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

The Fairfield Four in Little Rock

by C. Michael Bailey
March 19, 2016

The Fairfield Four South On Main Little Rock, ARMarch 9, 2016 “Let Us Pray..." The downtown Little Rock restaurant and performance space, South on Main, is the place where the Oxford American [A Magazine of the South] goes 'from the page to the stage.' The venue closed the 2015 Oxford American Concert Series with a spirited folk romp by The Indigo Girls, and properly inaugurated the magazine's 2016 Jazz Series with an appearance ...

Album Review

Ry Cooder, Ibrahim Ferrer & Ruben Gonzalez: Buena Vista Social Club

Read "Buena Vista Social Club" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski

by Nenad Georgievski
March 19, 2016

One of the criteria for testing whether an album is a classic or not is to see its endurance and lasting appeal long after it was made rather than its immediate impact. When it comes to the Buena Vista Social Club album it not only made its impact soon after it was released, surpassing record sales projections, but almost 20 years ahead it still delights listeners, and most importantly it is still the best-selling recording in the “world music" genre ...

Album Review

Jeff Buckley: You and I

Read "You and I" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 19, 2016

The life and career of Jeff Buckley were cut extremely short and at a point where the possibilities had barely begun to be apparent. After the fatal drug overdose of his famous father, the folk singer (and, for at least one album, jazz singer) Tim Buckley, the son spent much of his adolescence living on the border of poverty. That life, however, was not without ongoing musical influences, his mother being a classically trained musician. In high school, Buckley played ...

Live Review

Brilliant Corners 2016

by Ian Patterson
March 19, 2016

Brilliant Corners 2016 Various venues Belfast, N. Ireland March 5-12, 2016 Another Brilliant Corners, a few more brilliant corners. Belfast's fledgling international jazz festival may only be in its fourth year but already it feels like an established part of the city's vibrant cultural landscape, a date in the calendar to look forward to, rather than an event that takes people by surprise. The original three-day festival has grown steadily ...

Album Review

Noah Preminger: Pivot: Live At The 55 Bar

Read "Pivot: Live At The 55 Bar" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
March 19, 2016

The first thing that should be said about tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger's Pivot: Live At The 55 Bar is the extremely exciting you-are-there feeling of the recording. Recording engineer Jimmy Katz has managed to capture the sound and visceral feel of a jazz quartet in full cry with no net. Many jazz listeners can remember a performance when everything clicked and the magic happened--where the audience was as much in the groove as the players were with no space existing ...

Album Review

Henry Threadgill Ensemble Double Up: Old Locks And Irregular Verbs

Read "Old Locks And Irregular Verbs" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 18, 2016

The premiere of Old Locks and Irregular Verbs--Henry Threadgill's tribute to his longtime friend and colleague, musical pioneer Lawrence D. Butch" Morris--was easily one of the most talked about events at the 2014 edition of New York's Winter Jazzfest. The buzz factor and expectation surrounding this work and the band performing it was so strong, in fact, that it was scheduled for two performance slots. For any other act at a festival that prides itself on diversity, that might've been ...

Album Review

Julian Hartwell: The Julian Hartwell Project

Read "The Julian Hartwell Project" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
March 18, 2016

A regular performer throughout the Philadelphia, PA area over the last ten years, pianist/bandleader and educator Julian Hartwell, has brought together a band of young up-and-coming musicians from the area's vibrant jazz scene for the production of The Julian Hartwell Project, the group's self-titled, all-original debut album. Featuring eight original compositions, the music highlights a light ensemble that has little problem sounding like a formidable big band and use their high-octane approach to blend elements of R&B, funk and bebop ...

Album Review

Alberto Pinton/Noi Siamo: Resiliency

Read "Resiliency" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
March 18, 2016

In the old days, before clouds, streaming music, and compact discs, the first track from reedist Alberto Pinton's latest release Resiliency would encompass an entire side of a vinyl LP. Maybe we should consider the past when listening to this release by his quartet, Noi Siamo. The disc, recorded live at Stockholm's Glenn Miller Cafe in 2015, opens with “Krigarens Väg," (Warrior's Way) a complete workout in itself. Pinton burns through his clarinet before moving onto his baritone ...

Album Review

Metal Chaos Ensemble: Intermetallic Compounds

Read "Intermetallic Compounds" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 18, 2016

A one-time student of the free improvisational saxophonist, George Garzone, the prolific David Peck (aka PEK) is a multi-instrumentalist/composer and the founder of Evil Clown Records. The ambitious scope of PEK's larger mission is worth noting. The Evil Clown consortium operates, in part, as a large avant-garde cooperative of artists who may show up as part of the label's various groups -String Theory, Turbulence, New Language Collaborative, Leap of Faith and here, on Intermetallic Compounds from the Metal Chaos Ensemble. ...

Album Review

Bathysphere: Bathysphere

Read "Bathysphere" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 18, 2016

Driff Records labelmates, pianist Pandelis Karayorgis and reedman Jorrit Dijkstra assembled this impressive lineup with the intentions of keeping the “individual musicians in mind." The group moniker relates to a deep-sea submersible apparatus that draws a parallel to the ensemble's deep dive musical exploits. The band imparts a translucent region of sound via asymmetrical elements of modern mainstream and avant-garde framed expressionism. One of the reoccurring highlights pertain to the artists' inner-workings and mechanics in concert with ballsy horns charts; ...