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

Roy Nathanson: Nearness And You, Duets and Improvisations

Read "Nearness And You, Duets and Improvisations" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
April 13, 2016

On saxophonist Roy Nathanson's 2009 disc Subway Moon (Yellowbird), he covers the R&B song “Love Train" a huge hit for The O'Jays in 1973. Nathanson's version was a relaxed take on the age old wish for world peace. By decelerating the music he accelerated the intimacy. He utilizes the same device on Nearness Of You, an album of duets and improvisations recorded with his friends and longtime playing partners during his 2015 residency at The Stone in New York.

Album Review

Andy Jaffe Nonet +4: Arc

by Mark Corroto
April 13, 2016

It is difficult to get past the opening, and title track, to Andy Jaffe's Nonet recording Arc. The reason being, it is a flawless piece of music as it is written, arranged and performed. There is just something about this little waltz that is cinematic, in both the sense that it feels like the soundtrack to a classic film and that it also projects a narrative in the mind. Jaffe weaves the Taiwanese Interestring Quartet into the seamless piece, but ...

Album Review

Kaoru Watanabe: Néo

by James Nadal
April 13, 2016

Nostalgia, in Japanese, lightly translates into natsukashisa, a yearning for something from the past. American born, multi-instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe has reverted to his ancestral Japan for inspiration on Néo, a synthesis of dignified taiko drumming with the jazz sensibility of improvisation. Prepared with a degree in jazz flute and saxophone performance, Watanabe spent a decade performing and touring with Kodo, the globally recognized taiko drum ensemble, and has contributed to the Silk Road Project. This recording of original compositions, is ...

Album Review

‘Nuf Said: Rise

by Dan Bilawsky
April 12, 2016

The music of 'Nuf Said is neither jazz nor funk nor soul nor rock. It's all of it and more. This New York-based quintet taps into each of those styles and mixes them all together to create a groove-heavy, stirring brand of music that's all its own. Rise--'Nuf Said's second album, following My Kind (Self Produced, 2014)--arrives as the band celebrates its fifth anniversary. Vocalist Ioana Vintu and saxophonist Andrew Gould birthed this project and set things ...

What is Jazz?

The Virtues of Jazz

by Douglas Groothuis
April 12, 2016

Any jazz aficionado knows the musical virtues of jazz, whether they are a musician, a jazz writer, or simply a committed jazz listener. In classical Western thought (that is, in the musings of cats like as Aristotle and Plato), a virtue is a kind of excellence in performance that flows from a settled habit. One who plays the flute as it ought to be played--the proper tone, pitch, and timing--displays a virtue or sharp skill in that musical instrument. One ...

Live Review

Sons of Kemet at Black Box, Belfast

by Ian Patterson
April 12, 2016

Sons of Kemet Black Box Belfast, N. Ireland April 7, 2016 The finer points of ancient Egyptian religion might not have been the chief topic of discussion among the Black Box crowd as it waited for Mobo Jazz Award winners Sons of Kemet to take the stage in. Yet music is not hermetic; even if the listener is unaware of the multiple forces that can shape music, the effects of those forces are duly ...

Album Review

Esperanza Spalding: Emily’s D+Evolution

Read "Emily’s D+Evolution" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
April 12, 2016

Singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding has moved effortlessly between genres whether performing with saxophone great Wayne Shorter or releasing projects which have incorporated explorations in chamber and pop music. She's impressed fans with her beautiful vocals and expressive instrumental skills even though questions remain about her musical identity. Is she jazz, pop, or a fringe artist who won't be locked into any genre? The answer to that question has no bearing on Spalding's talent and creativity which ...

Album Review

Andreas Loven: District 6

Read "District 6" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
April 12, 2016

With a resumé that ranges from his native Norway down to South Africa, Andreas Loven lets you know from the start that he and his piano aren't going to fit under just one umbrella. In the simple context of an acoustic quartet (joined by sax, bass and drums), his beautifully ear-catching songwriting shows facets of all the places he's been--and as with the best cross-cultural recipes, it doesn't sound like he's simply grafting elements of one place or style onto ...

Album Review

Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue: Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue

Read "Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
April 12, 2016

The road from Texas to California runs right through T-Bone Walker, no detours about it. Since Walker packed his guitar and moved there in the 1940's, what is termed as West Coast Blues revolves around a style he defined. Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue is a blues ensemble founded by harmonica player and singer Mark Hummel, featuring guitarists Anson Funderburgh, and Little Charlie Baty. All respected instrumentalists in their own right, this collaboration is a premium showcase of West ...

Album Review

Snik: Metasediment Rock

Read "Metasediment Rock" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 12, 2016

Snik is a Norwegian quartet with a spirited approach as the respective musicians have been quite active performing with conventional and avant-garde European and USA-based jazz artists. Trombonist Kristoffer Kompen and double bassist Ole Morten Vagan's compositions present a kaleidoscopic mix of popping post-bop and free-bop style motifs often catapulted by a web of knotty unison choruses and journeys into the free realm. No doubt, these gents convey an assertive posture amid linear and surging musical plots, also ...