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

Sainkho Namtchylak: Like a Bird or Spirit, not a Face

Read "Like a Bird or Spirit, not a Face" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
March 4, 2016

It is not easy to find a definitive discography of Sainkho Namtchylak's album releases, partly because of subtle variations in the spelling of her name and also because she has appeared on quite a few compilation albums. However, according to Namtchylak herself, this release brings the total number to over fifty. Despite the considerable ripples that the Tuvan singer has created since she first attracted attention in the early nineties--notably with albums such as Lost Rivers (FMP, 1992), Naked Spirit ...

Album Review

Doug MacDonald: Solo Plus

Read "Solo Plus" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
March 4, 2016

The field of jazz guitarists seems to have exploded with variety of discs that put one sort of spin or another on the music. From Latin touches to rock and roll beats and from avant-garde dissonance to popish smoothness this releases run the range of sounds striving to be “exeptional." It is, therefore, refreshing to hear a master of the instrument perform unadorned relying solely on his virtuosity. Guitarist Doug MacDonald does just that on the intimate and engaging Solo ...

Album Review

Enrique Haneine: Instants Of Time

Read "Instants Of Time" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
March 4, 2016

New York based multi-instrumentalist Enrique Haneine dazzled the music world with superb pianism on the 2005 collaborative release At the End of the Day (Foxhaven, 2005). Ten years later, he leads his sextet on the gripping and spirited Instants Of Time this time from the drummer seat. Haneine is a native of Mexico of Lebanese ancestry so he peppers his intricately designed compositions with a vibrant Latin groove and Levantine lyricism. Some pieces lean in one direction or ...

Album Review

Walker Family Singers: Panola County Spirit

Read "Panola County Spirit" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
March 4, 2016

The significance of gospel singing in African-American musical heritage is indisputable and well documented. With a history dating back to the infamous period of slavery, it has served as a sense of relief and offered hope for redemption to the faithful. Rooted in the negro spirituals with their intense sorrow songs and joyful jubilees, they were codified protest messages, as well as hymns praising the Lord. In modern times, as gospel spun off into popular music, for each performer who ...

Extended Analysis

Søren Gemmer: The Lark

by Phil Barnes
March 4, 2016

Danish pianist Søren Gemmer returns with an augmented line up for this his second album and follow up to the aptly named At First from 2013. Key addition is trumpet and flugelhorn player Mads La Cour, who appears on 4 compositions and two of the group improvisations, and is particularly effective on the title track “The Lark" where he adds a simply beautiful, luminous, solo. It's a wonderful track that builds gradually, Gemmer's piano solo in particular setting things up ...

Bailey's Bundles

Jazz Quanta March — Five Pianos: Marc Copland, Bill Stewart, Julian Shore, Bob Wijnen, Pablo Held

by C. Michael Bailey
March 3, 2016

Okay, Okay...OKAY! Bill Stewart is not a pianist, but his long-time collaborator Bill Carrothers is, so, LAY OFF! Marc Copland Zenith Inner Voice Jazz 2015 Pianist Marc Copland composes with a certain use of darkness, an updated musical version of Caravaggio's use of chiaroscuro in painting. Copland is aided in his alchemic light-shifting by his regular bassist Drew Gress and drummer Joey baron. Joining the trio is trumpeter Ralph Alessi, ...

Album Review

Bill Frisell: When You Wish Upon a Star

Read "When You Wish Upon a Star" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 3, 2016

Bill Frisell's America is a true land of musical opportunity. It's a place where portraits of bucolic beauty can mingle freely with reflections on gritty urban jungles, giving voice to anything and everything from the lighter side of life to the dark underbelly of existence. This inimitable guitarist's body of written work, along with his priceless interpretations of the music of Aaron Copland, Hank Williams, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Thelonious Monk, George Gershwin, Willie Nelson, and ...

Film Review

Tubby Hayes: A Man In A Hurry

by Bruce Lindsay
March 3, 2016

Tubby Hayes A Man In A Hurry Mono Media Films 2015 Tubby Hayes -the finest jazz musician Britain ever produced and one of the unheralded greats of the genre. Powerful claims, but there are plenty of jazz fans (not only in the UK) who're in favor of both of them: A Man In A Hurry is a lovingly-crafted documentary that offers plenty of evidence in their support. Hayes was primarily a tenor ...

Album Review

George Hurd: Navigation Without Numbers

Read "Navigation Without Numbers" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 3, 2016

San Francisco-based composer George Hurd doesn't subscribe to any of the monolithic definitions around musical categories. In his own creative process he incorporates classical chamber music, home-grown electronics and acoustic instrumentation. Performed by the rotation of players making up his namesake ensemble, his debut album, Navigation Without Numbers, presents us with eleven Hurd original compositions that are both open and enterprising works. Although Hurd's work principally focuses on electro-acoustic music--joined with modern chamber--he has written classical music in ...

Album Review

Aki Rissanen: Amorandom

Read "Amorandom" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
March 3, 2016

In a world of piano trios, a point of difference is simply essential. This particular trio, hailing from Finland and led by pianist Aki Rissanen, makes that difference clear from the outset. The key to this, and in addition to each of the musicians' individual talents, is the group's ability to change mood subtly and kaleidoscopically. It's also hardly surprising that this is a successful album considering the fact that this same trio comprised the rhythm section on Verneri Pohjola's ...