'Agaro on ...

Album Review

Trumpetology: This Is Trumpetology

Read "This Is Trumpetology" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 17, 2016

Southern California-based Trumpetology is an octet comprised of five sure-handed trumpeters and rhythm. For comparison's sake, think SuperSax for trumpets. Even though leader / arranger Walter Simonsen doesn't transcribe solos by well-known horn players to unsettle his mates, several of his charts demand the same kind of snug digital dexterity employed by SuperSax, and the group focuses in its debut album on jazz standards by Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard and Kenny Dorham. Happily (for ...

Album Review

Sonny Rollins: Holding The Stage: Road Shows, Vol. 4

Read "Holding The Stage: Road Shows, Vol. 4" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 17, 2016

The day may come when the well runs dry, but that day is not upon us. The fourth installment of Sonny Rollins' Road Shows series has arrived, bringing more beauties from the archives to light while bearing out that the genius of the Saxophone Colossus is best demonstrated on the stage. That's where the magic has always happened for him, and that's why these offerings have been so well-received. The first three volumes are already considered to be indispensable items ...

Album Review

Offpiste Gurus: In Case Of Fire

Read "In Case Of Fire" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
April 17, 2016

And now, as they say, for something completely different. In Case Of Fire is “Scandinavian Indie-Pop Jazz" for want of any other label, by the group Offpiste Gurus (vocalist/poet/songwriter Trinelise Væring, reedman Fredrik Lundin, bassist Thomas Vang and drummer/percussionist Jeppe Gram). “Offpiste" literally means skiing purposefully on ungroomed trails, that is off the beaten path, and an extended meaning of broadly doing the unexpected. How this applies here is that the album, which consists of eleven tracks all ...

Album Review

Avi Darash: Impermanence

Read "Impermanence" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
April 17, 2016

Composer/pianist Avi Darash brings both his Israeli heritage and life in Amsterdam into a musical blend which features new compositions and improvisation in equal measure. He was a finalist in the All Around Rome-Jazz Awards for ensembles in 2010, a finalist in the MIMC 2014 for classical Improvisation, and won second place at the Leiden Jazz Awards 2014. His band includes drummer Ofri Nehemya (Avishai Cohen Trio, Omer Avital, Eli Degibri, Aaron Goldberg Trio), double bassist Avri Borochov (Yama Ensemble, ...

Extended Analysis

Eyewitness Trilogy

by John Kelman
April 17, 2016

Emerging on the New York scene in the mid-1970s, guitarist Steve Khan didn't long at all to develop a strong reputation as both chameleon-like session guitarist—comfortably crossing over from the jazz world into pop and rock and gracing albums by artists ranging from Esther Phillips, Freddie Hubbard and David Sanborn to Phoebe Snow, Billy Joel and Steely Dan—and valued member of the Brecker Brothers Band, playing on the seminal uptown group's sophomore effort, 1976's Back to Back, as well as ...

Album Review

Preston Glasgow Lowe: Preston Glasgow Lowe

Read "Preston Glasgow Lowe" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
April 16, 2016

Don't let the triple-moniker business-like name fool you, these ain't no suits and this is an excellent start for PGL's eponymous debut album. A flurry of repeated shimmering phrases introduces “Colour Possesses" which shortly after its brief guitar opening evolves into multi-tracking embellished with programmed synthesizer, leading to a resonance of Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists mixed with Terry Riley, but faster. This opening salvo is, if you will, PGL's calling card, laying down the parameters within ...

Album Review

One for All: The Third Decade

Read "The Third Decade" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 16, 2016

Hard to believe it will be twenty years ago next year that the hard bop ensemble One For All debuted with Too Soon To Tell on the fledgling Sharp Nine label. Formed as a group that regularly played together at an uptown Broadway club called Augie's, each member was just at the start of their own budding careers. Even today, it continues to be a surprise that these gentlemen still find the time to assemble for the occasional record date ...

Album Review

Niechec: Niechęć

Read "Niechęć" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
April 16, 2016

It's a strange fact of life: to some degree or other, we've all got some little inexplicable deep-down attraction to things unsettling. There's no shortage of art in any medium that's based on confronting discomfort or even ugliness. It's the reason people are drawn to things like gargoyles and, I don't know, probably scrapple or Marmite. Warsaw's Niechęć (no, don't even ask me how to pronounce that) not only understands but embraces the idea--the name means “animosity" in English, so ...

Album Review

Krakauer's Ancestral Groove: Checkpoint

Read "Checkpoint" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 16, 2016

Here, clarinetist David Krakauer derives influences from life's experiences and encounters, in alignment with his East European roots. And his Ancestral Groove outfit is once again up for the occasion. He's also revered for his important role in the New York City downtown scene amid stints and recordings for saxophonist, composer John Zorn's Tzadik records label. Krakauer's line of attack is often steeped in articulate formations of Klezmer, jazz and experimental processes. Indeed, he's a gifted technician and distinct stylist. ...