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.

Extended Analysis

Manu Katche: Touchstone for Manu

by John Kelman
August 5, 2015

With only four records released as a leader on ECM, it may seem a little early to release a “best of" disc for drummer Manu Katché. But having since moved on to fellow German label ACT for Live in Concert, while Touchstone for Manu is only being released in North America in the summer of 2015, it may also seem a bit odd that this compilation--culled from 2005's Neighbourhood, 2007's Playground, 2010's Third Round and 2012's simply titled Manu Katché--was ...

Album Review

Drifter: Flow

by Bruce Lindsay
August 5, 2015

Drifter started life as the Alexi Tuomarila Quartet, a band that was beginning to develop a reputation on the European jazz scene with its second album, 02 (Warner Jazz, 2003). Unfortunately, the label's parent company dropped its jazz list, leaving the quartet without a contract shortly after the album's release. Tuomarila carried on--releasing a trio album, joining Polish trumpet legend Tomasz Stanko's Quintet and working across Europe in numerous ensembles. A decade later, the UK independent Edition Records ...

Album Review

Joseph Daley: Portraits: Wind, Thunder and Love

Read "Portraits: Wind, Thunder and Love" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
August 5, 2015

A veteran of the adventurous music scene for over four decades, tubaist and composer Joseph Daley has rarely sought the spotlight for himself, but he has left his indelible mark on all projects with which he was involved. Daley, who spent most of his professional life as an educator, is the consummate artist as he balances an intrepid explorative spirit with a mature, wise temperament. His works defy narrow genre-ism and are sublime examples of the universality of the musical ...

Album Review

Elisabeth Lohninger & Walter Fischbacher: Ballads in Blue

Read "Ballads in Blue" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
August 5, 2015

Often art results from the most difficult of circumstances. I suppose it has something to do with that cliché, ..."when life gives one lemons...make lemonade." It would be naïve to believe that just anyone could make lemonade. It takes guts, talent, thought, and often, not just a little luck. Such are the conditions surrounding the recording of Ballads in Blue by the wife and husband team of Elisabeth Lohninger and Walter Fischbacher. Lohninger had been considering a ballads recording for ...

Album Review

Vladan: Ornaments

Read "Ornaments" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
August 5, 2015

In October of 2014, young Serbian-born pianist Vladan Mijatovic, who simply prefers to go by his first name as a professional name, performed a concert at Carnegie Hall presenting the music of Ornaments which, is now documented here in his very first piano solo debut. Fusing the music of Eastern Europe with the modern jazz style and classical music, seems to be the formula that propels this gifted pianist to the forefront and drives his inspiration. Vladan now lives and ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Ornette Coleman at the Golden Circle - 1965

by Marc Davis
August 5, 2015

Let's start with a disclaimer: I'm not a fan of free jazz. So why would I even bother with an album I was pretty sure I'd dislike? There's a practical answer: It was on sale. I was in a record store recently that was having a buy-one-get-one-for-$1 sale. So I got a CD I knew I'd like and then saw Ornette Coleman at the Golden Circle, Volume One. Did I mention I collect Blue Note CDs? It's the ...

Musings of a Jazz Piano Teacher

Stop trying to swing

by Paul Abrahams
August 4, 2015

Dave Brubeck tells the story that Miles Davis approached him at the end of a gig and murmured in his ear “You're the only person in this group that swings." Had Brubeck replied: “What, exactly, do you mean by swing?" I suspect he would have been given short shrift. But of course both musicians had an implicit understanding of the word without the need for analysis or elucidation. But what does the word “swing" mean in the context ...

Multiple Reviews

Another Timbre reaches its century in top form

by John Eyles
August 4, 2015

Another Timbre's three latest releases bring up a significant landmark in the label's brief history. Since the label released its first CD in the autumn of 2007, it has now put out over 100 discs—at a rate of more than one a month. Lest anyone wishes to point out that the latest release—the James Saunders disc, below—only carries the catalogue number at88, let me explain further. Yes, that disc is the label's eighty-eighth CD release, but those 88 include the ...

Album Review

Pat Bianchi Trio: A Higher Standard

Read "A Higher Standard" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 4, 2015

Fiery displays, lyrical expressions, bluesy statements, punchy interludes, torrential downpours of notes, and space-conscious thoughts all come to the surface on this well-crafted trio date from rising star organist Pat Bianchi. While Bianchi has drawn a lot of attention for his sideman work with such high profile artists as saxophone legend Lou Donaldson, guitar great Pat Martino, and heavy-hitter drummer Ralph Peterson, he has plenty to say when he's in the driver seat. Here, joined by two ...

Album Review

Blues Evolution: Inspired

by Chris Mosey
August 4, 2015

Georgia White sang, “the blues ain't nothin' but a good woman feelin' bad." Duke Ellington came up with the music's most poetic definition. The blues, said Ellington, was “a dark cloud marking time." For a long time, musically, the blues wasn't nothin' but a simple 12-bar progression, one played and sung by blacks. Then, in the 1960s, whites got the blues. And they weren't just white, a great many of them were British to boot. It was ...