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

Punkt Festival 2015

by Henning Bolte
September 17, 2015

Punkt Festival Kristiansand, Norway September, 3-5, 2015 Kristiansand, home of the Annual Punkt Festival for the past decade, is a municipality situated on the southernmost point of Norway on the Skagerrak strait. It has a population of 86,000 (the greater urban area 155,000) and is the county capital of Vest-Agder. Crystallization of new concepts and development often take place and are given a push from the periphery, and Punkt is a good and ...

Album Review

Kendrick Scott Oracle: We Are The Drum

Read "We Are The Drum" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 17, 2015

While drummer Kendrick Scott's namesake outfit--Kendrick Scott Oracle--has been around in some form since 2006, it's a band that's really come into its own in the last few years. With the arrival of Conviction (Concord Records, 2013), Scott made a major statement on a high-visibility label; jazz listeners and critics both took note. With We Are The Drum, his debut for the storied Blue Note imprint, he raises the bar even higher, melding complex ideas and completely accessible sounds.

Live Review

Philadelphia United Jazz Festival 2015

by Victor L. Schermer
September 17, 2015

Philadelphia United Jazz Festival Broad and South Street Philadelphia, PA September 14, 2015 If this review reads more like an op-ed piece than a detailed concert review, circumstances made it happen that way and enthusiasm created it. On the run, after grabbing a cannoli and a double espresso in the Italian Market, this reviewer had only just enough time to stop by at the Philadelphia United Jazz Festival to say hello to his friends, ...

Album Review

Michael Bisio: Accortet

Read "Accortet" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 17, 2015

There is a cartoon circulating the internet that depicts a criminal suspect being interrogated by police. Also in the room is a jazz bassist. The detective tells his partner, “he'll talk, everyone talks during the bass solo." That may be true, unless the bassist is Michael Bisio. Whether performing with pianist Matthew Shipp or saxophonist Ivo Perelman, Bisio's presence is always prominent and unmistakable. His collaborations always tend to be more than accompaniment. He is the constant yin to another ...

Album Review

Anna Gourari: Visions Fugitives

Read "Visions Fugitives" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
September 17, 2015

Prodigious pianist Anna Gourari brings her unique touch to Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev's twenty miniatures on Visions Fugitives. The series has infrequently been recorded in its entirety and rarely with the wit and elegance that Gourari brings to it. She tiptoes gently on the nocturnesque “1.Lentamente," brings a lively spontaneity to the effervescent “11. Con vivacità" and a contemplative maturity to the expansive “8. Commodo ." She builds the musical ambiences of each movement often with unexpected and ...

Album Review

Ben Paterson: For Once in My Life

Read "For Once in My Life" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 17, 2015

For his fourth recording, organist Ben Paterson returns to the North West Coast Origin label with For Once in My Life. He employs a standard organ-guitar-drums combo for eleven standards and originals that allows the crack trio he shares with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummerGeorge Fludas to fully explore the more modern sonic aspects of this popular jazz- blues-funk format. Blending the musical traditions of his native Philadelphia and his current Chicago home Paterson errs on the side of the ...

Album Review

Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats: Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

Read "Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 17, 2015

I believe that it is a sworn obligation to introduce one another to new music. It is a sacrament in the enjoyment of the art. That said, All About Jazz's own resident Genius, Jeff Fitzgerald did his part in spades. Directing my attention to the official video of Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats' “S.O.B." Thank you, Genius. Missouri-native Nathaniel Rateliff came into the music world on a mission trip to Colorado, a well-meaning and understated folkie known for polite ...

Musings of a Jazz Piano Teacher

Stop playing jazzy. Start playing jazz!

by Paul Abrahams
September 16, 2015

I concluded my last article in this series with a piece of advice handed to me by one of my old jazz piano teachers: “Don't try to play jazzy." I'd now like to explore this statement and demonstrate how it affects my own teaching. In the 70's I played keyboards in what was known as a “jazz rock band" and people often described my playing style on Hammond organ as “jazzy." In hindsight I would say that my ...

Album Review

Kait Dunton: trioKAIT

Read "trioKAIT" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 16, 2015

Pianist Kait Dunton's previous album--Mountain Suite (Self Produced, 2012)--was an impressive and nuanced affair that brought drummer Peter Erskine, bassist Darek Oles, saxophonist Bob Mintzer, and trumpeter John Daversa into her orbit. Here, she works with a different set of musicians and focuses largely on different forms of groove-based music: Dunton aligns herself with a pair of her peers--electric bassist Cooper Appelt, who she met during her time at the University of North Texas, and drummer Jake Reed, who she ...

Album Review

Michael Bisio: Accortet

Read "Accortet" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
September 16, 2015

Named after its unusual instrumentation, Accortet is the eponymous debut of a quartet led by renowned contrabassist Michael Bisio, featuring the unique frontline of accordion and cornet, played by Art Bailey and Kirk Knuffke, respectively, with Michael Wimberly manning the drums. An in-demand sideman among free jazz luminaries such as Joe McPhee, Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp, Bisio seldom issues albums as a bandleader these days, making this recording all the more intriguing for its inclusion of some surprisingly accessible ...