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

Clark Gibson + Orchestra: Bird with Strings: The Lost Arrangements

Read "Bird with Strings: The Lost Arrangements" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
February 20, 2016

Alto saxophonist Clark Gibson's Bird with Strings: The Lost Arrangements is an ambitious undertaking and, at first glance, a bold statement. Evoking, arguably the greatest jazz musician, saxophonist Charlie Parker is not an easy task. Gibson, however, is not emulating Parker nor making any stylistic claims to his legacy. He is simply paying homage to Parker by shedding light on a long obscure slice of the latter's legendary oeuvre. Obscure because the arrangements here are sides cut for ...

Album Review

Anenon: Petrol

by Mark Sullivan
February 20, 2016

Anenon is Los Angeles-based saxophonist Brian Allen Simon in hybrid mode, blending jazz, classical, ambient and electronic musics. The music on Petrol was born out of a series of improvisational sessions with friend and collaborator, drummer Jon-Kyle Mohr, who overlaid live drums over Simon's saxophone, digital production/digital drum programming, and arrangements. No matter how electronic the track, the human element is always present in the drumming, saxophone, and most especially Yvette Holzwarth's violin playing. The opening tune “Body" ...

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Live Review

Booker T. Jones at Yoshi's

by Walter Atkins
February 20, 2016

Booker T. Jones Yoshi's Oakland CA February 6, 2016 The esteemed Booker T. Jones and his band performed in front of a sold out house at Yoshi's in Oakland. He presented a set of Booker T. & the MGs vintage originals mixed in with some popular songs from artists he has admired and respected over the years. His stellar guitar centric group included Vernon Black and Ted Jones on guitars, drummer Darian Gray, and bassist ...

Product Spotlight

BenQ treVolo: Wireless Bluetooth Portable Electrostatic Speaker

by Dan Bilawsky
February 20, 2016

It would be wrong to say that there's a burgeoning Bluetooth speaker market. That ship has sailed, and at this point, the technology is omnipresent. It seems like every company in the sound game has multiple models to offer, catering to nearly every listener demographic. But that doesn't mean there aren't developments to be found in this market and interesting tweaks on methods of sound production and design. Just look at, and listen to, the BenQ treVolo. The ...

Inside AAJ

All About Jazz: Upgrades Continue... Move pending

by Michael Ricci
February 19, 2016

If you visited All About Jazz between mid-December and the first week of February, then there was a good chance that our website was either slow or (worse) timed out. We apologize for the inconvenience but we were dealing with two very serious technical issues that have since been resolved. Now that we're back on track, we're excited to roll up our sleeves and get back to doing what we do best: innovate. But first, we'll ...

Album Review

Thad Jones and Mel Lewis: All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Recordings at the Village Vanguard

Read "All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Recordings at the Village Vanguard" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 19, 2016

Offering: Live at Temple University (Resonance Records, 2014), Getz/Gilberto '76 (Resonance Records, 2016), Moments in Time (Resonance Records, 2016)...and these are just the most recent (not to forget several Wes Montgomery) releases. Resonance Records steps up (again) and releases what can only be considered the apotheosis of live jazz performance, All My Yesterdays: The Debut 1966 Recordings at the Village Vanguard. Before even considering the music, there is the captured ambiance. Recorded by a then 19-year old amateur ...

Album Review

Joseph Howell: Time Made to Swing

Read "Time Made to Swing" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
February 19, 2016

Ace clarinetist Dr. Joseph D. Howell dedicated this CD to the late Buddy DeFranco, king of bebop clarinet. In addition to being a role model as a player, his recordings with accordionist Tommy Gumina inspired Howell's collaboration with Cory Pesaturo, accordionist on this album. The accordion has found its way onto a number of jazz recordings recently, with pianist/organist Gary Versace a frequent doubler. Bassist Max Murray and drummer Ele Rubinstein complete the quartet. The program is a mix of ...

Album Review

Mike Westbrook & Company: A Bigger Show - Live

Read "A Bigger Show - Live" reviewed by Duncan Heining

by Duncan Heining
February 19, 2016

For the last few years, pianist-composer Mike Westbrook has been leading a very fine big band down in Devon but this is the first time they have made it on to CD. In fact, this is an expanded ensemble with three vocalists, two bass players, two guitarists and two drummers. The clue is in the title, this truly is A Bigger Show with the emphasis on the word “show." Some people have never got what the Westbrooks have been up ...

Album Review

Dr. John: The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974

Read "The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
February 19, 2016

If you have a musician friend who plays in a rhythm section, or just a friend who simply loves rhythm, drop Dr. John: The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968--1974 on them. Throughout these 22 tracks, every A-side and B-side of every Dr. John Atco/Atlantic Records single issued in the US and the UK, produced by such industry giants as Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun and New Orleans legends Harold Battiste and Allen Toussaint, this good doctor's rhythms are swirling, offbeat, and deceptively ...

Album Review

Donald Rubinstein: Martin

by Dave Wayne
February 19, 2016

Jazz doesn't typically play a huge role in horror film soundtracks. Sure, there are exceptions. Jazz guitarist Joseph LoDuca scored Sam Raimi's adaptation of Stephen King's The Evil Dead. Giorgio Gaslini's collaboration with the prog-rock group Goblin on Dario Argento's Suspiria certainly has some jazz-related elements, as does the work of Krzysztof Komeda (Rosemary's Baby), Bruno Nicolai, Ennio Morricone, and other European film composers. Sleazy funk and warped psychedelia are plentiful in the genre. Take, for example, the soundtrack to ...