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

Various Artists: Highlife on the Move: Selected Nigerian & Ghanaian Recordings from London & Lagos 1954-66

Read "Highlife on the Move: Selected Nigerian & Ghanaian Recordings from London & Lagos 1954-66" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
April 1, 2015

This two-CD (or three-LP) compilation covers a period of musical history that remains under-documented but has been hugely influential on the ensuing half century. It brings together thirty-eight tracks by musicians of Nigerian or Ghanaian origin, recorded in Nigeria, Ghana or London, between 1954 and 1966. An indication of the music's vintage is that many of the tracks were originally issued on ten-inch 78 rpm shellac discs or seven-inch 45's; however, there can be no quibbles about the sound quality ...

Album Review

Kevin Eubanks & Stanley Jordan: Duets

by Rob Caldwell
April 1, 2015

We know Kevin Eubanks as a long-time leader and guitarist for The Tonight Show band, as well as a string of solo albums. Stanley Jordan, of course, turned the jazz world on its ear in the mid 80's with his revolutionary two-handed tapping technique on the guitar fretboard. Both musicians have been used to being in the spotlight. As such, one might expect a showy, flashy set of tracks on their Duets album. Yet, Duets is an understated album full ...

Interview

Eliane Elias: The Authenticity of the Groove

by R.J. DeLuke
March 31, 2015

"I was 22 years old and I told Toots Thielemans that I had some tunes I'd like him to listen to," says Eliane Elias, the Brazilian-born pianist, a child prodigy who rose to the upper echelons of music during her time in the United States. The discussion with the famed harmonica player came during a rehearsal in the 1980s. Bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Al Foster were there. They started in playing her tune “Moments." “We would get ...

Album Review

Eliane Elias: Made In Brazil

Read "Made In Brazil" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
March 31, 2015

If you've never been to Brazil, consider Eliane Elias as a goodwill ambassador with Made In Brazil. It is a triumphant return for the pianist/vocalist to her native land to record her first album there since relocating to the United States in 1981. There is a delicacy to how Elias chooses and approaches the material. There is no genuflecting to pop music as there was on Light My Fire (Concord, 2011). Here Elias is all about adult emotions ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Hank Mobley: Dippin' – Blue Note 4209

by Marc Davis
March 31, 2015

1965 was an interesting year musically, and Hank Mobley's Dippin' tries--mostly successfully--to capture all of it. It's a hodgepodge of styles that were very popular that year, ranging from soul to pop, hard bop to bossa nova. It's a fun listen--but don't expect any kind of consistent feel. The record pairs two of the standard-bearers of 1960s Blue Note soul-jazz: Mobley on tenor sax and Lee Morgan on trumpet. While you can enjoy Dippin' without knowing ...

Album Review

The Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet: Come To Me

Read "Come To Me" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
March 31, 2015

Led by drummer Asaf Sirkis and vocalist Sylwia Bialas, the International Quartet is completed by pianist Frank Harrison (a long-time collaborator with Sirkis in Gilad Atzmon's Orient House Ensemble) and bassist Pat Bettison. Come To Me is the band's debut, a collection of original compositions by Sirkis and Białas that heralds the arrival of a strong and original writing partnership as well as a musically inventive quartet. The International Quartet is a genuinely multinational ensemble: Sirkis was born ...

Album Review

Backback: III

by Mark Corroto
March 31, 2015

The initial impression of the jazz/rock trio Backback is that they take their cues form the Boston 90s indie band Morphine because the trio features the baritone saxophone of Marc De Maeseneer in most of their compositions. Indeed, III opens with the blues/funk/rocker “Joe" that riffs off of the deep grooves of rock. The trio is a stripped down garage jazz outfit with De Maeseneer, drummer Giovanni Barcella, and guitarist Filip Wauters.This recording, a follow up to their ...

Album Review

Henry Darragh: Too Much Monday

Read "Too Much Monday" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
March 31, 2015

My introduction to Houston Jazz came with the receipt of Jacqui Sutton's Billie & Dolly (Toy Blue Typewriter Productions, 2010). A few short months later, I received Henry Darragh's Tell Her for Me (Self Produced, 2011). When I compared the musical personnel for each of these recordings, a light came on in my pea brain alerting me to the fact that Houston may not be so big after all. There was quite the overlap in musicians between the two releases. ...

Extended Analysis

The half-finished heaven

by John Kelman
March 31, 2015

She may have debuted on ECM (and, consequently, far beyond the borders of her native Norway) with 2007's Starflowers, but Sinikka Langeland has, in fact, been around for more than two decades, with her first album, Langt Innpå Skoga, released on Norway's Grappa label in 1994. Composer, singer and master of the kantele—an antiquated Scandinavian dulcimer/zither variant that Langeland has turned into a living, breathing instrument—it was on Starflowers and her 2011 ECM follow-up with the same ensemble, The Land ...

Album Review

Jani Moder's Brain Blender: Abacus

by Mark Sullivan
March 31, 2015

Jani Moder's Brain Blender plays what can only be described as “classic fusion." Bandleader/guitarist Moder attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music. Presumably his bandmates do not possess the same international credentials, but only the dual Slovenian/English credits on the CD case would give that away. It is truly international music, with a sound and technical skill that could be found anywhere. His third album features a basic quartet augmented with a percussionist and guest horn players. The ...