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

Steve Swell: Kanreki: Reflection & Renewal

Read "Kanreki: Reflection & Renewal" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 10, 2016

To mark his sixtieth birthday (December 6, 2014), trombonist Steve Swell, long the pre-eminent trombonist on the NYC free jazz scene, invokes the Japanese custom of Kanreki. Although it is said to signal both a rebirth and a handing on of responsibilities, Swell shows no signs of allowing the occasion to inhibit his ambition. Over the course of two discs, Not Two proffers a broad survey of recent outlets for his expression, encompassing seven distinct line ups recorded between 2011 ...

Album Review

Nick Hempton: Catch and Release

Read "Catch and Release" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
January 10, 2016

Veteran New York saxophonist Nick Hempton lets loose with the stellar Catch and Release, a special project that has been a year-long journey and an experiment of sorts, in recording and releasing music. The album contains eight original Hempton compositions except that each tune was recorded and released separately for purchase on-line on the internet for, as the saxophonist states, “putting it into the marketplace the way people are already buying it." Though the project officially kicked off in July ...

Book Review

Fare Thee Well: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead

by Doug Collette
January 9, 2016

Fare Thee Well: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead Jay Blakesberg 208 Pages ISBN: #0984463089 Rock out Books 2015 Jay Blakesberg's photographic documentary of summer 2015's 'Fare Thee Well' shows “Celebrating Fifty years of the Grateful Dead" is remarkable enough for the nuanced clarity and color his camera(s) captured in Santa Clara and Chicago. But it's actually startling to follow all the shots that fill the 12x10" hardcover book and ...

Album Review

Nick Hempton: Catch And Release

Read "Catch And Release" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 9, 2016

When it come to music release methods, there's nothing more stubborn or persistent than the single. Music has fallen in and out of love with so many different formats over the years, but the one-song-at-a-time method of digestion has weathered every shift, spat, and alteration that life and technology have thrown at it. In fact, it's stronger than ever in this download and post-download age. So what, pray tell, does that have to do with this album? Everything.

Live Review

David Shaw at City Winery

by Mike Perciaccante
January 9, 2016

David Shaw City Winery New York, NY December 26, 2015 When you're the high-energy lead singer of an explosive jam band, it's a tough call when you decide to do an acoustic one-man show. When you're David Shaw and your band is the Revivalists (whose musical vision has been credited by some as revitalizing the New Orleans music scene) it's a no-brainer for the fans to flock to the solo performances. However, until the performances ...

Album Review

David Gilmore: Energies of Change

Read "Energies of Change" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
January 9, 2016

David Gilmore's career started off with a bang. He worked with Steve Coleman through the 1990s, appearing on at least nine recordings either led, or instigated, by the renowned saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and recent MacArthur Award recipient. Since emerging from Coleman's M-BASE fold, Gilmore has worked with a stunning variety of artists both inside and outside the jazz world. Zap Mama, Wayne Shorter, Muhal Richard Abrams, Meshell Ndegeocello, Monday Michiru, and Don Byron are just a few of the diverse ...

Album Review

Whirlpool with Ron Miles: Dancing on the Inside

Read "Dancing on the Inside" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 9, 2016

Venerable cornetist Ron Miles sat in with the core bass-less trio, Whirlpool during a 2013 live performance at a music venue in the hornist's hometown, Denver CO in 2013. As the story goes, this union resulted in synergistic output, leading to Dancing on the Inside. Guitarist Jeff Swanson advises that the “The music was written specifically with Ron's unique musical voice in mind for this expanded quartet version..." Miles' resounding, lyrically charged extended notes; gruff accents and melodically ...

Album Review

Marcelo Dos Reis / Angelica V. Salvi: Concentric Rinds

Read "Concentric Rinds" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 9, 2016

Guitarist Marcelo dos Reis has become a fixture on the Lisbon experimental music scene, where he also helms the newly created Cipsela imprint. His guitar contributed an attractive wild card element to Chamber 4's eponymous release (FMR, 2015) and he has worked with Elliott Sharp, Burton Greene and Evan Parker among others. Among his many outlets is the string trio Open Field, with whom he first encountered Spanish harpist Angelica V. Salvi. In fact it was Parker who suggested that ...

Album Review

Alessandro Fongaro: Neither More Nor Less

Read "Neither More Nor Less" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 8, 2016

The Amsterdam-based Keep an Eye Foundation, is a Dutch government sponsored program for developing artists across many creative disciplines. Their jazz program culminates in an annual award competition for new talent and in 2014, bassist Alessandro Fongaro was awarded sponsorship that has now resulted in the quintet release of Neither More Nor Less.A native of Valdagno, Italy, now living in the Netherlands (following a student exchange program in which he participated), Fongaro has been pursuing jazz since the ...

Album Review

Marbin: Aggressive Hippies

Read "Aggressive Hippies" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
January 8, 2016

Far from being just another jazz-rock fusion band, Marbin occupies their own stylistic space. More an instrumental rock band than a jazz fusion band, Marbin's music seems to come from the guitar hero world of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Joe Bonamassa. But there's a good deal of other stuff going on in their music. Steeped in blues, surf, and the folk music of their native Israel, in addition to jazz- rock, Marbin consistently avoids easy pigeonholing. Part of this ...