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 From Philadelphia

Sittin' In with Korey Riker at the Kimmel Center

by Geno Thackara
March 14, 2016

Korey Riker SEI Innovation Studio @ The Kimmel Center Sittin' In Philadelphia, PA March 9, 2016 It's what jazz is all about: sharing the experience, connecting face-to-face and not knowing exactly what's coming. Philadelphia's Kimmel Center supports the tradition with an almost-monthly free showcase called Sittin' In--an unpredictable combination of concert and informal open jam. For the March installment, the center's 2016 jazz-composer-in-residence Korey Riker and an exuberant group of local figures offered a ...

Album Review

Doug Webb: Sets The Standard

Read "Sets The Standard" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
March 14, 2016

Doug Webb's newly released Sets The Standard is a textbook case of individual resourcefulness and group consonance in the context of songs often associated with the jazz tradition. For the most part, Webb, who plays tenor, stritch, and soprano sax on the record, puts his assertive, hard blowing persona on hold in favor of a somewhat laid- back, nuanced approach to the heads and to improvisation. It doesn't feel like a compromise or a concession to marketplace realities as much ...

Album Review

Splashgirl: Hibernation

Read "Hibernation" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
March 14, 2016

For Hibernation, their fifth Hubro release, Splashgirl retain some of the characteristics that made their recent albums successful, while curtailing others and moving forward into new territory. This album was produced by the renowned American Randall Dunn--producer of Oren Ambarchi, Earth, Six Organs of Admittance, Sunn O)))--who mixed Splashgirl's breakthrough 2011 album Pressure and then successfully produced their last one, Field Day Rituals. Where Pressure featured five guest artists alongside the core trio of Splashgirl, Field Day Rituals ...

Album Review

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real: Something Real

Read "Something Real" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
March 14, 2016

Talk to anyone who saw Neil Young on his 2015 tour with Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and no doubt you'll hear raves about the band as well as the Canadian rock icon. Nelson and co's Something Real reaffirms the complementary connection, but also posits the sons of Willie and their compatriots as a force to be reckoned with on their own. At least at first, it's startling to listen to this record and not just ...

Album Review

Christine Jensen/Maggi Olin: Transatlantic Conversations: 11 Piece Band Live

Read "Transatlantic Conversations: 11 Piece Band Live" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
March 14, 2016

The engaging and inventive Transatlantic Conversations: 11 Piece Band is the result of a remarkable collaboration between Swedish pianist Maggie Olin and Canadian saxophonist Christine Jensen. What is exceptional about this Olin/Jensen pairing is the complementary nature of their singular musical visions. This is reflected in shared thematic structure and the creative spirit of the originals each woman has penned without either one losing her stylistic distinctiveness. The Elingtonian “Orange" is one of the five Olin compositions on ...

Album Review

Gary Lucas' "Fleischerei": Music From Max Fleischer Cartoons

Read "Music From Max Fleischer Cartoons" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
March 14, 2016

The hip kids knew what to look for in those Saturday morning cartoons. It was the early Warner Brothers' animations and the black-and-white Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons. Insider jokes, stabs at the government and popular figures, and sexual innuendo were commonplace, even if we didn't quite get the meanings. Each were politically incorrect, before there was such a thing as political correctness. You knew you were onto something, and in retrospect the music was the key that unlocked that ...

Live Review

Live From Old York: The East Pointers, Bob Fox & Fairport Convention

by Martin Longley
March 13, 2016

The East Pointers The Black Swan February 4, 2016 Inexplicably, it seemed that around a third of the seats for this full-house gig was taken up by an all-female Norwegian posse. Even if they hadn't made this choice, it's highly likely that Canadian trio The East Pointers would have sold out the room regardless. Their many-date UK tour is the third storming of these isles, and the rootsy troubadours have been gathering in ...

Album Review

Danny Green Trio: Altered Narratives

Read "Altered Narratives" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
March 13, 2016

The old adage, that you know you're a jazz musician when you realize that there are actually two 9 o'clocks in a day, has been replaced with the revelation that jazz is a musical omnivore. It can consume every style of music from classical to pop as sustenance for a performance. Pianist Danny Green's proves that argument with his trio recording Altered States.The pianist was classically trained before delving into rock, ska, then Brazilian musics. His influences inform ...

Album Review

Uwe Oberg: Work

by Mark Corroto
March 13, 2016

Work is a fully realized solo recording by German pianist Owe Oberg. He makes a strong case, in the six tracks/eight compositions, for his overflowing abundance of skill and resourcefulness. Recorded in 2008, this disc comes to light (why the wait?) now, with the release of Turns (Leo, 2016) with Silke Eberhard and another solo record Twice, At Least (Leo, 2015).Like his previous disc for Hatology, Lacy Pool (2006), the music and sound quality are given top priority. ...

Album Review

Edwin G. Hamilton: The Whole World Must Change

Read "The Whole World Must Change" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 13, 2016

Edwin G. Hamilton plays drums, sings, covers organ, adds strings, writes, supplies percussion, provides piano, and includes some vibraphone work on this album. To say he's a musical jack-of-all-trades would be an understatement. But let us leave out the second part of the phrase, because he's actually quite accomplished in most of those categories. The Whole World Must Change finds Hamilton putting his many and varied skills to good use. It's an album that's all over the ...