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.

Live Review

Big Ears Festival 2016

by Mark Sullivan
April 11, 2016

Big Ears Festival Knoxville, TN March 31-April 2, 2016 Since its beginning in 2009, the Big Ears Festival has always been willfully, unapologetically eclectic. Their own self-description is “a dynamic, interactive experience that explores connections between musicians and artists, crossing all musical genres while interfacing with film, performance and the visual arts." Named for an especially perceptive listener—one who may hear things others would miss—it offers interactive workshops, installations, exhibitions, film screenings and surprise collaborations, in ...

Album Review

Christopher Zuar Orchestra: Musings

by Jack Bowers
April 11, 2016

When a composer / arranger who hasn't yet turned thirty can enlist the caliber of musicians who are present and accounted for on Musings, the inescapable assumption is that something special is afoot. Upon listening, that appraisal proves to be quite accurate, as young Christopher Zuar (twenty-seven when this debut album was recorded) presents seven of his uncommonly erudite and perceptive compositions (and one, which he arranged, by Egberto Gismonti) that together signal the emergence of an exemplary talent.

Album Review

Shunzo Ohno: ReNew

by Tyran Grillo
April 11, 2016

ReNew marks the 16th leader date for Japanese trumpeter Shunzo Ohno, whose evolving proficiency and clarity of tone are matched by an emotional undercurrent all his own. Built around the theme of recovery in the wake of recent natural disasters, among them the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, this album fuses Ohno's diverse influences into one melodious canvas, across which no single brushstroke is wasted. Each track sharpens a personal edge, with themes ranging from friendship and unity ...

Album Review

Dena DeRose: United

Read "United" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 11, 2016

Loathe as one might be to admit it, there are far too many singers today who consider themselves jazz vocalists. The fact of the matter is it is far too easy to scat a few lines, come up with some nouveau riche lyrics, and press your album at 45 rpm than to really function as a vital musician that also happens to vocalize. Herein rests the problem, often abetted by the hype that only the media can do far too ...

Album Review

Curtis Stewart: Of Colors

Read "Of Colors" reviewed by Tyran Grillo

by Tyran Grillo
April 11, 2016

Curtis Stewart's biography may read like a playlist of his biggest influences--not least of all his father, jazz tuba pioneer Bob Stewart, and mother, Greek violinist and composer Elektra Kurtis--but the blazing violinist has made an indelible mark with his debut record as a jazz leader, Of Colors. From among said influences, Curtis pays homage to a selective pedigree, crafting a series of mostly vignette-sized portions into a dual program--split between the title suite and another, called “(UN)- folding"--that overgrows ...

Album Review

Ryan Baker: Timeless Again

Read "Timeless Again" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
April 11, 2016

Las Vegas-based vocalist Ryan Baker has always had a strong affinity for the standards and as a singer, draws inspiration from the great Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme and others. Timeless Again is Baker's tribute to the classics delivering a vocal jazz album putting his own unique style on oft-recorded songs that make them sound almost new. Originally from Long Island, NY, Baker moved to Vegas in 2003 and has become one of the most in-demand singers in the area singing ...

Live Review

Swingin' In The Rain: Portland Jazz Festival 2016

by Chuck Koton
April 11, 2016

Sonny Fortune and Azar Lawrence Jimmy Mak'sPDX Jazz FestivalPortland, OR February 18-19, 2016 Any American burg that aspires to “great city" status has got to have a solid jazz scene. Sorry, but hipster hat shops, artisanal juiceries, and $6 coffee from beans grown on sustainable farms in Africa and Latin America just wont do. Portland, the Rose City of the rugged Northwest, is one of those aspirational cities. And after a ...

Album Review

Gregory Porter: Take Me To The Alley

Read "Take Me To The Alley" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 10, 2016

The ineffable charms of Gregory Porter can't help but woo and win over the ear. He's the epitome of soulful sophistication--part tender poet, part cogent preacher, fully a man of the people--and he has a voice that can make the angels weep. While we often bemoan the choices that fame's fickle index finger makes, it pointed in the correct direction this time. Gregory Porter is everything he's cracked up to be and more. Take Me To The ...

What is Jazz?

Jazz Cosmos: Music and Modern Physics

by Victor L. Schermer
April 10, 2016

To the memory of Leonard Bernstein, the greatest musical educator of all time, a great conductor and composer who loved jazz and whose televised lectures brought a whole generation of listeners into insightful contact with the music. Maybe you remember how astrophysicist Carl Sagan's vision of “billions and billions of stars" captured the awesome feeling of seeing the firmament of the heavens, marveling at its beauty and contemplating the incredible universe. Well, strange as it may seem, many ...

Album Review

Walt Weiskopf: The Way You Say It

Read "The Way You Say It" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 10, 2016

For quite some time, saxophonist Walt Weiskopf had a forum for expressing his growth and development via his many albums for Criss Cross Jazz. While that fruitful partnership ended in 2010 with See the Pyramid, Weiskopf seems to have found a new home with Marc Free's Posi-Tone imprint. With three releases added to his already healthy catalog in less than 24 months, Weiskopf continues to build on his jazz reputation even while the masses are becoming more aware of his ...