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

Dion at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury

by Mike Perciaccante
July 19, 2015

Dion NYCB Theatre at Westbury Westbury, NY July 11, 2015 Midway through his sold-out performance at Long Island's NYCB Theatre in Westbury, Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer, Dion paused and announced, “I had a group called Dion and the Belmonts. In the '50s, the criteria of a good name for a group was that it had to work on three levels. It had to be a great name for a bowling ...

Multiple Reviews

Ruthie Foster: Singing The Blues

by James Nadal
July 19, 2015

Since releasing her first solo record less than a decade ago, Ruthie Foster has steadily gained momentum and respect within the music industry as a double threat singer/guitarist. With eight more albums in her discography, including the critically acclaimed The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster (Blue Corn Music, 2007), she has risen to prominence in the Blues community, winning the 2015 Koko Taylor Award, but she is much more than a blues singer. She has taken the gospel, blues, and soul from ...

Interview

Mindi Abair: Game Changer

by Trish Richardson
July 19, 2015

You know a dream is like a river, Ever changing as it flows. And a dreamer's just a vessel, That must follow where it goes. --"The River," vocals by Garth Brooks, lyrics by Victoria Lynn Shaw You know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know that if you don't have a pencil and pad by the bed, ...

Live Review

Fare Thee Well: A Celebration of Fifty Years of the Grateful Dead, July 3,4 & 5, 2015

by Doug Collette
July 18, 2015

Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby, Jeff Chimenti Fare Thee Well: A Celebration of Fifty Years of the Grateful Dead Soldier Field Chicago, IL July 3, 4, 5, 2015 Fare Thee Well: A Celebration of Fifty Years of the Grateful Dead was one of those rare events that surprises and satisfies in equal measure. The temptation is to over-speak, then, is simply another aspect of the profundity ...

Album Review

Mette Rasmussen/Chris Corsano: All The Ghosts At Once

Read "All The Ghosts At Once" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 18, 2015

Today's hypothesis states that all free jazz improvisation demands the musicians maintain the music's vigor like a juggler, to all appearances, keeping all the balls in the air at once. Proof of this theory is the opening piece “Train Track" from alto saxophonist Mette Rasmussen and drummer Chris Corsano's release All The Ghosts At Once. The music opens with wavy Evan Parker-like saxophone notes and cymbal scrapes that evolve into unblended energy jazz. The duo produces a buoyant sound, part ...

Extended Analysis

From the Vault: The Marquee Club Live in 1971

by Doug Collette
July 18, 2015

Somewhat late to the archival exploration of their fifty-year plus vault, the Rolling Stones are making up for lost time with titles like this. The Marquee Club Live in 1971 reaffirms the notion the conic British group were never a better band than at this juncture of their career. Recorded with impeccable sound by long-time Stones collaborator Glyn Johns and artful camera work for American television at the intimate London club a month prior to the release of ...

Album Review

Metal Chaos Ensemble: War Tuba

Read "War Tuba" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
July 18, 2015

Multi-instrumentalist Dave Peck aka PEK hails from the Boston, MA area and hosts an extensive discography, spanning the 90s to present on his Evil Clown Records label. His Leap of Faith band is a long-running collaboration with alternating personnel. A former student of legendary saxophonist George Garzone, PEK is a man who stretches his imagination to the max via several disparate ensembles and ongoing relationships with numerous artists such as notable improvisers, saxophonist Bhob Rainey and percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani. Each ...

Album Review

Chor Des Bayerichen Rundfunks / Muchner Rundfunkorchestra, Peter Dijkstra: Arvo Pärt: Te Deum

Read "Arvo Pärt: Te Deum" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 18, 2015

With the death of British choral composer John Tavener in 2013, we are left with a single living composer of similar distinction: Arvo Pärt. Estonian by birth (b. 1935), Pärt emigrated from the Communist East with his wife and two sons, initially living in Vienna and eventually relocating to Berlin in 1981. After the fall of Communism, Pärt began to divide his time between Berlin and Tallinn (near his birthplace of Paide). Like Tavener, Pärt converted to Orthodox Christianity, a ...

Album Review

Chatsav / Welch / Zelman Trio: Jazz from the Middle to the East - Songs from the White City Volume 2

Read "Jazz from the Middle to the East - Songs from the White City Volume 2" reviewed by Nathalie Tamara Freson

by Nathalie Tamara Freson
July 18, 2015

Whereas the first album in the series saw him giving much room to his trio members to showcase their talent, in this second album, Gilad Chatsav really takes the lead on every piece, thus confirming his competence as a jazz pianist and his well-seated position on the Israeli jazz scene. Jazz from the Middle to the East--Songs from the White City volume 2 is the second album in the series, still featuring Stewart Welch on bass and joined ...

Album Review

Maro Marconi Trio: Nordik

by Sammy Stein
July 18, 2015

From the opening of Nordik and the first track “Too High Don't Fry" the prodigious talent of Marco Marconi is clear. The theme is quickly established and then worked on by not only the rapacious delight of the piano but the rhythmic bass line and percussion which underpins the melody. Enzo Zirilli delivers a drum solo in the middle section which provides real contrast to the busy relentless speed of the rest of the number. The title track “Nordik" follows ...