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

Tony Bennett & Bill Charlap: The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern

Read "The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern" reviewed by James Doherty

by James Doherty
October 26, 2015

Tony Bennett and pianist Bill Charlap explore the songbook of Jerome Kern on this new release from RPM/Columbia Records. A return to intimate small group jazz, the album marks a welcome reprieve for Bennett, whose work in recent years has been dominated by over-produced duets with an array of current pop superstars. Charlap's well thought out arrangements and sympathetic accompaniment allow Bennett the space he needs to truly take ownership of the material, which includes staples such as “All the ...

Extended Analysis

THRAK BOX - Live and Studio Recordings 1994-1997

by John Kelman
October 25, 2015

After three years spent extensively focusing on its 1972-'74 lineup--documented over a massive 66 CDs, DVDs and Blu Rays (plus some additional downloads) on Larks' Tongues in Aspic (40th Anniversary Series Box) (Panegyric, 2012); The Road to Red (Panegyric, 2013); and Starless (Panegyric, 2014)--King Crimson turns the clock ahead 20 years to an almost completely different lineup, a radically different sound and a far more unwieldy six-piece incarnation dubbed “the double trio" on THRAK BOX: King Crimson Live and Studio ...

Album Review

Various Artists: Piano In The House

Read "Piano In The House" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 25, 2015

Pianist Benjamin Taubkin is a tireless promoter of the arts in Brazil. When he isn't out concertizing by himself, with the Latin collective América Contemporânea, the choro ensemble Moderna Tradição, the Orquestra Popular de Câmara, or any number of other groups he works with, he can be found busying himself in other arts-related matters. In 1997 he founded Núcleo Contemporâneo, an independent label and production company that's released approximately 75 albums, and in 2011 he expanded that operation with the ...

Album Review

Lionel Loueke: GAïA

by Mark F. Turner
October 25, 2015

Guitarist Lionel Loueke brings a presence to jazz unlike any other due in part to his West African upbringing heard in the uniqueness of his playing, vocals and phrasing which have enriched recordings from trumpeter Terence Blanchard to singers Angélique Kidjo and Luciana Souza. Recorded live in front of a small audience Gaïa finds Loueke with longtime trio-mates bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth in an intimate session that captures his musicality and spontaneity. While the ...

Album Review

Benoit Delbecq 3: Ink

by John Sharpe
October 25, 2015

French pianist Benoit Delbecq came late to the piano trio, having spent 20 years on a variety of other projects. His previous foray into the terrain, The Sixth Jump (Songlines, 2010), featured bassist Jean Jacques Avenel (who sadly died in 2014) alongside Congolese drummer Emile Biayenda, who first toured with the pianist in the Central Africa in 1994 and has been a regular collaborator ever since. Canadian Miles Perkin has since taken on the bass chair, completing an adaptable ensemble ...

Album Review

Cristina Morrison: Baronesa

Read "Baronesa" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
October 25, 2015

After visiting the Galapagos Island to film a docudrama based on the life of Baroness Eloise Von Wagner de Bosquet, Ecuadorian-American mezzo soprano vocalist Cristina Morrison loved the place so much she moved to Ecuador and spent ten years there. Falling in love with the story of the Baroness, her second album Baronesa, presents the songstress voicing lyrics in four languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian) singing eight originals and four cover pieces as she crosses genres from jazz and ...

Album Review

John Fedchock New York Big Band: Like It Is

Read "Like It Is" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
October 25, 2015

Trombonist, composer and arranger John Fedchock's New York Big Band has been in existence for more than twenty years, and the scintillating Like It Is is this group's fifth album. Fedchock, his band and this album have also garnered quite a few of this year's Grammys including “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album," “Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella" ("You And The Night And The Music"), “Best Composing" ("Ten Thirty 30"), and two “Best Improvised Jazz Solo" nominations, one for Fedchock ...

Live Review

Joe Jackson at the Paramount Theater, Denver

by Geoff Anderson
October 25, 2015

Joe Jackson Paramount Theater Denver October 8, 2015 Joe Jackson has led a double (or maybe triple) life for most of his lengthy career. He hit the scene in 1979 with his debut album Look Sharp! (A&M 1979) rolling into the U.S. from England as part of the “New Wave," a new (at that time) genre reacting to the perceived increasingly bombastic and ponderous tendencies of “Progressive Rock" at the time. “New Wave" stripped down ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with Tamara Usatova

by AAJ Staff
October 24, 2015

About Tamara Usatova: Tamara Usatova is a Russian Soul/Pop singer and songwriter based in New York. Tamara was always inspired by classic American soul, pop and jazz and the blend of these styles lies at the core of her original music. Tamara's Russian background still shines -not through the accent, which disappears completely when she sings, but through the melodic richness and passionate musical expression. She began her career back in Russia at age 15, first as the singer ...

Album Review

Doug Webb: Back East

Read "Back East" reviewed by David A. Orthmann

by David A. Orthmann
October 24, 2015

Back East, tenor saxophonist Doug Webb's second 2015 release for the Posi-Tone Records label, is not unlike a thirteen course meal in which every course is sublime, yet the portions are rather small and each dish is cleared quickly, leaving one with an intense desire for more of a particular flavor. Needless to say, there is a practical reason for the programming of short tracks on the part of independent labels attempting to release significant jazz recordings and generate enough ...