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.

Multiple Reviews

Drums and Piano: Denny Zeitlin and Kasper Tom

by Jakob Baekgaard
May 4, 2015

The meeting between drums and piano is one of the more rare combinations in jazz, but it is possible to find fine examples of this particular genre. Just think of the encounter between Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi and drummer Paul Motian on Flux & Change (Soul Note, 1995) and Australian pianist Mike Nock's collaboration with drummer Laurenz Pike on Kindred (FWM Records, 2012). Pianist Denny Zeitlin and the Danish drummer Kasper Tom have added two more albums ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Curtis Fuller: The Opener – Blue Note 1567

by Marc Davis
May 4, 2015

From the very first notes, it's obvious that Curtis Fuller's The Opener is something completely different. Yes, it's bop. Yes, it features the usual lineup of two horns, piano, bass and drums. And yes, one of those horns is saxman Hank Mobley, who, by law, was required to appear on every single Blue Note album in the 1950s and '60s. (Or maybe it only seems that way.) But wait--what's going on with those four opening notes? ...

Album Review

Allison Neale: I Wished on the Moon

Read "I Wished on the Moon" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 4, 2015

There was a time, roughly half a century ago, when West Coast jazz was seen as the hippest music on the planet, its leading lights known and praised far and wide for espousing a brand of “cool jazz" that stood in stark contrast to its more heated East Coast counterpart. Much like any other trend, the West Coast jazz that once reigned supreme gradually faded away, leaving its partisans dismayed and understandably concerned that it might never return. The fact ...

Album Review

Schlippenbach Trio: Features

by John Sharpe
May 4, 2015

In a change of pace from their previous outing--the superb long form concert recording Bauhaus Dessau (Intakt, 2010) -the longstanding Schlippenbach Trio has created a program of 15 concise improvisations, captured during a two day stopover in Zurich during their customary winter tour schedule. Such practice stands as far from unprecedented in the unit's 43 year history. Inevitably they have mellowed since their early days (after all both pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and saxophonist Evan Parker are over 70 now) ...

Album Review

Olie Brice / Tobias Delius / Mark Sanders: Somersaults

Read "Somersaults" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
May 4, 2015

Hot on the heels of Immune to Clockwork (Multikulti Project, 2014) by his own quintet comes another fine album featuring bassist Olie Brice. He organised the December 2014 studio recording session for Somersaults which features a trio in which Brice is joined by drummer Mark Sanders, with whom he frequently plays (notably in the Riverloam Trio with Polish saxophonist Mikolaj Trzaska, arguably a dry run for this grouping). This trio is completed by long-time ICP Orchestra member Tobias Delius on ...

Album Review

Mike Parker’s Unified Theory: Embrace The Wild

Read "Embrace The Wild" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 4, 2015

For an all-acoustic jazz unit this band transmits an electrifying presence. New York reared bassist, composer Mike Parker's residence in Poland is a fruitful one, evidenced by the quality of musicianship he garners for this set that integrates manifold genres into the jazz vernacular. Along with little big band type horns charts and other variables, the bassist lays down a corpulent and fluid bottom-end. The quintet is apt to rock your socks off. As they kick it off ...

Album Review

Peter Brotzmann/Keiji Haino/Jim O'Rourke: Two City Blues 2

Read "Two City Blues 2" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
May 4, 2015

The music of legendary jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann is at its finest when the great man has something to push against. Typically these performances find him collaborating with drummers like Hamid Drake, Paal Nilssen-Love, Steve Noble, or Nasheet Waits. The music is built upon a power-versus-power formula. The drummer bloodies his nose, and he's off--throwing roundhouse punches and haymakers. It's something altogether different, and just the same here, where he is in the company of two guitarists, Jim ...

Live Review

The World of Duke Ellington 2015

by Fiona Ord-Shrimpton
May 3, 2015

The World of Duke Ellington 2015 Jazz at Lincoln Center New York, NY April 29, 2015 Duke would have been 116 this year, and what a party he didn't have! JALC raised $3.9M on their gala night and the exceptional quality of all of the performances reflected the generosity of JALC supporters. There aren't many things that change as dependably as the unique inflections of jazz musicians, and with the legacy of Duke's ...

Album Review

Babelfish: Chasing Rainbows

Read "Chasing Rainbows" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
May 3, 2015

Lightness. Lightness of touch, of voice, of mood. That's the defining characteristic of Chasing Rainbows, the second album by UK quartet Babelfish. The line-up is the same as that on debut album Babelfish (Moletone Records, 2012). Vocalist Brigitte Beraha and pianist Barry Green are the band's writers. Bassist Chris Laurence and drummer Paul Clarvis go well beyond the standard rhythm section role, bringing their own distinctive instrumental voices to the tunes. Beraha must be one of ...

Multiple Reviews

Tinariwen: Emmaar and Inside/Outside: The Joshua Tree Sessions

by Nenad Georgievski
May 3, 2015

Emmaar Anti- 2014 In African culture music is not “leisure" activity, but part of the daily fabric of life. Ritual of almost any sort--whether manual labor, religion or the dramatic arts--is especially associated with music. That is one of the reasons why African music has so much magic in it. And in the pantheon of great African musical legacies, Malian music takes a very special place. It's exciting, colorful and diverse and it is at ...