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

Martin Schulte Quartet featuring Frederik Köster: Walking Distance

Read "Walking Distance" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
January 3, 2016

German jazz guitarist Martin Schulte opens this excellent quartet outing with the title tune. The title must be a play on the prominent walking bass line provided by bassist Matthias Nowak, but it's also a catchy, swinging piece with dramatic, unexpected stops (as well as a showcase for guest trumpeter Frederik Köster). Tenor saxophonist Peter Ehwald gets plenty of space to strut his stuff on the following “Driftin.'" The longest track “On A Silent Day" brings Köster back for his ...

Multiple Reviews

Howard Riley: Reinventing the Jazz Piano Trio

by Duncan Heining
January 3, 2016

Even allowing for journalistic hyperbole, the phrase “reinventing the jazz piano trio" was a doozy. It all seemed a bit “Emperor's new clothes" or, as my late mother used to put it, “new coat and no knickers." For a time in the noughties, British critics variously applied the phrase to Esbjorn Svensson, Brad Mehldau, The Necks, The Bad Plus, Michael Wollny, Vijay Iyer and even Neil Cowley. One wondered what these writers knew of Cecil Taylor, Paul Bley, Don Pullen ...

Album Review

The Turbine!: Entropy/Enthalpy

Read "Entropy/Enthalpy" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 3, 2016

Among a stream of US/French collaborations documented on the Rogue Art label, The Turbine! represents an unlikely combination: two double basses and two drum kits. One pair hails from each side of the ocean with the Chicago team of Hamid Drake and Harrison Bankhead matched against Benjamin Duboc and Ramon Lopez (in fact a Paris-based Spaniard). The double CD package gathers excerpts selected from six live sets during a 2014 tour organized by a Transatlantic music network entitled The Bridge. ...

Album Review

Slivovitz: All You Can Eat

Read "All You Can Eat" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 3, 2016

This Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion unit named after an Eastern European plum brandy unleashes a wealth of insightful and melodically focused arrangements via its unique sound and diverse instrumentation. As a long-awaited follow-up to Bani Ahead (Moonjune, 2011), the septet integrates a magnetic series of works, spanning Italian folk, Frank Zappa-esque time signatures and with the sleight of hand, evidenced by prog rock pioneers Gentle Giant. Conversely, harmonica performer Derek Di Perri and violinist Riccardo Villari also cast organic ...

Year in Review

Top 15 "Read" Interviews: 2015

by Michael Ricci
January 2, 2016

All About Jazz tracks how often an interview is read, and the interviews listed below represent our top 15 published in 2015. Kind of Purple: Jazz musicians on Prince Prince by Kurt Gottschalk Published: December 17, 2015 Bill Laswell: No Boundaries Bill Laswell by Nenad Georgievski Published: March 30, 2015 Steven Wilson: Intuitive Indulgences and Pop Proclivities ...

Year in Review

Top 15 "Read" Articles: 2015

by Michael Ricci
January 2, 2016

All About Jazz tracks how often an article is read, and the articles listed below represent our top 15 published in 2015. Deconstructing Money Jungle Duke Ellington by Graham E Peterson Published: October 23, 2015 John Coltrane and the Meaning of Life John Coltrane by Douglas Groothuis Published: January 22, 2015 Kind of Purple: Jazz Musicians on ...

Year in Review

Top 15 "Recommended" Articles: 2015

by Michael Ricci
January 2, 2016

All About Jazz tracks how often an article is recommended, and the articles listed below represent our top fifteen published in 2015. Paul Jost: The First Thing is Heart Paul Jost by Chris M. Slawecki Published: February 12, 2015 Ron Aprea: On John Lennon, Jazz Legends, And Life In Music Ron Aprea by Dan Bilawsky Published: August 16, 2015 ...

Album Review

Jacob Varmus Septet: Aegean

by Dan Bilawsky
January 2, 2016

The existence of this album is firm proof that you never know just when or how a benefactor can come into view. Lifelong jazz fan Apostolos Georgopoulos was passing through upstate New York and he had the opportunity to spend a weekend with Connie Casey and Harold Varmus. Upon hearing some music at their home that piqued his interest, Georgopolous learned that their son, Jacob Varmus, was a jazz trumpeter. Then, after being exposed to Jacob Varmus' All The Things ...

Album Review

Michael Kocour: Spiffy

by Jack Bowers
January 2, 2016

Spiffy is the third album as leader this year (2015) for pianist Michael Kocour who has chosen the occasion to set aside the piano in favor of a Hammond B3 organ. It proves to be an auspicious choice, as does his decision to work as part of a quartet. Kocour's sidemen (saxophonist Eric Schneider, guitarist Bruce Forman, drummer Dom Moio) are splendid, as is the leader's stout and nimble Hammond. The four had played together as a unit only once ...

Album Review

Chamber 4: Chamber 4

Read "Chamber 4" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 2, 2016

Recorded live four days before the studio session which produced For Sale (Clean Feed, 2015), with three of the same participants, it's not surprising that Chamber 4 shares many of the same positives too. A similar blend of nationalities holds sway. French brothers Valentin and Théo Ceccaldi reaffirm their mastery of cello and violin respectively. Portuguese trumpeter Luis Vicente hereby records another promising entry in his discography, following Clocks & Clouds (FMR, 2014) and Zero Sum (JACC Records, 2014). Replacing ...