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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Chad Taylor and Smoke Shifter at the Jazz Gallery
by Dave Kaufman
The most excellent album, Smoke Shifter (Otherly Love Records, 2025), places Chad Taylor in the foreground as a bandleader, but his enduring presence onstage is evidenced by a long career built on deep collaborations. He is widely recognized for his close musical bond with saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, an association that ranges from duo work to trios to their standout, acclaimed Molecular Systematic Music Quartet. That same responsive intelligence has shaped Taylor's roles across the various Chicago Underground projects and ...
Continue ReadingOmrum: Bringer of Light
by Glenn Astarita
The Copenhagen-based quartet Omrum, comprising a tier of top-flight Scandinavian musicians, delivers its debut with Bringer of Light. The album captures trumpeter Erik Kimestad, trombonist Mads Hyhne, bassist Richard Andersson, and drummer Jakob Hoyer moving fluidly between composed structures and collective improvisation, displaying both admirable restraint and mutual trust. The opening “Intro" and “Blues for Teitelbaum" set the tone: a focus on timbral subtlety, ethereal lyricism, and conversational interplay. Kimestad and Hyhne exhibit strong chemistry throughout, their trumpet ...
Continue ReadingBetty Bryant, Lisa Hilton, Carolyn Trowbridge, Kris Davis With The Lutoslawski Quartet & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
Happy New Year! This broadcast welcomes 2026 with new music from Betty Bryant, Lisa Hilton, Carolyn Trowbridge, Kris Davis, Part 1 of a look back at some notable releases of the past year, birthday shoutouts to Una Mae Carlisle, Naama Gheber, Nancy LaMott, Emma Dayhuff, Susannah McCorkle, Joe Lovano, Sullivan Fortner and yours truly Mary Foster Conklin, among others, plus a remembrance of several artists who left us in 2025. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them ...
Continue ReadingMusic From Favourite Recordings of 2025
by Maurice Hogue
Aside from the two opening tracks from South African drummer Asher Gamedze's upcoming release, A Semblance Of Return, the rest of this show features a track from each of the 25 favourite recordings played on One Man's Jazz in 2025. These were chosen from recordings released by artists from almost 40 different countries. It was a very, very good year! Playlist Asher Gamedze “Air (If Involvedness)" from A Semblance Of Return (Northern Spy) 00:00 Asher Gamedze “Following Up" ...
Continue ReadingPierre Giroux's Favorite Jazz Albums of 2025
by Pierre Giroux
The story of my selection of the top jazz albums of 2025, is, fittingly a conversation between past and present. New recordings by working bands and veteran leaders proved that the language of swing, blues and modern harmony is still being spoken with conviction, while carefully curated reissues reminded us just how deep the tradition runs. Equally compelling were the previously unheard sessions finally brought to light, offering a fresh glimpse of great artists caught in unguarded, inspired moments.Together these ...
Continue ReadingJohn Scofield & Dave Holland: Memories Of Home
by Ian Patterson
"Jazz is best when it's completely carefree. The only problem is when you care about the music more than anything in the world--how do you get carefree?" John Scofield raised the conundrum in a a 2023 interview, though you suspect he has been working out the riddle his entire career. Ditto bassist Dave Holland. On Memories Of Home, the revered guitarist and double bassist strike the perfect balance between care and carefree on a set of texturally rich compositions that ...
Continue ReadingKerry Politzer: Alternate Route
by Dan McClenaghan
A first impression as pianist Kerry Politzer's ninth album spins: This is an artist adept at bringing a band together for a one-day studio outing to play a bunch of her forward-leaning compositions to turn out a vibrant, crisp-sounding set. Obvious also, on tune # 1--"Before It's Too Late"--is that guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel has a special genius for pairings with pianists. He proved that with his contribution to Jo-Yu Chen's Stranger (Okeh Records, 2014), and he is in the mix ...
Continue ReadingSophie Agnel / Michael Zerang: Draw Bridge
by John Sharpe
Draw Bridge showcases yet another unlikely but rewarding product of the well-trodden thoroughfare between France and Chicago. Under the aegis of the Transatlantic Bridge initiative, now in its 12th year, pianist Sophie Agnel enters the studio with percussionist Michael Zerang for a series of nine collective duets. The pair traffics in a unconventional language wrested from prepared piano and an augmented drum kit, a music that intrigues as much as it unsettles. Agnel's dissatisfaction with the limitations of ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Les Elgart & Jonah Jones
by Joe Dimino
For our final broadcast of 2025, we crack open the vinyl vault and let the turntable speak. Episode 940 of Neon Jazz kicks off in style with The Jonah Jones Quartet, spinning a gem from the 1958 classic Swinging at the Cinema. From there, we take a deep, joyful stroll through jazz history--drawing from the timeless sounds of Larry Clinton, Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, Helen O'Connell, Gerry Mulligan, Hal Kemp, Les Elgar, Buddy Morrow, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, ...
Continue ReadingSinsuki Fujieda Group: Fukushima
by Don Phipps
Sinsuke Fujieda's straightforward jazz album Fukushima offers up some enjoyable and tantalizing moments but ultimately suffers from repetitive arrangements and the limited range of his side musicians. Jazz is a music that rewards experimentation and adventure, but on Fujieda's nine compositions, he and his band stick with a “been there, done that" approach that by the album's end seems threadbare. Fujieda plays tenor and soprano saxophones, flute and clarinet. His explorations on the four instruments reveal a professional ...
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