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.

Live Review

Stevie Wonder at Pepsi Center

by Geoff Anderson
March 25, 2015

Stevie Wonder Pepsi Center Denver, CO March 17, 2015 Is there anybody that doesn't like Stevie Wonder? Go ahead, I dare you, tell me how you don't like Stevie Wonder. Then go chase those kids off your lawn. For the legion of Stevie Wonder fans, it's fortunate that he goes out on the road every once in a while; maybe not frequently, but occasionally is much better than nothing. On the current tour, ...

Album Review

Pedro Giraudo Big Band: Cuentos

by Jack Bowers
March 25, 2015

Cuentos, the sixth recording by Argentine-born, New York-based composer / arranger / bassist Pedro Giraudo and his first as leader of a fully formed large ensemble, is a rhythmic delight, deftly interweaving the best of Giraudo's South American heritage with contemporary big-band jazz of the highest order. Giraudo wrote and arranged every number, on each of which the irrepressible harmonies and cadences of his homeland play an essential role. Much of the music is thematic, from the ...

Extended Analysis

Ant Law: Zero Sum World

by Phil Barnes
March 25, 2015

The idea of the “Zero Sum Game" originates in economic game theory--in essence a situation in which gains or losses made by one participant when combined with those of all other participants sum to nil. So the cake is finite and if one person takes more, less is available to others. Guitarist and composer Ant Law has structured this album to fit the concept, citing the balance the pieces strike between the dense and dissonant improvisations of tracks like “Parallel ...

Album Review

Agustí Fernández / Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard / Bjørn Heebøll: Amaranth

Read "Amaranth" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
March 25, 2015

To call Spanish pianist Agustí Fernández an inside/outside player isn't to suggest that he dabbles in both straight-ahead and free jazz. As a free, improvising pianist, he is one of the most sensitive players in today's scene. No, calling Fernández an inside/outside player literally means he can often be found playing his instrument both from the outside --the keyboard, and the inside.His latest release is a new trio with the Danish musicians Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard (SOUND X SOUND) ...

Live Review

Cassandra Wilson at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts

by Patricia Myers
March 25, 2015

Cassandra Wilson: “Coming Forth by Day, A Celebration of Billie Holiday" Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts Scottsdale, Arizona February 21, 2015 Vocalist Cassandra Wilson delivered a modern homage in honor of the anniversary of Billie Holiday's 100th birthday. Her performance neither replicated the late singer's sound nor did it adhere to the jazz mode of that long-past era. Instead, it was a re-characterization of the songs that made Holiday famous from 1935 to 1959. ...

Album Review

Errol Rackipov Group: Pictures From A Train Window

Read "Pictures From A Train Window" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
March 25, 2015

There's a lot going on here: all manner of different musical influences and moods. Errol Rackipov (vibes and marimba), hails originally from Bulgaria. In his sleeve note, he likens life to a train ride on which we glimpse reflections of our past, present and future out of the window. The wistful, yet driving title song--probably Rackipov's best know composition to date--refers to this musically, a complex, Bulgarian emigré version of Jimmy Giuffre's classic “Train And The River." ...

Album Review

Harley Card: Hedgerow

Read "Hedgerow" reviewed by Fiona Ord-Shrimpton

by Fiona Ord-Shrimpton
March 25, 2015

Hazy summer sun and nostalgia, the album cover hints best at what the music of Harley Card sounds like (with the exception of the giant mirror-beach-ball-spaceship-portal thing--no idea). Hedgerow is a contemplative and absorbing sound, reiterating guitar phrases across a wide harvest of colors and plaited exchanges. Hedgerow is a little knotty, in the sense of a moot undercurrent of gentle melancholy, after careful unraveling it's not hard to appreciate the calm and find an overall sense of ...

Album Review

Natural Artefacts: California Connection

Read "California Connection" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 25, 2015

Keyboardist Susanna Lindeborg and her Swedish band-mates form a bond with San Francisco Bay Area musicians, percussionist and electronics performer Gino Robair and electronics denizen Tim Perkis on this venturesome set recorded live at UC Berkeley and in the studio. As the Natural Artefacts band originated when Lindeborg and her longtime musical partner, saxophonist Ove Johansson collaborated with fellow countryman, composer and electronics ace Per Anders Nilsson. Many of these pieces are titled after California bridges that underscore ...

Multiple Reviews

Brooklyn Jazz Underground: A Trio of Hits

by Franz A. Matzner
March 24, 2015

Modern jazz has a problem. And Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records' recent slate of releases illustrates the growing dilemma: a surfeit of excellence. Across the spectrum, artists are innovating at such a high level and plumbing the depths of musical expression with such regularity that it's hard to keep pace (or avoid hyperbole). Jazz's aperture is wide open and BJUR's cultivation of creative music's cutting edge underscores that fact. The label's efforts also remind us that periodically throughout history ...

745

Building a Jazz Library

Art Pepper

by C. Michael Bailey
March 24, 2015

Alto Saxophonist Arthur Edward Pepper, Jr. (1925-1982) wanted to be known as the “greatest alto saxophonist in the world," a tall order considering contemporaries like Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, and Paul Desmond. In spite of this, Pepper outlived all of them while forging a unique and personal sound. Pepper, along with Desmond and Lee Konitz, were among the few small-combo saxophonists able to forge an individual sound despite the long shadow of Bird. Art Pepper's professional career can ...