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

Billy Mintz: The 2 Bass Band...Live

Read "The 2 Bass Band...Live" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 5, 2015

Venerable first-call session artist and bandleader, Billy Mintz (Alan Broadbent Trio, Eddie Daniels Quartet) has logged years of productive time within the East and West Coast USA jazz communities. Calling New York home since 2001, he formed the 2 Bass Band, which is a unit that performs at many of the well-known Manhattan venues, but surprisingly, has never recorded an album until now. And it's probably fitting that the large ensemble--anchored by bassists Masa Kamaguchi and Cameron Brown --is captured ...

Catching Up With

Michel Camilo: From Dominica to Spain and Back Again

by Derrick A. Smith
April 5, 2015

This interview was first published at All About Jazz in July 2000. After performing more than 40 concerts together, longtime friends Michel Camilo and Tomatito recorded Spain, an album that fuses their respective backgrounds of Latin Jazz and flamenco. Spain was released in the country of its title in 1999 to wide critical acclaim and strong sales. At its best, the disc incorporates both broad styles into a third stream that belongs solely to Camilo/Tomatito. Their backgrounds provide ...

Interview

Larry Coryell: Less Rock, More Jazz

by Todd S. Jenkins
April 4, 2015

This interview was originally published at All About Jazz in June 2001. A true jazz pioneer, guitarist Larry Coryell was one of the earliest musicians to experiment with the fusion of jazz and rock styles. Originally from Galveston, Texas, Coryell moved to New York in 1965, at a time when the city's music scene was infused with a richly creative spirit. Early on he performed with Chico Hamilton, Gary Burton, and the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra headed by ...

Extended Analysis

The Allman Brothers Band: Live - Beacon Theatre New York City 10-28-14

by Doug Collette
April 4, 2015

The most stirring moments of the Allman Brothers Band's concert recording from New York City's Beacon Theatre on October 28, 2014 occur near the end of its nearly four-hour performance--not surprisingly, within a rendition of the group's signature instrumental, “Mountain Jam"--that are as emphatic as they are mellifluous. The patient but rabid audience offers instant recognition of the instrumental introduction to “Will the Circle Be Unbroken," after which the intonation in Gregg Allman's voice, as he begins to sing, triggers ...

Album Review

Tony Adamo: Tony Adamo & The New York Crew

Read "Tony Adamo & The New York Crew" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
April 4, 2015

Some wit once quipped that when you go to Heaven, you hear the voice of God--who is actually imitating the late, great “movie trailer guy," Don LaFontaine. If that's so, for those jazzers entering the Heavenly corner reserved for bereted hipsters and late-night flipsters, Big G must assuredly be trying to cop Tony Adamo. Now let's get this out at Bar One: Adamo, like Beluga caviar, is indeed and in deed an acquired taste. The prophet and ...

Album Review

Divergence Jazz Orchestra: The Opening Statement

Read "The Opening Statement" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 4, 2015

Yet another big-band album to be filed under “p" for “pleasant surprises." Jenna Cave is an Australian composer / arranger whose Opening Statement as leader of the Divergence Jazz Orchestra is remarkably strong and consistently pleasing. While her age isn't given in the album notes or online, a brief search has found that Cave was in school as recently as 2010, and from the photos at her web site and elsewhere, looks as though she could still be at a ...

Album Review

Ferdinando Argenti Trio: Live At The Sahara

Read "Live At The Sahara" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
April 4, 2015

Italian born but now Massachusetts-based resident Argenti is a pianist with multifarious talents which are abundantly showcased in this live trio session recorded in 2013. The opener, “Bloomdido," immediately signals that this band is on fiery form, doing superb justice to Charlie Parker's famous standard. The mood quietens somewhat for the mid-paced “Poinciana" but not without Argenti displaying some ornate, articulate playing. “I'm Old Fashioned" sees Argenti on vocals and piano smoothly interpreting this old Jerome Kern number with some ...

Album Review

Lainie Cooke: The Music is the Magic

Read "The Music is the Magic" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
April 4, 2015

Lainie Cooke is a singer not afraid to take chances. Her third recording, The Music is the Magic, she populates her recital with near standards: songs that are familiar but not cliche. Supported by a reeds-led quartet anchored by drummer (and producer on this recording) Ralph Peterson, Lainie displays a command of vocal jazz that is impressive. “Lazy Afternoon" and “Sweet Pumpkin" are sung with a Sarah Vaughan angularity betraying a good deal of practice and talent. Abbey Lincoln's tightly ...

Album Review

Boz Scaggs: A Fool to Care

Read "A Fool to Care" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
April 4, 2015

Less is more had to rule the sessions for Boz Scaggs' A Fool to Care. The core quartet of accompanists includes the producer drummer Steve Jordan, who's worked with the likes of Neil Young and Keith Richards, and while, like Memphis (429 Records, 2013), this album was recorded in a musical bastion of America-Nashville Tennessee-the album's twelve tracks proceed with a pithy economy right from the start, with “Rich Woman" and the title track, each of which seem to be ...

Bailey's Bundles

From the Keyboard: Scarlatti, Glass, & Aho

by C. Michael Bailey
April 4, 2015

The keyboard repertoire will never grow stale or cliche. These three composers and their interpreters will see to that. Duanduan Hao Domenico Scarlatti: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol.16 Naxos 2015 Naxos began their Scarlatti Sonata Cycle with the release of Volume 1 in 1999 with pianist Eteri Andjaparidze at the helm. Fifteen years later, the series reaches Volume 16 (with pianist Duanduan Hao) of a projected 34 volumes. All ...