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

Marta Sanchez Quintet: Partenika

Read "Partenika" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 29, 2015

A marriage of moody yet calming piano seesaws, cymbal swells, and arco bass serves as the entry portal into pianist Marta Sanchez's Partenika. The feelings that come over the mind and body while taking in those overlaid ingredients during the opening of “Opening" must be like what Dorothy felt when she awoke in Oz or what Alice must have experienced when she went down the rabbit hole: in other words, it's like waking up to a whole new and wondrous ...

Album Review

Edsel Gomez: Road to Udaipur

Read "Road to Udaipur" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 29, 2015

Puerto Rican-born pianist Edsel Gomez hasn't recorded any albums as leader since his Grammy-nominated debut, Cubist Music, in 2007--he has been far too busy--but that doesn't mean he hasn't harbored such plans in the back of his mind. Now in his early 50s, Gomez decided the time was right to enter a studio again, the result of which is Road to Udaipur, a resplendent cornucopia of Latin-centered jazz that pays tacit homage to a pair of his mentors, Chick Corea ...

Album Review

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: After All is Said

Read "After All is Said" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
April 29, 2015

Tomas Fujiwara is one of the busiest drummers in New York City, with memberships in cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum's Sextet, baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton's Ideal Bread and the cooperative trio Thumbscrew, featuring acclaimed guitarist Mary Halvorson and veteran bassist Michael Formanek, among other projects. Formed in 2008, Fujiwara's flagship ensemble, The Hook Up, is one of the Downtown scene's most consistently creative and engaging acts.After All is Said is the band's third recording for 482 Music, following The ...

Album Review

The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet: Come To Me

Read "Come To Me" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
April 29, 2015

Drummer/composer Asaf Sirkis, whose last album from 2013 was the highly acclaimed Shepherd's Stories is back with new group, co-led by the extraordinary Polish vocalist, composer and poet Sylwia Bialas. The album consists of ten journeys, they are much more than tracks, which contain many moments of intense yearning, sorrow, happiness and love. The compositional credits are shared equally by Sirkis and Bialas, with Bialas also contributing five poems in Polish, and while this music is ...

Album Review

Daniel - Galichet - Metzger: Killing Spree

Read "Killing Spree" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 29, 2015

Saxophonist Matthieu Metzger extends his multi-tracked applications and concepts, evidenced on Self Cooking (Ayler, 2012) with this aggressive trio format, steeped in punk jazz, free jazz, metal jazz and progressive rock. Hold on to your seats as they say because these folks will knock your socks off with a consortium of high-velocity, in-your-face metrics and astute use of electronics. Amped by a powerful, loud, and agile rhythm section, the program casts a mélange of disparate works built on doomsday overtures, ...

Catching Up With

John Engels: Looking Back, Moving Forward

by Joan Gannij
April 28, 2015

Drummer John Engels has the energy of two forty-year olds, which is pretty impressive, since he will soon be turning 80. He will celebrate this auspicious occasion with the Vogel Vrij (Free as a Bird) tour, a series of concerts at diverse venues throughout the Netherlands (with saxophonists Benny Golson and Benjamin Herman) which began in April and continues through October. A book was also recently published in Dutch: Hé Vogel, Wanneer Spelen We Weer?: Het Muzikale Leven van John ...

Multiple Reviews

Two Konstantin Ionenko Releases on Fancy Music

by Mark Sullivan
April 28, 2015

Two recent releases from the Russian Fancy Music label feature Ukrainian bassist Konstantin Ionenko (they also have drummer Pavel Galitsky in common). Ionenko holds down the low end with an electric bass guitar, but the group sound on these recordings is primarily acoustic, with a bass approach similar to what a double bassist would play--no slapping or popping here. If these albums are indicative of the general quality of Ukrainian jazz playing, there must be a deep bench.

Album Review

Milford Graves/Bill Laswell: Space / Time - Redemption

Read "Space / Time - Redemption" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
April 28, 2015

Music is a mysterious thing, and in a sense, all music that ever was and ever could be exists right now, just waiting for the right musician to bring it forth. Music is meant to be experienced and not merely listened to. Its power is in its emotional content which is conveyed to us by rhythm, melody and harmony. Those musicians who can tap into this energy are the ones who move audiences and even change ...

Album Review

Brainticket: Past Present & Future

Read "Past Present & Future" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 28, 2015

In 2015, Cleopatra Records reissued fabled experimental Krautrock band, Brainticket's 1973 album, Celestial Ocean. However, keyboardist and flutist Joel Vandroogenbroeck has abided by a slow pace when releasing subsequent material for mass consumption. Known as a risqué unit that mirrored some of the avant musings evidenced by fellow 70s ensembles, Can and Amon Duul, the musicians are back in action with a rather urbane and radiantly produced musical statement. Highlighted by thrusting grooves, layered electronics, and ethereal flute ...

Album Review

Harris Eisenstadt: Golden State II

Read "Golden State II" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 28, 2015

Drummer Harris Eisenstadt's Golden State--the avant-chamber group that he formed while he was in residence at the California Institute of the Arts in 2012--is a meeting of minds and instincts. In its initial form, with bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck, bassist Mark Dresser, and flutist Nicole Mitchell, this ensemble created music that was smart and offbeat. Logic and surprise were both at play in the sounds that these four made together. They refused to draw out clear distinctions between pre-composed thought and ...