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.

Album Review

Ran Blake: Ghost Tones: Portraits of George Russell

Read "Ghost Tones: Portraits of George Russell" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
July 10, 2015

Pianist/composer Ran Blake presents a loving tribute to his late colleague George Russell in a diverse program anchored by his sensitive piano playing. Blake and Russell taught together at the New England Conservatory for many years. Russell was immensely influential as a modal jazz theorist, but Blake loves his compositions above all. He interprets several of them here, along with some of his own and a few biographically relevant standards. The set opens and closes with solo piano ...

Interview

Joe Locke's Love Affair with Language

by Dan Bilawsky
July 9, 2015

On the surface it's not so easy to spot the common thread unifying the greater fabric of Joe Locke's work. Since arriving in New York City in 1981, and emerging as a notable leader on record in the early '90s, this much-vaunted vibraphonist has developed into a protean performer and composer. Duo sessions with pianists Frank Kimbrough and Kenny Barron, a collaboration with vocalist Kenny Washington, dates co-led with pianists David Hazeltine and Geoffrey Keezer, an album with Lincoln's Symphony ...

Album Review

Kaze: Uminari

by John Sharpe
July 9, 2015

The prolific husband and wife team of pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura has found yet another fertile vehicle in Kaze. French drummer Peter Orins and trumpeter Christian Pruvost combines with the Japanese pair In an unusual instrumentation. On their third offering Uminari the combo stretches the boundaries even more than on previous outings, and not only in terms of time (clocking in at over 70 minutes). However the session retains the positive attributes of its predecessors: blistering excitement, ...

Album Review

Lama + Joachim Badenhorst: The Elephant's Journey

Read "The Elephant's Journey" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 9, 2015

The trio Lama, a regular working ensemble with Portuguese musicians, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and double bassist Gonçalo Almeida, plus Canadian drummer Greg Smith should seriously consider becoming a quartet, with the permanent inclusion of Belgian clarinetist Joachim Badenhorst. The trio's music just feels more complete with their release The Elephant's Journey.Lama's first disc Oneiros (Clean Feed, 2011), was in trio, and saxophonist/clarinetist Chris Speed was their guest on the live recording Lamaçal (Clean Feed, 2013). His interaction, ...

Live Review

Tribute to Ernesto Lecuona: Michel Camilo, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Chucho Valdés

by Harry S. Pariser
July 9, 2015

Tribute to Ernesto Lecuona: Michel Camilo, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Chucho Valdés Symphony Hall San Francisco, California June 21, 2015 Individuals hearing of a tribute concert to be held commemorating the work of legendary musician Ernesto Lecuona might be forgiven for furrowing their brows. For Lecuona--despite his status as an extraordinary pianist, composer and bandleader--is known to but a relative few. One reason for his lack of notoriety is that he came from a different era: ...

Album Review

H2 Big Band: It Could Happen

Read "It Could Happen" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
July 9, 2015

From one perspective, It Could Happen is a teaser title for this big band recording. Sure, it's a perseveration of one of the scrumptious cuts on this cake. However, like a fine Le Cordon Bleu recipe, if you heap eleven exceptionally well-written GAS and original selections into the pot and set great charts before some of the finest cookers this side of Eiffel, season with solo and vocal work that boils with sass, and viola!great music does happen. In this ...

Album Review

Jackie Payne: I Saw The Blues

Read "I Saw The Blues" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
July 9, 2015

Blues singers sing every song like it might be their last. They have been doing this for so long now that it always feels like the end is near, time is up, and it's the last time around. The songs are dripping with guilt, regret, and hope. They tell tales of lost love, what was, could have been, but never will be. There might be no other profession that demands for personal emotions to be wrung dry in a room ...

Interview

Stephan Crump: Giving Life to the Music

by Tyler Henderson
July 8, 2015

Stephan Crump is a bassist with many talents, his skills ranging from funk and rock to straight ahead jazz and folk. The Grammy-nominated artist cut his teeth on the New York City jazz scene, working there since the 1990s. He's been a collaborator and a bandleader, working with the likes of Vijay Iyer, Ashford Simpson, Billy Hart, Johnny Copeland and more. He makes music with his wife, vocalist Jen Chapin, and works with his own Rosetta Trio. Their most recent ...

Album Review

Jeff Denson Trio: Jeff Denson Trio + Lee Konitz

Read "Jeff Denson Trio + Lee Konitz" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 8, 2015

Part of the beauty and challenge in following the late career recordings of saxophone icon Lee Konitz can be traced to the way he continues to grow and evolve, inspired by the many and varied musicians he works with and, in turn, inspiring them. Anybody who's heard him wildly deconstruct a standard with pianist Dan Tepfer, paint ethereal fever dreams with guitarist Bill Frisell, or bound along with saxophonist Grace Kelly can attest to that fact. Konitz is always himself, ...

Album Review

Lacerda / Manso / Nilssen-Love / Zenicola: Bota Fogo

Read "Bota Fogo" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 8, 2015

There are secrets revealed and the true identities of musicians often emerge, not under the guidance of a music producer, but within the allegiances they form as they freelance around the world. Take Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, for instance. Early (very early) in his career he (and bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten) backed players like Bugge Wesseltoft, Zim Nqawana, and Peter Wettre. But then his noisier free jazz propensities began to be revealed. The pair went on to form the jazz/garage ...