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

Raya Brass Band: Raya

by Karl Ackermann
November 1, 2015

The Balkans. Centuries of unrest, revolution and occupation have left much of the region without a clear identity to the point where historians are inconsistent on which countries accurately form its constituency. Culturally, an organically developed assimilation took precedence over national boundaries and a type of regional folk music called sevdalinka, along with strong elements of Gypsy music, became most prominent. If one were inclined toward this dark, somber style, its integration with other genres was a long time in ...

Live Review

Joe Jackson at Town Hall

by Mike Perciaccante
November 1, 2015

Joe Jackson Town Hall New York, NY October 21, 2015 Joe Jackson is a musical chameleon. His music easily shifts from genre to genre...and his career output proves that fact. The Grammy Award-winning British singer-songwriter was born David Ian Jackson on August 11, 1954. During his career he has released twenty studio albums (including soundtrack work and classical releases). His latest, Fast Forward (Caroline/Universal), was released in early October 2015. ...

Album Review

Richard Harris: Shades of Blue

Read "Shades of Blue" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 1, 2015

Washington area trumpeter Richard Harris offers his third album as leader and follow up to his critically-acclaimed Songs from My Heart (Self-Produced, 2009) with the warm and mellow Shades of Blue containing a mixture of originals and uncommon standards presented in a light fashion. On this album, Harris strives to reproduce, as he states, “the lyrical West Cool jazz sound of the 50's" in an intimate and romantic setting. Playing the trumpet, flugelhorn and doing some vocals, Harris ...

Album Review

Lara St. John: Shiksa

Read "Shiksa" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 1, 2015

..."all this music from different countries and cultures pulled together and recorded by a random Canadian chick." And that is the charm of Lara St. John. One-time enfant terrible violinist Lara St. John has morphed into a beautifully iconoclastic and enigmatic cultural presence in the staid world of classical music. Things started off innocently enough with Bach. St. John made her way through three Bach-oriented recordings (Bach Works for Violin Solo (Well- Tempered, 1996), ...

Album Review

Russ Lorenson: In The Holiday Spirit

Read "In The Holiday Spirit" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 1, 2015

It's clear from the outset that San Francisco-based singer Russ Lorenson and the admirable Kelly Park Big Band are definitely In the Holiday Spirit on Lorenson's sparkling new CD, a few measures of which are all but certain to lend that same seasonal feeling of happiness and generosity to almost any listener. Lorenson, a clear-voiced tenor, sings from the heart, and his warmth and geniality are contagious. As for the band, it is a swinging companion on whose unwavering support ...

Album Review

Michael Kocour: Spiffy

by Mark Sullivan
October 31, 2015

Keyboardist Michael Kocour revisits his Hammond B3 organ roots in this collection of hard-swinging tunes presented in the tradition of jazz organ legends such as Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, and Don Patterson. McDuff in particular is a stylistic mentor: Kocour met him during his college years while attending the renowned jazz program at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. The band really comes out swinging on the opener, Kocour's “Dropped Third Strike." Chicagoan Eric Schneider blows tenor with old-school bar-walking ...

Album Review

Ernest Dawkins' Live in the Spirit Residency Big Band: Memory in the Center, An Afro Opera: Homage to Nelson Mandela

Read "Memory in the Center, An Afro Opera: Homage to Nelson Mandela" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
October 31, 2015

Perhaps no statesman (or woman), of the second half of the 20th century, personifies struggle for freedom and human rights as much as Nelson Mandela. This is because the late South African president dedicated his long life to ending apartheid and the injustices associated with it. His perseverance crowned by his success resonated globally. Saxophonist, and bandleader Ernest Khabir Dawkins composed and premiered a stirring suite as tribute to Mandela for the 2014 Chicago Jazz Festival. The concert ...

Jazz Near Me

Sun and Stars at Montclair Jazz Festival

by Gloria Krolak
October 31, 2015

At the 2015 Montclair Jazz Festival, the sun broiled and the stars sparkled over some 6,000 jazz fans, that number announced by emcee Gary Walker, a popular WBGO radio on-air personality. Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor S. Epatha Merkerson, best known for her 17 seasons as Lieutenant Van Buren on NBC's “Law and Order," was back as the festival's Mistress of Ceremonies. The annual one-day event, free to all comers, was held at Nishuane Park and produced by the ...

Album Review

The 14 Jazz Orchetra: Nothing Hard is Ever Easy

Read "Nothing Hard is Ever Easy" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
October 31, 2015

Under the direction of arranger/conductor and educator Dan Bonsanti, The 14 Jazz Orchestra delivers its debut recording with Nothing Hard Is Ever Easy presenting a repertoire of contemporary jazz containing and offering of mainstream, fusion, pop, gospel-styled and classical-tinged elements that make this first effort, one varied musical statement. This fourteen-piece light ensemble is comprised of the finest professionals and educators from the South Florida area--all alumni of the prestigious Frost School of Music from the University of Miami--performing in ...

Jazz Near Me

A Stable of Percussionists at the Barnes Foundation

by Gloria Krolak
October 31, 2015

Tony Miceli, A-list vibes player and creator of the online Vibes Workshop, is a generous man. He shared his recent First Friday gig at the Barnes Foundation on Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia with a round-up of the Malletech company's stable of mallet masters. After brainstorming with Leigh Howard Stevens, owner of Malletech, the two came up with an array of percussionists across genres--chamber music to jazz--to share with foundation members and guests. They included jazz vibes headliners ...