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

Bob Margolin: My Road

by James Nadal
December 4, 2015

The term blues guitarist has been so abused and misused, that when the real player comes along, it sounds like a jaded cliché to utilize it. Bob Margolin is a blues guitarist. His tenure in the Muddy Waters band from 1973 to 1980 netted him that distinctive title, and My Road, is his story. On this record, Margolin opted to go with a bare bones ensemble consisting of himself on guitar, Chuck Cotton on drums, and Ted Walters on the ...

Album Review

Chris Spedding: Songs Without Words

Read "Songs Without Words" reviewed by Duncan Heining

by Duncan Heining
December 4, 2015

Recorded for Harvest in 1970, Songs Without Words was only originally released in Japan. At the time, Chris Spedding was a much sought after guitarist in jazz and rock with one of the most impressive of CVs--Mike Westbrook, Michael Gibbs, Jack Bruce, Ian Carr's Nucleus, Pete Brown and Frank Ricotti amongst others. The reason for its shelving/limited release seems to resulted from the guitarist's desire to move his career in other directions than the jazz-rock with which he was increasingly ...

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Top Ten List

Top Ten Guitarists Who Left Us Too Soon

by Alan Bryson
December 3, 2015

Ranking musicians is a hopelessly flawed endeavor. It's about as meaningful as having a list of the top ten best tasting foods. Taste is highly individualized, influenced by mood, familiarity, and the way in which multiple variables interact. One person's escargot is someone else's slice of Chicago style pizza. I just took a break and searched the web for the top ten best tasting foods, and of course CNN has tackled this difficult issue. Potato chips, Peking Duck, and buttered ...

Album Review

Larry Dickson Jazz Quartet: Second Springtime

Read "Second Springtime" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 3, 2015

On Second Springtime, baritone saxophonist Larry Dickson, a mainstay for more than three decades with Cincinnati's renowned Blue Wisp Big Band, leads a quartet sans piano, much like Gerry Mulligan's groundbreaking ensemble from the early '50s. Unlike Mulligan's storied quartet, however, Dickson shares the front line not with a trumpeter (Chet Baker) but a tenor saxophonist (Brent Gallaher). How does that work? Quite well, actually, thanks for the most part to the singular talents of Dickson, Gallaher, bassist Michael Sharfe ...

Musings of a Jazz Piano Teacher

Working with jazz singers

by Paul Abrahams
December 3, 2015

Understandably, most of my jazz piano students want to improvise; their prime aim is to solo creatively. However, my 40 years as a pro keyboard player has taught me that being given the opportunity to solo comes as a bonus. A more realistic expectation for a pianist is that we will spend most of our working lives accompanying soloists and singers, in other words, comping. Therefore, unless a student has no ambition or desire to play with other musicians or ...

Album Review

Mundell Lowe / Lloyd Wells / Jim Ferguson: Poor Butterfly

Read "Poor Butterfly" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
December 3, 2015

Mainstream jazz guitar doesn't get much better than this. Guitarist Mundell Lowe's long career includes sideman stints with Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, André Previn, and many others; he has composed film and TV scores as well. Co-guitarist Lloyd Wells also grew up in Laurel, Mississippi, giving the pair a hometown connection. The two previously collaborated on This One's For Charlie (Azica Records, 2000). It's a well balanced program, comprised of three guitar duets, three solo features from both ...

Album Review

Sumrrá: 5 Journeys

Read "5 Journeys" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
December 3, 2015

The Spanish jazz scene continues to propagate, and is to the point now that it is self-sufficient in its creation of top rate artists. Not only are there younger players coming up, but the established veterans are maintaining an impressive output of new material. Sumrrá falls into the latter category, and with its release of 5 Journeys, displays why they are consistently one of the best jazz ensembles in the Iberian Peninsula. Celebrating fifteen years as a working ...

Album Review

Janet Feder: T H I S C L O S E

Read "T H I S C L O S E" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 3, 2015

Colorado-based guitarist Janet Feder has developed a highly personal musical language, drawing inspiration from folk, jazz, minimalism, classical, avant-garde and even pop. Since the early nineties she began experimenting with her guitar, preparing it in different tunings, attaching objects to the strings, developing a unique original sound of her own. T H I S C L O S E, her fifth solo album, is Feder's most fully realized album, featuring nine haunting songs. She manages to create a ...

Album Review

Sant'anna Arresi Quintet By Evan Parker: Filu ‘E Ferru

Read "Filu ‘E Ferru" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 3, 2015

The differences between British free jazz and American is an often debated subject. Certainly in the 1960s, at the genesis of free playing, the ocean's divide between continents was easily identifiable. The African and African/American tradition of Jazz informed the experiments of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, John Coltrane, and Anthony Braxton, while the UK players like Derek Bailey, Barry Guy, and Evan Parker took cues from modern European music, and developed their own individual language. Their sound could even ...

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

Best of Mr. P.C. 2015

by Mr. P.C.
December 2, 2015

Dear Mr. P.C.: I was driving on a highway yesterday, and the person in front of me was going way too slow. But I couldn't pass her because there were double lines on the road and lots of curves. So instead I drove right up to her bumper and tailgated her until she drove at the correct speed. What I'm wondering is, can I do something like that to a drummer who is dragging?