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

Bengt Berger / Jonas Knutsson / Christian Spering / Max Schultz: Blue Blue

Read "Blue Blue" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 27, 2015

The Swedish trio of drummer Bengt Berger, saxophonist Jonas Knutsson and bassist Christian Spering has been working for 19 years, often hosting different musicians-friends. This versatile trio aesthetics blended natural elements of modern jazz with East-Asian and West-African rhythms and Swedish folk music. The trio was voted as the Swedish jazz group of the year more than ten times, but only recently decided to expand its format to a quartet, adding jazz guitarist Max Schultz, a favorite guest musician of ...

Album Review

Garzone / Bergonzi / Moses / Andersson: Splitting up in Boston

Read "Splitting up in Boston" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
November 27, 2015

Back in 2013, renowned saxophonists George Garzone and Jerry Bergonzi recorded an album together that came out in 2014 on the Danish label Stunt. The name of the album was Quintonic and it sounded just as one might expect; wonderful music with fiery blowing, swinging tunes, tight grooves and razor-sharp twists and turns and lyric moments of beauty. They recorded it with two Danish musicians, pianist Carl Winther and drummer Anders Mogensen, and the Finnish bassist Johnny Åman.

Album Review

David Ricard Big Band: Holiday Swingin'

Read "Holiday Swingin'" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 27, 2015

Much like last year's Holidays with a Bang!, bassist David Ricard's new big-band album, Holiday Swingin,' does precisely that, seldom pausing for a deep breath while charging through a litany of fourteen seasonal themes both old and new. If much of it seems vaguely familiar, that could be because Ricard has recycled no fewer than nine songs from that earlier album (with new arrangements, he assures the listener, and a new vocalist--Lucy Woodward, who has replaced Aubrey Logan and is ...

Album Review

Brad Mehldau: Brad Mehldau: 10 Years Solo Live

Read "Brad Mehldau: 10 Years Solo Live" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
November 26, 2015

It is surprising that Brad Mehldau and Keith Jarrett do not draw even more comparisons. Both cross genres with ease, provide consistently high quality content and are unquestionably the finest piano virtuosos in modern music. With the release of Mehldau's 10 Years Solo Live, he solidifies his position as the heir apparent to Jarrett's place atop the solo jazz piano pedistal.The five hours of live music in this anthology are the result of Mehldau's review and segmentation of ...

Live Review

Live From Bilston: Samantha Fish, Jah Wobble & The Magic Band

by Martin Longley
November 26, 2015

Samantha Fish/Laurence Jones The Robin R&B Club November 11, 2015 The blues has a youthful future, across both sides of the Atlantic. Singer and guitarist Laurence Jones is the latest upstart to stir the UK scene, possessing a very 1960s sensibility, as if he's a throwback to the scene of Jimi Hendrix, John Mayall, Cream and The Yardbirds. This isn't to say that Joe Bonamassa hasn't made a mark on the Jones approach, ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith & John Lindberg: Celestial Weather

Read "Celestial Weather" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
November 26, 2015

Two modern avant-garde icons and long-time collaborators with an age-old link to Anthony Braxton's Creative Orchestra, come together for three suites that capitalize on their ability to forge a soundscape that is fuller than the duo format would logically produce. Celestial Weather is an open discourse between two musicians who have mastered their respective instruments to the point of literally giving them an emotive voice of their own. Lindberg, in recent years, has been an integral part ...

Album Review

Caroline Davis: Doors: Chicago Storylines

Read "Doors: Chicago Storylines" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
November 26, 2015

Doors: Chicago Storylines is altoist Caroline Davis' unique take on oral history. Interweaving original compositions with area musicians' narratives Davis reconstructs the history of Chicago jazz in a uniquely engaging and articulate style. On “Chicago Sound?" for instance, after a discussion on the type of jazz played in various neighborhoods, Davis plays soulfully with a cool swagger and embellishes it with clever and soulful ornamentations. Guitarist Mike Allemana follows with a blues drenched earthy improvisation. Allemana ...

Album Review

Kim Nazarian: Some Morning

Read "Some Morning" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 26, 2015

Vocalist and New York Voices' founding member Kim Nazarian joins her band mate Lauren Kinhan in recently releasing a solo recording. Kinhan's Circle in a Square.(Self Produced, 2014) was well received, bringing much deserved attention to both Kinhan and the NYVs. Nazarian's entry into the solo field enriches the soprano field greatly and accents her discography with the NYVs. The present Some Morning features the likes of Paquito D'Rivera, Gary Burton, and John Pizzarelli, but it is the presence of ...

Live Review

Jazzdor Strasbourg 2015

by Henning Bolte
November 26, 2015

JAZZDOR Strasbourg November 10-13, 2015 Jazzdor is a French festival with two annual editions. The main part is held in the Strasbourg area (France) in November and the other one in Berlin (Germany) in June. Both editions present a considerable number of bilateral and multilateral collaborations; an essential part of the festival's philosophy and policy. The Strasbourg festival is the older home part. It celebrated its 30th edition this year. The Strasbourg festival ...

Album Review

Laura Furci: paCiencia

Read "paCiencia" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 26, 2015

We have talent among us that often receive little more than local notice and are deserving of much more. I have followed singer/composer/producer wunderkind Laura Furci for the past decade and hers is just such a talent. Classically-trained as a pianist, Furci expanded her creative perimeter to include vocals and composition, molding a musical direction that pierces the artistic horizon we currently realize. Furci is an innovator constantly pushing her art. Her first recording was the 2010 EP Out of ...