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

Scott Clark 4tet: Bury My Heart

Read "Bury My Heart" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 16, 2016

Richmond, VA., resident Scott Clark is a drummer who projects a lot of get-up-and-go during these jaunty progressive jazz works, inspired by his Native American ancestry. Hence, the 4tet and guest artists execute a set framed on Native American incidents largely based on hardships and trauma but Clark's manifesto also proffers hope. The six pieces coalesce via a series of integrated musical relationships, where Clark's compositions derive inferences from Native American rituals, embedded within steamy jazz opuses and ...

Film Review

Rolling Stones From the Vault: Live at the Tokyo Dome 1990

by Doug Collette
January 16, 2016

Rolling Stones Live at the Tokyo Dome 1990 Eagle Vision 2015 As stylized as are the Rolling Stones' 'From the Vault' packages of CD's and DVD/Blu-rays, the uniformity of their design also reflects the care the iconic British band is applying to their archiving project. From video restoration to new mixes from the renowned Bob Clearmountain, their now steady stream of releases accurately documents that progressive reinvention of the Rolling Stones as a band, within ...

One LP

Benny Golson: Dizzy Gillespie Sextet with Dexter Gordon: Blue 'n' Boogie

by William Ellis
January 15, 2016

Well--I've been around for a long time, and during the time when I got started there were no such things as albums so there were no covers! This was the time of the 78 recording with three minute at tops for each recording so whatever the person was going to present they had to present it within the three minute framework. That's what I grew up with when I started. I had many heroes in the beginning, my ...

Album Review

Ches Smith with Craig Taborn and Mat Maneri: The Bell

Read "The Bell" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
January 15, 2016

Percussionist Ches Smith presents an album of chamber music for acoustic trio on his ECM debut as leader. Smith is often heard on drums in projects with guitarist Mary Halvorson and as a member of saxophonist Tim Berne's Snakeoil, among others. But he opens this album with the title bell, and is heard on timpani and vibraphone long before employing the drum kit. Pianist Craig Taborn is often heard on Fender Rhodes, filling in for the bass on albums like ...

Album Review

Fuchsia: Fuchsia

Read "Fuchsia" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 15, 2016

In the late 1960s and beyond, British bands such as Fairport Convention and a few others made a splash by fusing folk and rock into a cohesive whole, and in many instances caught the attention of progressive rock acolytes, due to the artists' high-level of musicianship and multifarious song-forms. Even though Fuchsia released only one album, the ensemble radiates heaps and bounds of potential, armed with the goods that could have led to a bright future if they chose to ...

Album Review

Julian Shore: Which Way Now?

Read "Which Way Now?" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 15, 2016

If the jazz world decided to elect a single questioning phrase to sum up its craft, this album title would be a great candidate. With three words and a single punctuation mark, the very heart of jazz--a music of infinite decision(s), not indecision, as some may (mis)read that--is laid out for all to see. Those who operate in the jazz orbit are constantly searching, peering at the unknown and exploring the recesses of nature, body, and mind. Pianist Julian Shore, ...

Album Review

Amina Figarova: Blue Whisper

Read "Blue Whisper" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
January 15, 2016

Pianist and composer Amina Figarova is truly a citizen of the world. Born and raised in Baku, Azerbaijan, she decamped to the Netherlands in the 1980s to study at the Rotterdam Conservatory, and then to Boston in 1989 to continue her studies at Berklee. Blue Whisper is her 12th recording as a leader, but her first to feature a band comprised primarily of US-based musicians. Aside from Bart Platteau (also Figarova's husband), the only holdovers from her excellent Netherlands-based band, ...

Album Review

Trio Da Paz: 30

by Dan Bilawsky
January 14, 2016

Time really does fly when you're having fun. Just ask Trio da Paz. Guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist Nilson Matta, and drummer Duduka Da Fonseca are celebrating three decades of togetherness with the aptly-titled 30. It's a collection of music that, like the best of their work, finds them merging the sounds of Brazil with the attitude of The Big Apple, creating Brazilian jazz that finds the perfect balance between the two poles in that genre's name. Past ...

Album Review

Martin Küchen / Johan Berthling / Steve Noble: Night In Europe

Read "Night In Europe" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 14, 2016

As one of Europe's premier saxophonists Martin Küchen boasts a diverse resumé. He often fronts a series of groups designed to negotiate his emotive compositions such as Angles, All Included and Trespass Trio, but also participates in more liberated sessions. One such in the company of bassist Johan Berthling and English drummer Steve Noble produced Night In Europe. Their pedigree is evident in their associations. Berthling features as part of the assorted Angles agglomerations, as well as with another incendiary ...

Album Review

Bill O'Connell and the Latin Jazz All-Stars: Heart Beat

Read "Heart Beat" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
January 14, 2016

Veteran New York Pianist/composer and arranger Bill O'Connell, early on developed a reputation in the post-bop/hard-bop area but, since then, is best recognized as one of the finest musicians and long-time proponents within the Latin Jazz genre. With decades as a performer and a host of albums to his credit, O'Connell presents his fourth release for the Savant label on the stellar Heart Beat where the pianist offers an exciting repertoire of seven originals and two covers of modern Latin ...