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

Joëlle Léandre - Urs Leimgruber - Fred Frith - Alvin Curran: Oakland/Lisboa

Read "Oakland/Lisboa" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 13, 2016

This multinational dream team's second album was recorded live at a venue in Lisbon, Portugal. MMM stands for Mills Music Mafia, alluding to the respective artists' tenure or residency at Mills College in Oakland, CA. As anticipated, the quartet embarks upon a course of ingenuity that would be difficult to top within global improvisational circuits. Indeed, active minds are on the loose here. They navigate through jarring pathways and even integrate off-center folk into a few choruses; whereas, ...

Album Review

Teddy Edwards: Four Classic Albums

Read "Four Classic Albums" reviewed by David Rickert

by David Rickert
February 13, 2016

Teddy Edwards was a formidable tenor player on the '50s and '60s West Coast scene with a warm and congenial tone reflected the laid-back thoughtfulness of the West Coast scene with enough soul to indicate he was listening some Coleman Hawkins in the midst of the Lester Young platters. His own recordings were a typical mix of originals and standards, many of which were brief enough to fit comfortably on a 78. After being sidelined for a few years with ...

Multiple Reviews

The Many Sides of Mike Nock

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 12, 2016

Throughout his career, the New Zealand-born pianist, Mike Nock, has explored many musical forms: fusion, modern jazz and classical music. You name it, and he has played it. At one time, he was even involved with the Naxos Jazz label as a producer and the music he helped bring to the world once again showed his diversity: big band projects, an organ combo and solo piano, just to name a few. However, there is one thing that unites the many ...

Interview

Mike Garson: David Bowie Always Chose Good Musicians

by Nenad Georgievski
February 12, 2016

By comparison, rarely anyone has ever had as diverse career within the music business as pianist Mike Garson. A jazz pianist and a teacher, he went to become one of singer David Bowie's most trusted and longest working sideman. At the start of the '70s, he was touted to Bowie and The Spiders from Mars who were in need of a pianist for their “Ziggy Stardust" tour in America in 1972. After a very brief audition, he was hired for ...

Album Review

Samo Salamon Bassless Trio: Unity

Read "Unity" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 12, 2016

For a long time, Slovenian guitarist and composer, Samo Salamon, has pursued a particular path. His signature format has become the bassless trio and he has continued to find new possibilities in this relatively rare setting. The latest incarnation of the bassless trio consists of Salamon together with American powerhouse-drummer John Hollenbeck and the sophisticated British saxophonist Julian Argüelles. Unity finds Salamon in his usual eclectic mood. He is not afraid of distorted outbursts, as evidenced by ...

Album Review

Joseph Daley: The Tuba Trio Chronicles

Read "The Tuba Trio Chronicles" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
February 12, 2016

Composer and tubaist Joseph Daley pays tribute to the great saxophonist/flutist Sam Rivers with his stimulating and provocative The Tuba Trio Chronicles. Daley and percussionist Warren Smith, who appears on the current album, were member of Rivers' tuba trio in the 1970s. They both appeared on Rivers' three volume Essence (Circle, 1976), a live recording at the legendary Bim Huis in Amsterdam. This intriguing set of LPs, sadly, remains both out of print and not reissued on CD.

Album Review

Aka Balkan Moon & AlefBa: Double Live

Read "Double Live" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
February 12, 2016

The music of the Balkans has been progressively finding a prominent place among Western listeners of creative music in the past several years, though its presence has been a relevant factor for decades. Notably Raya Brass Band, Eastern Boundary Quartet and Balkan Beat Box have directly and indirectly incorporated the regional influences in the context of post-modern approaches blending regional folk, world and jazz elements. A number of like-minded musicians--the core trio, Aka Moon (billed here as the “AKA Balkan ...

Album Review

Avataar: Petal

by James Nadal
February 12, 2016

A simplified definition of classical Indian music can be characterized as Hindustani from the north, and Carnatic from the south. Though both are based on the raga system of melodic scales, Hindustani's structure is open to improvisation, whereas Carnatic is more scientific and devotional in its approach. Saxophonist Sundar Viswanathan, although a longtime resident of Canada, was born in India, and has juxtaposed his native music with a pliable jazz awareness into Petal, his latest project with Avataar.

From the Inside Out

Unraveling the Mysteries of Monk, the Night Tripper & More

by Chris M. Slawecki
February 11, 2016

Terry Adams Talk Thelonious Clang! Records / Euclid Records 2015 Thelonious Monk's music has been more misunderstood and misinterpreted than most composers.' How you play Monk's music is just as important as what you play, and what you don't play is often just as important as what you do. “The first Monk song I heard was when I was about 14--it was 'Off Minor' by his septet," recalls Terry Adams, founder ...

Multiple Reviews

Intonema's Fifth Anniversary

by John Eyles
February 11, 2016

As it reaches the fifth anniversary of its first release, it seems a fitting time to reflect on how Intonema is progressing. Initially, the label attracted attention because it was based in St. Petersburg, on Russian soil, a novelty at the time. The early releases on the label featured Russian-based musicians, including the Intonema proprietors saxophonist Ilia Belorukov and bass guitarist Mikhail Ershov. Gradually the roster became more international, so that the third and fourth Intonema releases featured no Russian ...