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.

Live From Philadelphia

Philadelphia's Cutting Edge Big Band: Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound

by Victor L. Schermer
October 5, 2015

Anyone familiar with the music business can tell you that it's hard enough to get a big band together for an occasional gig, let alone sustain it over an extended period of time. The time and effort involved in composing and arranging new charts, covering the cost of twelve or more musicians, and meshing their complicated schedules, all militate against the longevity of such enterprises. Thus, a working big band that features the best players performing challenging cutting edge jazz ...

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Building a Jazz Library

Classic Funk

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 4, 2015

This article was originally published in August 2005. In rendering his decision in a 1964 obscenity trial, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote: “I shall not today attempt to further define [pornography]... but I know it when I see it." You really can't define the Funk, either. In a typical four/four stomp, Funk comes down hard “on the one," sure. And Funk often uses such instruments as guitars and keyboards more rhythmically (like percussion) than melodically. ...

Multiple Reviews

Folklore and classicism from ECM: Dino Saluzzi's piano music & The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble

by Mark Sullivan
October 4, 2015

Two recent ECM releases deal with the interface of folk and classical music, each in its own way. Imágenes presents classical piano music composed by Dino Saluzzi, a musician strongly associated with the Argentinian tango tradition. Komitas takes classical compositions based on Armenian folk music and reimagines them played on the folk instruments that would have played them originally. Dino Saluzzi/Horacio Lavandera Imágenes--Music for piano ECM Records 2015 Argentinian bandoneon player/composer Dino ...

Album Review

Soule Monde: Smashed World

Read "Smashed World" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
October 4, 2015

Something of a holding pattern until the next full-length album in 2016, Soule Monde's Smashed World EP also works as a tease, but in the best possible way. Like the duo's live shows, this thirty minutes of intricately interwoven melody and rhythm can't help but whet the musiclover's appetite for more. Booming and singing from the very start on “Influence," the cerebral impact of the music is as deep and provocative as its visceral wallop, that is, keyboardist ...

Album Review

Chris Dingman: The Subliminal and the Sublime

Read "The Subliminal and the Sublime" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
October 4, 2015

Search the word “subliminal" and you get the following: “below the threshold of sensation or consciousness; perceived by or affecting someone's mind without their being aware of it." Do the same for “sublime" and you have to be sure you include the word “definition" or else you get the website for the popular ska- metal band. But, seriously, the word sublime is really quite interesting and may refer to “something of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great ...

Film Review

What's Going On?: Taste Live at the Isle of Wight

by Doug Collette
October 4, 2015

Taste What's Going On? Taste Live at The Isle of Wight Eagle Vision 2015 The family of guitarist Rory Gallagher has certainly done right by him with the posthumous releases they've overseen since his passing in 1995. From expanded editions of landmark albums like Irish Tour '74 (Polydor, 1974) to deluxe combinations of live and studio packages such as Notes From San Francisco (Eagle Rock, 2011), the legacy of the late lamented blues-rocker has received ...

Album Review

Emma Larsson: Sing to the Sky

Read "Sing to the Sky" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
October 4, 2015

New York vocalist Emma Larsson made a splash with her 2010 sophomore effort Let It Go (Imogena). She has populated her recordings with predominantly well-envisioned original compositions, seasoning the album sequence with standards specifically chosen to meld with her unique sound. Her repertoire choice is eclectic without being eccentric. On her present Sing to the Sky, Larsson reveals her fortitude by covering “Here's to Life," a song long associated with the exquisite Shirley Horn. Larsson hears the ...

Album Review

Jon Irabagon: Behind The Sky

Read "Behind The Sky" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
October 4, 2015

The cover of saxophonist Jon Irabagon's album Behind the Sky depicts a lonely man walking in a landscape of ice-clad mountains. The image is an apt metaphor for the grieving process that Irabagon tries to put into music. However, those expecting a ballad session of gentle contemplation are in for a surprise. Irabagon's musical landscape is far more knotty and rhythmically complex than the simple, but difficult art of the ballad. There are tender moments, sure, but also heated swing ...

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Building a Jazz Library

Classic Jazz Guitar

by Bob Patterson
October 3, 2015

This article was originally published in August 2005. To pick the top ten of anything is a tough task. When it comes to the subject of jazz guitar, the task is enormously difficult. However, these are the ten most influential guitarists (in my opinion), arranged in somewhat chronological order. Each recording listed is the one that either put them on the map or serves as an excellent example of their style. Because of the guitar's highly individualized nature, ...

Album Review

Bruce Lofgren's Jazz Pirates: Wind and Sand

Read "Wind and Sand" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 3, 2015

Batten the hatches and shiver the timbers--guitarist Bruce Lofgren's Los Angeles-based Jazz Pirates are climbing aboard with their fourth album for Night Bird Records and Lofgren's eighth as leader of his own ensemble. While these buccaneers aren't really after gold or silver (although a little of that wouldn't hurt), they do fancy that some of their captain's musical broadsides on Wind and Sand may strike their target and inflame some hearts. Lofgren charts a steady course, weighing ...