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

Mark Hagan, Bill Mobley, Danny Walsh, Bob DeVos, Andy Watson At The Old '76 House

by David A. Orthmann
August 7, 2015

Mark Hagan, Bill Mobley, Danny Walsh, Bob DeVos, Andy Watson The Old '76 House Mark Hagan's Jazz Salon Tappan, NY July 29, 2015 Over the last four years, bassist Mark Hagan has presided over a Jazz Salon at The Old '76 House in Tappan, NY. The Wednesday night series is important to fans and musicians alike. Hagan organizes a different group each week, exercising a magic touch in bringing together excellent, stylistically compatible ...

Album Review

Agusti Fernandez / Zlatko Kaučič: Sonic Party

Read "Sonic Party" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
August 7, 2015

Sonic Party documents a live meeting between Catalan pianist Agusti Fernandez and Slovenian percussionist Zlatko Kaucic. Unlike similar encounters with his countryman Ramon Lopez, all the selections here are generated on the fly. Such pairings accentuate the percussive nature of the piano, and all the more so because Fernandez is one of the greatest proponents of this in his determined delving into the keyboard's innards. In spite of residence abroad and appearances throughout Europe since 1975, Kaučič 's discography remains ...

Album Review

Tea Cup Gin: Underground Love

Read "Underground Love" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
August 7, 2015

Since its inception in Paris by inimitable guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930's, gypsy swing, or “jazz manouche," has been performed within defined parameters, though there has always been ample room for improvisation and invention. Tea Cup Gin, on its debut release Underground Love, has found a niche playing their hybrid form of gypsy swing or hot jazz by integrating sultry jazz vocals into a smoking rhythm section, while maintaining the integrity this music requires.Expanding upon the two ...

Album Review

Alan Feinberg: Fugue State

Read "Fugue State" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
August 7, 2015

American classical pianist Alan Feinberg has made a career of cleverly conceived and produced recordings of the classical piano repertoire. He began his career with three fine Argo offerings on American themes: The American Romantic (1990); The American Virtuoso (1992); and The American Innovator (1993) focusing on Gottschalk, Beach, MacDowall, and Grainger. Feinberg has been a champion of the music of Milton Babbitt and Charles Wuorinen, having recorded many pieces by each composer. Feinberg's previous recording, Basically ...

Bailey's Bundles

Joe Albany and Low Down

by C. Michael Bailey
August 6, 2015

Joseph Albani (1924-1988), better known as Joe Albany, is a footnote in jazz history. A monumentally talented pianist with an exceptionally fragile constitution, Albany, like the late Chet Baker pianist Dick Twardzik, was hampered by a self-doubt relieved by heroin. Albany differed from Twardzik in that, like Baker, he lived well beyond the average junkie lifespan to providing a glimpse of what the late-life sequale of chemical dependency--a brutal fade-out really looks like. Unlike Baker, Art Pepper, ...

Extended Analysis

Lee Smith: My Kind of Blues

by Victor L. Schermer
August 6, 2015

After nearly 40 years as a working bassist, Lee Smith has become a Philadelphia legend, playing gig after gig with just about everyone, including the Delphonics, Mongo Santamaria, Dizzy Gillespie, Roland Kirk, Lionel Hampton, and a host of Philadelphians, including Larry McKenna, Tom Lawton, Bootsie Barnes, Odean Pope, and the list goes on and on. In 2012, he released his first album as leader, composer, and arranger, Sittin' on a Secret (Vectordisc, 2012). In a review of that album, Bruce ...

Album Review

John Clark: The Odd Couple Quintet +1

Read "The Odd Couple Quintet +1" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
August 6, 2015

Yes, it is true that French horn and bassoon are not commonplace instruments in jazz. Attempts have been made to use them, of course, most recently by Julian Schneemann on Roundabout, but in that work, they were used more as colors in the mix.What is unusual is for these instruments to be in the front line and soloing as if to say, “Why not?." This, however is exactly what John Clark and Michael Rabinowitz, both virtuosos on French ...

Album Review

John Fedchock New York Big Band: Like It Is

Read "Like It Is" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
August 6, 2015

Veteran trombonist and big band leader John Fedchock, has had a history of showcasing some of the finest contemporary ensemble music ever presented, and on the audacious Like It Is, keeps that tradition alive on the fifth album from his 16-piece New York Big Band. A group by the way, that has been around and swinging for over two decades boasting a personnel listing of all-stars and jazz luminaries which, have garnished the eventual Grammy nods with the four previous ...

Album Review

Gratkowski / Kruglov / Nabatov / Yudanov: Leo Records 35th Anniversary - Moscow

Read "Leo Records 35th Anniversary - Moscow" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 6, 2015

It would be suitable for UK-based Leo Records' 35th anniversary concert to be held at an arts venue in Moscow. It's the third anniversary concert thus far and reminds many of us avant jazz advocates that this record label has been the primary conduit between Russian's frequently cloistered, cutting edge artists and the West, hearkening back to the Cold War. Proprietor, Leo Feigin has produced either nascent or renowned artists such as Anthony Braxton and Marilyn Crispell spanning the past ...

Album Review

Juli Wood Quartet: Synkka Metsa (Dark Forest)

Read "Synkka Metsa (Dark Forest)" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 6, 2015

When the subject of Finnish jazz is mentioned, the names Iro Haarla (piano), Vernie Pohjola (trumpet), Juhani Aaltonenen (saxophone) and Heikki Sarmanto could get tossed about as four from Finland who are producing superb recordings on TUM Records. The “Finnish sound" tends toward a reflective and often melancholy minor key mode, with smoldering freedom that at times flashes into roaring flame. Chicago's Juli Wood--who plays multiple reeds, but sticks to the tenor saxophone here--explores her Finnish heritage on ...