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

Lars Seniuk / New German Art Orchestra: Pendulum

by Jack Bowers
June 1, 2015

German-born composer / arranger / trumpeter Lars Seniuk, who formed his first big band at age sixteen and has played with and written for many others since then, was barely twenty-six when Pendulum was recorded in Hamburg with the splendid New German Art Orchestra, an up-to-date version of the late Bob Brookmeyer's New Art Orchestra, established in Lubeck nearly three decades ago. As such, it is more a continuation and verification of Brookmeyer's legacy than an effort to traverse new ...

Jazz Near Me

The Frank Giasullo Quartet Raises A Good Question

by Gloria Krolak
June 1, 2015

There were few people sitting at the bar when Michael and I entered the Lafayette Bar in Easton, PA, on a recent Saturday night. We went straight to the rows of nearly empty tables in front of the stage. There we spotted some friends and sat down to talk while the band sound-checked with Marcus, the full-time sound man. Then Tunsei, the owner, came to sit in front where he could let out his “I like it" with ...

Album Review

Bruno Råberg Quartet with Phil Grenadier, Allan Chase and Austin McMahon: Hot Box

Read "Hot Box" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 1, 2015

Bassist Bruno Råberg and trumpeter Phil Grenadier had previously offered a brilliant duo collection with the 2012 Plunge (Orbis Music) and here--under Råberg's leadership--expand to a quartet formation for the equally imaginative Hot Box. The collection features compositions both by the Swedish born Råberg and group improvised pieces. Unlike the Råberg/Grenadier duo outing, the leader's electronic sound design gives way to the more organic setting of the quartet on this collection.Joining Råberg and Grenadier are saxophonist Allan Chase ...

Album Review

Scott Ellison: Elevator Man

Read "Elevator Man" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
June 1, 2015

Tulsa, Oklahoma-native Scott Ellison looks like an accountant (not unlike fellow blues musician George Taylor), sings a bit like a dustbowl Howlin' Wolf and plays guitar like Old Scratch from the corner of Highways 49 and 61. Dusty Oklahoma is the home of many fine musicians not the least of whom include Leon Russell, J.J. Cale, Carl Radle and Chet Baker. Ellison adds to this impressive mystique on his third recording, Elevator Man, which follows his well recieved Ice Storm ...

Album Review

Matana Roberts: Always

by Mark Corroto
June 1, 2015

The saxophone is possibly the musical instrument that produces a sound closest to the human voice. Listening to a virtuoso saxophonist like Matana Roberts, one hears more than just breath through a reed instrument. Her solo recording Always, travels beyond voice, to mind, body, and spirit. Recorded in studio, without the benefit of a reflecting audience, the experience is one of a voyeur to the saxophonist's most private thoughts. Offered with excellent sound, the recording reproduces fingers on ...

Album Review

John Fedchock Quartet Live: Fluidity

Read "Fluidity" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 31, 2015

Fluidity could have just as easily been called A Night In The Life Of A Jazz Musician. There's no high profile or out-of-place guest here to sell records, no world famous stage for this quartet to grace, and no abstruse concept to push the music with. This is just four men doing what they do on any given night in a small club in Anywhere, USA. Were it any four men, of course, nobody would probably pay Fluidity much notice. ...

Film Review

Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued

by Doug Collette
May 31, 2015

Elvis Costello/Jim James/Marcus Mumford/Taylor Goldsmith/Rhiannon Giddens Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued Eagle Vision 2015 Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued was originally broadcast on the Showtime network at the time of the release of The New Basement Tapes: Lost on the River (Harvest, 2014), in part to take the place of extensive live performance. In the form of DVD/Blu Ray, it serves the same purpose, as depiction of the circumstances by which the otherwise ...

Album Review

Jason Stillman: Prelude

by Jack Bowers
May 31, 2015

Alto saxophonist Jason Stillman's Montreal-based quartet makes its recorded debut on Prelude, a sunny and engaging blend of Stillman originals and jazz standards whose spacious boundaries provide ample room for ardent blowing, especially by Stillman and pianist Josh Rager. Although the group has been a working unit for more than five years, Stillman waited until the time was right before entering a studio, and his patience has paid dividends, as the group dynamic is impressive throughout. As ...

Album Review

Isaiah B. Brunt: Just the Way That It Goes

Read "Just the Way That It Goes" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
May 31, 2015

Less amorphous than most present-day jazz has become, contemporary blues has remained, more or less integrated and within recognizable genre. Not that classifications provide anything more than an inferior roadmap to the new listener, they do come in handy. Australian Guitarist, composer, and producer Isaiah B. Brunt has managed to stake out a corner of the blues market not with a slash-and-burn testosterone-boogie approach, but, rather, a soft, carefully nuanced approach that is as well-defined as it is conceived.

Album Review

Anna Lundqvist Quintet: Ten

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 31, 2015

Ten marks the tenth anniversary of Swedish vocalist Anna Lundqvist's band, initially a quartet, then since 2009 a quintet. This is Lundqvist's fourth album, offering twelve of Lundqvist's most popular songs recorded live during 2014 at jazz clubs around Sweden. Her Gothenburg-based quintet, featuring pianist Fabian Kallerdahl, double bassist Mattias Grönroos, drummer Jon-Erik Björänge and saxophonist Björn Almgren, is a tight unit, well-versed in jazz legacy yet offering a distinct sound and highly emphatic interplay. Naturally, ...