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

Brandon Seabrook: Sylphid Vitalizers

Read "Sylphid Vitalizers" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 5, 2015

Guitarist Brandon Seabrook (Andrew Drury, Anthony Braxton) is justifiably garnering considerable press as a burgeoning firebrand who terrorizes or perhaps, atomizes the banjo and guitar with punk metal, free jazz and anarchistic rock proclivities. With his third solo release he conjures otherworldly and brain-bending propositions via an array of highly disciplined supercharged performances on banjo and guitar. He's also a frequent collaborator on the jazz improvisational front amid first-call session duties for new wave jazz productions that our largely outside-the-box. ...

Album Review

Chris McNulty: Eternal

by Dan Bilawsky
March 4, 2015

Eternal is a work of love and loss, a celebration of life, and a poignant piece of artistic expression. Vocalist Chris McNulty crafted this album as a tribute to her son, Sam, who passed away in 2011. This album took shape in the days following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, as McNulty, with no electricity, heat, or running water, sat with her thoughts and selected songs that reflected the complex emotions that were running through her. In the ...

Album Review

Majamisty TriO: Love

by Hrayr Attarian
March 4, 2015

Serbian pianist and composer Maja Alvanovic's second release with her Majamisty TriO Love is a collection of ethereal dreamscapes that crackle with lively spontaneity. The dominant and unifying theme of the album is a sort of nostalgic impressionism with fluid, hazy sonic images filtered through the lens of memory and time. The redolent “Rain Dots" evokes the warm, cozy indoor ambience of rainy afternoons. Alvanović's keys emulate the gentle pitter-patter of a drizzle that grows into a stormy ...

Rediscovery

Gary Thomas: Till We Have Faces

by John Kelman
March 4, 2015

Gary ThomasTill We Have FacesJMT1992 It was sometime in 1992 when I came across today's Rediscovery. I was walking by a record store (remember those?) in my hometown of Ottawa, Canada when I suddenly heard this staggering guitarist playing over what sounded like a standard I thought I knew but couldn't place. His tone was gritty, but his lines sounded familiar as he ran incendiary line after incendiary line, supported by an equally fiery drummer ...

Album Review

Charles McPherson: The Journey

Read "The Journey" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
March 4, 2015

One of the original bebop artists of our time, alto saxophonist Charles McPherson adds to his legacy and marches through a selection of timely bop-infused material on The Journey, demonstrating his mastery of the idiom by transforming jazz classics into fresh-sounding bop tunes with a blend of originals rolled into one exciting package. Long associated with Charles Mingus--a twelve-year collaboration--McPherson has been in the public eye since the early 1960s and was the central figure in providing the sound track ...

Album Review

Oliver Lake - William Parker: To Roy

Read "To Roy" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 4, 2015

To Roy is dedicated to the late trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., who had risen among the ranks as a first-call session artist amid a fruitful career as a leader. He was an astute and powerful improviser who succumbed to cardiovascular disease on January 9, 2014. And this album signifies the first collaboration between ultra-modern jazz giants, bassist William Parker and saxophonist Oliver Lake. It's a tightly focused encounter, where the musicians engage in plentiful call and response activities ...

Extended Analysis

Emily Saunders: Outsiders Insiders

by Phil Barnes
March 4, 2015

Four years on from her debut Cotton Skies London's Emily Saunders has taken near complete control on this wonderful follow up and artistic leap forward. While she also produced her debut, this time Saunders wrote and arranged all nine tracks, not needing to augment them with covers from the likes of Airto Moreira as she did on Cotton Skies. Admirable though this undoubtedly is in these times when myriad mediocrities feel the need to inflict their interpretations of ...

Tell Me More

Cyrille Aimee: It's a Good Day

by Belinda Ware
March 3, 2015

In countries around the world, March is designated as Women's History Month, a time where we acknowledge women of excellence in a variety of fields of expertise. Women who create milestones and trends to awaken the consciousness of people who they inspire with the light of a new approach to something familiar. A true pioneer is one who possesses the independent spirit of ingenuity and the spirit of change. Looking at the world of jazz, that independent spirit is embodied ...

Jazz Near Me

The Third Annual World Vibes Congress Creates Waves in Asbury Park

by Gloria Krolak
March 3, 2015

Another epic gathering of vibraphone players was uncorked and, like Champagne on New Year's Eve, this bubbly was not staying in the bottle. Part of the Third World Vibes Congress, the jam exploded at the packed Langosta Lounge and Restaurant on Asbury Park's boardwalk early in January. Pairs of vibes players, many of whom had never played together or even met, formed quartets with stalwarts, bassist Loren Cohen and drummer Alvester Garnett. They rolled in like waves. First ...

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Building a Jazz Library

Bulletin Board Members' Picks

by AAJ Staff
March 3, 2015

Since we started the Building a Jazz Library (BAJL) series, we've assembled more than sixty collections, and that number continues to grow. We thought it might be interesting to see what readers would recommend, so we asked AAJ Bulletin Board members to provide a short list of recordings they considered essential, and the 159 different lists that came in over a six-month period added up to a tremendously diverse collection of music. The following thirteen recordings (listed ...