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.

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Genius Guide to Jazz

Who Listens to Jazz

by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius
April 14, 2016

There is an old Indian legend about several blind men examining an elephant. Each examines a different part of the creature and comes to a completely dissimilar conclusion as to what it is. Then the elephant, in a state of musth, stomps the helpless bastards to death to get at a '67 VW Microbus he mistakes for a particularly attractive female. The moral of the story is not to let handicapped people screw around with elephants. But ...

Live Review

Esperanza Spalding presents: Emily's D+Evolution at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts

by Dan Bilawsky
April 14, 2016

Esperanza Spalding presents: Emily's D+Evolution Tilles Center for the Performing Arts Brookville, NY April 10, 2016 Esperanza Spalding doesn't want anybody to fence her in. She's never said it so bluntly, but she doesn't have to: Her music says it for her. During a seventy-five minute staging of Emily's D+Evolution (Concord, 2016) at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post, Spalding managed to wed the primitive, the progressive, and the poetic ...

Album Review

Craig Taborn: Flaga: Book of Angels, Volume 27

Read "Flaga: Book of Angels, Volume 27" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 14, 2016

There was always a sense that pianist Craig Taborn was more successful as a “super sideman" than as a leader of his own recordings. His contributions to CD offerings by saxophonist Tim Berne, reedman Roscoe Mitchell, saxophonists David Binney and James Carter, and many more, have been critical in crafting dozens of excellent music sets. Then he recorded a solo piano disc for ECM Records, Avenging Angel (2011), followed by a trio set for the label, Chants (2013). These two ...

Album Review

Jim Riggs & Stefan Karlsson: Texas Times

Read "Texas Times" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 14, 2016

Recording a duo album is something that old friends Jim Riggs and Stefan Karlsson have wanted to do for some time, and they make the most of the long-delayed opportunity on Texas Times, an eloquent and engaging recital that never wears thin in spite of its more or less familiar playlist and the fact that Riggs limits himself for the most part to the alto saxophone (the qualifier “for the most part" is called for as there are times, such ...

Album Review

Jemeel Moondoc/Hilliard Greene: Cosmic Nickelodeon

Read "Cosmic Nickelodeon" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
April 14, 2016

Saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc and bassist Hilliard Greene have quite a bit to talk about in their encounter Cosmic Nickelodeon. Their shared forays into free jazz, Moondoc first with Cecil Taylor, then as a leader collaborating with William Parker and Roy Campbell, and Greene with Charles Gayle give context to this session. Moreover, the pair come together here for a set of unhurried and deliberate exchanges.Moondoc previously released Two (Relative Pitch, 2012) a duo with pianist Connie Crothers) and ...

Live From New York

Barry Adamson, Michael Formanek, Elliott Sharp & Rokia Traoré

by Martin Longley
April 14, 2016

Barry Adamson Rough Trade March 21, 2016 Hot on the heels of SXSW in Austin, Barry Adamson turned up for a lower-key solo show at NYC's Rough Trade store. His reputation was made as a bassist with Magazine and Nick Cave, but in the three decades since then he's had ample time to build up a persona as composer of movie soundtracks to imaginary flicks. Not that this is his only mission, but ...

Interview

Dave Stryker: Soulful Sound

by R.J. DeLuke
April 13, 2016

Guitarist Dave Stryker carries a soulful sound that took root in his early years in Nebraska, where he played the blues before finding his way into the world of Grant Green, Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino. More was added to the recipe when, after moving to New York City, he earned his way into the real-time universe of gritty veterans like Jack McDuff and Stanley Turrentine, musicians who played directly to people with heart, feeling and purpose. His tenure with ...

Live Review

Steve Kuhn Trio at Dazzle

by Geoff Anderson
April 13, 2016

Steve Kuhn Trio Dazzle Denver, CO April 4, 2016 Against the backdrop of a bombastic presidential election campaign with calls for nuclear proliferation and carpet bombing it's refreshing to hear nuance. The Steve Kuhn Trio understands nuance. And more. But it's the nuance that makes listening to this trio so satisfying. They swing, they play standards, they do all the things a top-flight jazz piano trio should do, but on top of that they display ...

Album Review

U.S. Army Blues: Live At Blues Alley

Read "Live At Blues Alley" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 13, 2016

When thinking of military bands, many tend to focus on their sterling technique and punctilious performances above all else. Creative concerns are rarely part of the conversation, but this album makes you wonder why. The U.S. Army Blues, a blue-chip big band of brothers that serves as the flagship jazz ensemble in the titular military branch, manages to position itself as a group that's every bit as fastidious as its concert band counterpart(s), yet equally concerned with matters related to ...

Album Review

Jason Rebello: Held

by Roger Farbey
April 13, 2016

As a teenage prodigy in 1988, Jason Rebello received the Most Promising Newcomer of the Year award in The Wire magazine. By the time he reached the tender age of 21, his debut album A Clearer View was produced by none other than Wayne Shorter; not a bad start to a burgeoning career. A graduate of London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama he's now a visiting artist of the School. Rebello has already recorded seven albums under ...