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

Aruan Ortiz Trio with Eric Revis and Gerald Cleaver: Hidden Voices

Read "Hidden Voices" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 26, 2016

Cuban born pianist and composer Aruán Ortiz is just now starting to broaden his long-overdue recognition after two decades as a leader or collaborator. More than ten years prior to his new trio release, Hidden Voices, he had drawn favorable comparisons to Chick Corea and Ornette Coleman with Aruán Ortiz Trio Vol. 1 (Pimienta Records, 2004). That outing featured an entirely different group but clearly set the groundwork for Ortiz' unique approach to creating and executing forward-looking music.

Live Review

The Victor Goines Quartet at South On Main in Little Rock

by C. Michael Bailey
January 26, 2016

The Victor Goines Quartet 2015-2016 Oxford American Jazz Series Little Rock, AR January 21, 2016 “Squarely in the Tradition..." 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 inaugurates the magazine's 2016 Jazz ...

Album Review

Slivovitz: All You Can Eat

Read "All You Can Eat" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
January 26, 2016

Freely grabbing inspiration from all manner of styles, the Neapolitan band Slivovitz functions as a high- efficiency musical omnivore, digesting and reworking different aspects of seemingly disparate raw materials into a seamless, organic whole. All You Can Eat, an appropriate title for the band's fourth long player (and their third for MoonJune), doesn't appear to be the product of mindless gluttony. Quite the contrary, the music on this disc sounds more like the product of a slow, thoughtful distillation.

Take Five With...

Take Five with William Hooker

by AAJ Staff
January 26, 2016

About William Hooker: I grew up in New Britain, Connecticut and basically was a good student, and came from a good home. I did all that I could possibly do to make my way through New Britain High School, Nathan Hale Junior High, and Central Conn. State College. I tried to get good grades to be an exceptional student as far as playing in the band and orchestra, in leading the chorus and student councils. I was brought up ...

Album Review

Roxy Coss: Restless Idealism

Read "Restless Idealism" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 26, 2016

Upcoming saxophonist Roxy Coss opens her splendid Origin Records debut, Restless Idealism with a traditional approach on her original tune, “Don't Cross the Coss." It's a happy and assertive sound, and when she takes her first solo, her robust tone brings Coleman Hawkins to mind. Coss and her band, churning along on a well-lubricated drive train of a terrific rhythm section, know how to open a show--feet are tapping and select members of the audience are pondering getting up and ...

Album Review

Alyson Cambridge: Until Now

Read "Until Now" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 26, 2016

Soprano Alyson Cambridge's opera bona fides are easily recognized on Until Now. Opera chops translated into jazz often end up as effective as the translation at the center of the movie The Fly (20th Century Fox, 1958 and 20th Century F, 1986). Yes, it is just that scary and often misguided. But here is the rub. Cambridge ensures success by injecting a potent element of cabaret into her recording, one big enough to lull us into a Broadway-nostalgic pipedream of ...

Live Review

ECM @ Winter Jazzfest 2016

by Tyran Grillo
January 25, 2016

ECM @ Winter Jazzfest ECM Records Stage The New School, Tishman Auditorium New Yor, NY January 15 & 16, 2016 New York City's 2016 Winter Jazzfest Marathon capped off a string of first-week performances. The running theme of the festival was transition, as musicians of all walks emphasized the collaborative spirit of their chosen profession and the metamorphic possibilities without which jazz would wither. At the heart of this year's Marathon ...

Album Review

Kitt Lyles: Real Talk

Read "Real Talk" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 25, 2016

Real Talk is the debut album for young South Carolina-bred bassist Kitt Lyles who earned a degree in Jazz Studies from Northwestern University in 2013. As all the compositions are Lyles,' its success rests as much on his skills as a writer as his serving as a beacon for the sextet's able rhythm section. How does Lyles fare as a composer / arranger? Quite well, actually. His colorful themes, while a stride or two short of memorable, are by and ...

Album Review

Cyrille Aimee: Let’s Get Lost

Read "Let’s Get Lost" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 25, 2016

Vocalist Cyrille Aimee is the face of post-modernity. She is the eclectic intersection of French, Dominican, and Roma genes and cultures. The result is brilliantly polyglot, the beautiful blending of goodness. This whispering description could just as easily apply to Aimee's music. Let's Get Lost boasts the same eclectic origins as the singer. For this current recording, Aimee is backed by two guitars, bass and drums, accentuating a Gypsy element in the music chosen. Her repertoire is a dizzying array ...

Live Review

Winter Jazzfest 2016: ECM Records Stage

by Bob Kenselaar
January 25, 2016

Winter Jazzfest--ECM Records Stage The New School Tishman Auditorium New York, NY January 15 & 16, 2016 There's a very modern feel at the Tishman Auditorium at The New School University Center, the site for a two-night showcase for ECM Records at the 2016 Winter Jazzfest--with the Escher-esque stairs that you pass on the way in, the broad, open space of the stage, its huge screen backdrop, and the light blonde bamboo walls. You ...