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.

Interview

Jon Batiste: Staying Human

by Bob Kenselaar
June 7, 2015

Jon Batiste was named the bandleader of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (related news). This interview was originally published in January 2013. Nearly everything about Jonathan Batiste is steeped in New Orleans--from the way he talks, walks, and claps his hands to the way he plays the piano, composes, and leads his Stay Human Band. So, it's surprising to consider he's actually spent most of his adult life in New York City, having arrived in 2004 when ...

Album Review

Jared Gold: Metropolitan Rhythm

Read "Metropolitan Rhythm" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 7, 2015

Jared Gold remains one of the most dependably creative artists in the Posi-Tone stable. He's delivered an album a year for that label since arriving with Solids & Stripes (Posi-Tone, 2008), a date that, in many respects, set the tone for the other trio and quartet sessions that would follow. Here, on his eighth release for that imprint, Gold delivers a well-balanced set with his working trio--a group that features guitar veteran Dave Stryker and rising star drummer Kush Abadey. ...

Album Review

Pierre Labbe Sextet: Tromper Eustache

Read "Tromper Eustache" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 7, 2015

Saxophonist Pierre Labbe's Tromper Eusatchesounds as if it was written for a full orchestra, or a heavy metal rock band. He employs a sextet--two saxophones, guitar/piano/bass drums-for a dark, foreboding sound, with dense, near, drone textures on the opener, “Inquie Ouie." “Soup Au Lait" ups the ante on that atmosphere, guitar wailing over a thick, trudging bass/drum beat, saxophones weaving a gritty texture behind it. Then the guitar lays back and a searing sax solo ensues. It's a ...

Album Review

Peter Novelli: St. Amant Sessions

Read "St. Amant Sessions" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
June 7, 2015

Peter Novelli's St. Amant Sessions smacks of Tab Benoit's The Sea Saint Sessions (Telarc, 2003). For Benoit, the significance of Sea Saint Studios is that they are a NOLA landmark founded by Allen Toussaint. For Novelli, St. Amant, LA is up I-10 between NOLA and Baton Rouge. There, Brignac's Sound Shack resides and this is where, Novelli recorded his third collection, St. Amant Sessions. Both men play a brand of American and blues that can immediately be identified as from ...

Album Review

Anna Webber’s Percussive Mechanics: Refractions

$Read "Refractions" reviewed by Mark Corroto$

by Mark Corroto
June 7, 2015

Credit the new generation of jazz musicians for neither following tradition, nor coloring within the lines. Their music is not created within “the tradition." Unless, of course, that tradition includes maverick innovators like Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and John Zorn, players that, at times, have been given the label of non-jazz. This new crop of players and perhaps, more importantly, composers, includes saxophonist Steve Lehman, drummer John Hollenbeck, pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, violinist Mat Maneri, and flutist/saxophonist Anna Webber.

Live Review

Moers Festival 2015

by Henning Bolte
June 7, 2015

Moers Festival Moers, Germany May 22-25, 2015 After the great changes and new beginnings of last year's edition, this year the festival entered the phase of refinement and consolidation. The special vibe is still flourishing. The festival got an important award, the prize of the Europe Jazz Network (EJN) for Adventurous Programming. Monika Grütter, the Minister of State and German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, members of the Federal State Parliaments and the ...

Live Review

Bobby Zankel’s Warriors of the Wonderful Sound with Jaleel Shaw at Philadelphia Clef Club

by Victor L. Schermer
June 6, 2015

Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound with Jaleel Shaw Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz Philadelphia, PA June 2, 2015 This killer of a concert capped a series of four in which Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound invited guest artists to join them in performing Zankel compositions and arrangements. Seasoned innovators Dave Burrell, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Don Byron were featured in the first three events, and this show brought ...

Album Review

Brianna Thomas: You Must Believe In Love

Read "You Must Believe In Love" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 6, 2015

Brianna Thomas is the complete package. Through this music she exhibits emotional depth, to-die-for scat skills, incredible pitch control and shading, strong songwriting skills, intuitively elastic phrasing, soulful bearing, and great range. And all this on a debut album. You Must Believe In Love finds the Illinois-born, New York-based Thomas spreading her wings and taking glorious flight with some help from a strong and classy piano trio and a half-dozen notable guests--trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, guitarist Russell Malone, ...

Live Review

Joan Minor at Cercle Suedois

by Patricia Myers
June 6, 2015

Joan Minor Quartet Cercle Suedois Paris, France May 13, 2015 The jazz scene in Paris thrives with a wide mixture of venues, from small cafes to large halls to more sophisticated settings. Among the latter is Cercle Suedois, the Swedish community's swanky meeting place that schedule weekly jazz concerts. American vocalist Joan Minor, performing with a European rhythm section, filled the elegant main salon with her expressive sound in a wide-ranging repertoire. She's ...

Album Review

Iñaki Sandoval: Electric Trio Live

Read "Electric Trio Live" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
June 6, 2015

At the heart of Electric Trio Live from Barcelona-based keyboard player and composer Iñaki Sandoval, there's a feeling of warmth. Whether it's Sandoval's own electric keyboards, Carles Benavent's 5-string electric bass guitar or Roger Blàvia's drums, each instrument has a full, rich sound that lends the recording a welcoming, friendly, feel.Sandoval was born in Pamplona and educated in Barcelona's Liceu Conservatory (where he now teaches on the jazz program), Berklee and the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. ...