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

Jeff Cosgrove/Frank Kimbrough/Martin Wind: Conversations With Owls

Read "Conversations With Owls" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 24, 2015

Owls are often seen or portrayed as the most sagacious of creatures, wisely holding sway on a branch and quietly gazing into the night. Images such as that readily appear in the mind as Conversations With Owls unfold. In listening back to this music after the session, drummer Jeff Cosgrove was taken back to his days living near the Potomac River in West Virginia. While there, Cosgrove would often find inspiration in the activities of an owl ...

Album Review

Donny McCaslin: Fast Future

Read "Fast Future" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
March 24, 2015

Saxophonist Donny McCaslin brought a fresh perspective to the acoustic-electronic jazz soundscape with 2012's Casting for Gravity (Greenleaf Music) which earned a Grammy nomination for “Best Instrumental Jazz Solo" for the track “Stadium Jazz." Thankfully it was not a one-off as McCaslin reassembles the tightly knit band and savvy production from saxophonist David Binney in Fast Future, a release that continues the groove factor. Like its predecessor, the music pulsates with energy as McCaslin's tenor powers over ...

Rediscovery

John Abercrombie: Characters

by John Kelman
March 24, 2015

John Abercrombie CharactersECM Records1978 Guitarist John Abercrombie's emergence as a guitarist of singularity seems, in retrospect to have happened very quickly. A band member in the horn-driven jazz-rock band Dreams alongside drummer Billy Cobham and the Brecker Brothers, as well as stints with fusion keyboardist Barry Miles, saxophonist Gato Barbieri and Cobham's own group, it was a remarkable period of evolution for the guitarist. Abercrombie made his first ECM appearance with Dave Liebman on the ...

Album Review

Awa Sangho: Ala Ta

by James Nadal
March 24, 2015

The ancient West African culture that spans across the sands of the Sahara has created a rich and vibrant musical legacy which continues to yield stimulating artists. Vocalist Awa Sangho hails from Mali, was raised in musically rich Bamako, and began her singing and composing career in Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast. There she honed her skill in a theatre troupe before forming her own group Les Go De Koteba, which released five records and toured internationally. With her release ...

Album Review

James Witherite: Please Do Not Clap On One and 3

Read "Please Do Not Clap On One and 3" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
March 24, 2015

Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer James Witherite delivers his third album as leader and his second organ trio offering on Please Do Not Clap On One and 3, presenting a repertoire of eight original pieces and a fresh new arrangement of Billy Joel's classic “New York State of Mind." A Pittsburgh-born, Western Pennsylvania native who now makes Dover, DE his home, is not only a versatile musician but also happens to be one of the premier voices of North American harness ...

Album Review

Atomic: Lucidity

Read "Lucidity" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 24, 2015

There's an inference on this Norwegian ensemble's webpage bio that its blend of free-jazz and dynamic mode of operations is the antithesis to their fellow countrymen's largely quaint or ethereal jazz output evidenced on ECM Records, for example. However, it's not that these innuendos or tenets are viewed as negatives, but the highly respected musicians comprising Atomic have been vigorously pushing the envelope since 2000. They are restless spirits who dish out a horde of cleverly arranged tonal ...

Interview

Chris Potter Underground Orchestra: Imaginary Cities

by Eric J. Iannelli
March 23, 2015

Writing jazz music, says Chris Potter, is “a bit of a zen exercise." “A lot of what you're thinking about when you're writing is the stuff that's not there. You're thinking about the solos and the way the band is going to play it together--things that can't be notated." For Imaginary Cities, his eighteenth and most recent album as bandleader, composition presented the saxophonist with a greater challenge than usual on account of just how much ...

Interview

A Fireside Chat With Chris Potter

by AAJ Staff
March 23, 2015

This article was originally published in December 2001.I remember first seeing Chris Potter playing with Paul Motian and most recently with the highly regarded Dave Holland Quintet. His improvement in the two or so years time is nothing short of remarkable. I can only compare his development with Scott Colley, who happens (and not just by chance) to appear on Potter's Verve debut, Gratitude, a tribute/dedication/thank you to a who's who of saxophonists. Potter has had one hell ...

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Building a Jazz Library

The Ten Best Live Jazz Recordings: 1953-1965

by C. Michael Bailey
March 23, 2015

Having recently completed a survey of the Best Live Rock Albums, I have learned a couple of valuable things. One is a list of this sort should be presented in descending order starting with number 10 and descending to number 1. Second, it is better to poll a group for their opinions and develop the list from an analytical (or pseudoanalytical) evaluation of the results. This is how the Top Ten Best Live Jazz Recordings (1953-65) were selected. I polled ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Art Blakey: Orgy in Rhythm, Volumes 1 and 2 – Blue Note 1554 and 1555

by Marc Davis
March 23, 2015

This may be the strangest album ever released on Blue Note Records, and I don't like it. I hate saying that. I love music, and I try to find something to like in everything. I try occasionally to go beyond the familiar. Opera baffles me, but I can't deny there are some beautiful melodies and powerful arias. Country music is cornball to my ears, but I do love me some Johnny Cash. And what is bluegrass ...