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 Review

Oddarrang at Lavaclub Night in Helsinki

by Anthony Shaw
September 29, 2015

Oddarrang Club Night Lavaklubi, Helsinki, Finland September 22, 2015 The name of this band itself conjures quite a mystery. Even in its Finnish homeland the word has no apparent association, except possibly the title of the local Saami or Lappish news broadcast, Oddasat! Actually an atmosphere of shamanic intensity is quite a close description of the slowly evolving ethereal webs that this five-piece weave. Led by drummer Olavi Louhivuori, sitting beaming somewhat beatifically ...

Album Review

Jon Irabagon: Inaction is An Action

Read "Inaction is An Action" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 29, 2015

The release of saxophonist and composer Jon Irabagon's album Inaction is An Action poses an interesting question. When should an artist release a record? It is not a matter of talent. Long ago, Irabagon has proven himself. He has won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition and gained success in every measureable way, including release on a major record label and critical acclaim. It is also not a matter of good or bad. ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with Wayne Eagles of trio \ DEF

$Read "Take Five with Wayne Eagles of trio \ DEF" reviewed by AAJ Staff$

by AAJ Staff
September 28, 2015

Meet Wayne Eagles: Wayne Eagles is Canadian guitarist/educator known for his unique guitar style, which incorporates diverse influences from textural soundscapes and free jazz to old school fusion and progressive rock. Wayne has played live and in the studio with a long list of local and internationally known musicians including Adam Nussbaum, Ken Rosser, Lee Fish, Rob Frayne, Mike Milligan and T Bruce Wittet. He is a long-time performance instructor and ensemble director for the Music program at ...

Multiple Reviews

BGO Records: Excellence in Jazz Reissues

by Jakob Baekgaard
September 28, 2015

In the digital age we live in, there is no doubt that the business of reissuing music is booming. It has never been easier to get music, old and new, in digital or physical form. However, one thing is to re-release a record; another thing is to do it the right way. BGO Records, run by Andy Gray with help from Mike Gott, is a British label that focuses on doing reissues like a dedicated fan and collector would like ...

Bailey's Bundles

Skip Heller: San Fernando Valley Blues and The Hollywood Blues Destroyers

by C. Michael Bailey
September 28, 2015

Fred “Skip" Heller. Now there is a rara avis. A musical omnivore as drawn to Glenn Gould as to Roger Miller, Heller's talent and dedication to music and its history deserves so much more than local notoriety in the Los Angeles and Philadelphia areas it enjoys. Then, if I were LA, I would not share him either...he is that special of a person and musician. Heller's personal sound has matured and quickened over his most recent releases, ...

Album Review

Alberto Vilas Quinteto: Crónica Cromática

Read "Crónica Cromática" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
September 28, 2015

There might be something to the theory that separation brings about greater creative awareness. The region of Galicia, on the northwest corner of Spain, though not geographically isolated, does pride itself in its unique cultural traits as music and language, differentiating itself from the rest of Spain. Given the historical influence of Celtic music in this area, it is surprising that there is a quiet movement underway of those who are pursuing jazz as a choice of expression. The Alberto ...

Jazz Humor

Hey, George Frazier—I’m 10 Years Old Over Here

by Brian Dunn
September 27, 2015

I went a little crazy when I discovered jazz as an 8-year-old kid. I already played trumpet in the school band, but none of that music swung. My ears begged for something with more energy and urgency. The family record collection was of little help. We owned precisely five albums, the jazziest of which was Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. Herb and the boys kept some decidedly mixed company in my house. I remember a Barbara Streisand LP only ...

Album Review

John Ellis: Charm

by Doug Collette
September 27, 2015

Through the course of more than a half dozen albums under his own name, increasingly less traditional with each successive release including Dance Like there's No Tomorrow (Hyena, 2008) Puppet Mischief (Oblique Sound, 2010), saxophonist/composer John Ellis has developed and refined his own sound, particularly through his continued work with his band Double Wide. Charm further distinguishes the unit and it isn't just the unusual instrumental alignment of five-piece ensemble, operating without a bassist that sets these musicians apart: their ...

Album Review

Keith Rowe and John Tilbury: Enough still not to know

Read "Enough still not to know" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
September 27, 2015

It was back in late 2011 that the last collaboration between Keith Rowe and John Tilbury was issued, E.E. Tension and Circumstance (Potlatch, 2011), having been recorded live in Paris in December 2010. As that was their second duo recording, following the double CD Duos for Doris (Erstwhile, 2003), and they had not played together since Rowe left AMM in 2004, it was not unduly pessimistic for the review of it to conclude, “[W]e know from Duos for Doris that ...

Extended Analysis

Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown: The Devil to Pay

by Doug Collette
September 27, 2015

John Mayall may remain the so-called 'Godfather of British Blues," but if that's so, then Kim Simmonds is certainly his consigliere. After all, Simmonds did mentor three members of Foghat, among other stalwarts of the the British blues boom of the late Sixties. And like Mayall, Simmonds has followed a similar path of regular touring and recording, more often than not retaining the moniker of the band he started, Savoy Brown, as on this self-produced , independent work in a ...