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

Nate Radley: Morphoses

Read "Morphoses" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
March 3, 2015

It took Nate Radley a while to graduate from sideman/band member to leader, but The Big Eyes (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2012) was an impressive debut that called for a quick follow-up. Happily, Radley seems to be on a roll. Carillon (Steeplechase, 2013) pitted Radley alongside Ted Poor, Chris Cheek and Matt Clohesy on an eclectic set of atmospherically diverse originals and swinging standards. On Morphoses the guitarist once again surrounds himself with frequent collaborators Poor, Loren Stillman and Matt ...

Album Review

Buddy Tate: Texas Tenor

Read "Texas Tenor" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
March 3, 2015

Saxophonist George “Buddy" Tate came to prominence in the 1930s with his hard swinging style and robust and resilient tone. His sound mellowed and matured like a fine spirit throughout a long and busy career but his approach did not veer far from his original fashion of playing, dubbed Texas Tenor. The 1978 Sackville record is named just that, one of three Tate discs to bear this title.The label's rhythm trio joins Tate on an intimate set of ...

Album Review

Mike Parker’s Unified Theory: Embrace The Wild

Read "Embrace The Wild" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
March 3, 2015

New York bassist Mike Parker leads an international quintet based in Krakow, Poland where he has been residing for the last two years. This is his second album with this band and already shows signs of great things. Kicking off with “Kobra Kai Dance Remix" this is pure post-bop jazz tinged with eclectic influences--Ornette, Mingus, M-Base and more--Parker's solid, insistent bass line here intertwines with intricate ensemble passages. “Hopped.Up.Pop" starts quietly enough with horns but a resounding bass ...

Album Review

Spin Marvel: Infolding

Read "Infolding" reviewed by John Ephland

by John Ephland
March 3, 2015

A cross somewhere between Jon Hassell and Brian Eno, there's a funky brilliance here that keeps me coming back for more. There are jams packed into all six pieces, a bunch of running around in and outside of meters, serious soloing without being serious (or at least, showing off). The Hassell and Eno references, of course, come from certain periods (Fourth World and beyond), both being decades old by now but still sounding fresh. But unlike both of them, by ...

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Interview

Orrin Keepnews: Classic Producer of Classics

by R.J. DeLuke
March 2, 2015

This interview was originally published in August 2007. As a city boy who took a liking to jazz music and extended it into a budding career as a journalist, Orrin Keepnews may have inadvertently veered into the record-producing arena that generated classic albums from a wide range of unforgettable artists. Maybe it was a fortunate accident. Maybe fate. Maybe it's a word he uses about others: inevitable. Born in New York City eighty-four years ...

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Building a Jazz Library

Jazz Masterpieces: 1956-1965

by AAJ Staff
March 2, 2015

There are times when you have to hold back and let certain music speak for itself. This list of jazz masterpieces is exactly that kind of music. By definition, these records are without flaw. (Okay, so humans are inherently flawed, but you'll have to get out a microscope to find anything that falls short here.) After surveying our editors, we compromised on this short “master" list. For listeners keen on what the definitive truth was at a certain ...

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

March 2015

by Mr. P.C.
March 2, 2015

Dear Mr. P.C.: What is meant by the term “Post-Bop"? Since “bop" ended in the 1950s, isn't everything since then technically “post-bop"? --T.M. in Seattle Dear T.M.: It sure is, and that's great news to anyone worried that jazz is becoming irrelevant. What better solution than to be massively inclusive, the biggest of all big tents! Taylor Swift? Post-bop! Rice a Roni? Post-bop! Richard Nixon? Post-bop! Post-modernism? Post-bop!

Live Review

Gov't Mule with John Scofield at the Ogden Theatre

by Geoff Anderson
March 2, 2015

Gov't Mule with John Scofield Ogden Theatre Denver, CO February 24, 2015 A jazz guy plays with a heavy rock band? That would be the superficial description of Sco-Mule. A deeper examination shows that John Scofield and Gov't Mule's Warren Haynes are twin brothers of different mothers. Each possesses a yearning, restless soul, constantly seeking new musical forms and combinations. Each is fearless behind his guitar. And each is possessed of a virtuoso talent and, ...

Album Review

Ron Thomas: Impatience

Read "Impatience" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
March 2, 2015

There is something elemental about the jazz piano trio. It is classically called the “Rhythm Section," that practical subset of a larger ensemble that produces the pulse that propels the band and compositions the band plays. It is also the most enduring of jazz performance formats that has included the giants of jazz. Whether it is the cathedral of Oscar Peterson, the interior world of Bill Evans or the durable consistency of Red Garland and Gene Harris, the jazz piano ...

Album Review

Burak Kaya: Climate Change

Read "Climate Change" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
March 2, 2015

Turkish guitarist Burak Kaya sees climate change as the greatest challenge facing mankind. On the sleeve of his album of the same name, he cites a Cree proverb: “Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will man finally realize that we cannot eat money." He offers this disk as a ray of light in an increasingly dark world. The label and cover ...