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

Mark Wade Trio: Event Horizon

Read "Event Horizon" reviewed by Jeffrey Uhrich

by Jeffrey Uhrich
February 19, 2015

With his impressive debut release, Event Horizon, bassist/composer Mark Wade and his trio create a soundscape of musical expression, using their chemistry with one another and their mastery of their instruments to create an intimate interplay of ideas and jazz repartee. The Mark Wade Trio consists of three seasoned musicians that have performed together as a trio for the past two years: Wade on bass, Tim Harrison on piano, and Scott Neumann on drums. Although one might be tempted to ...

Book Review

The View From The Back Of The Band: The Life And Music Of Mel Lewis

by David A. Orthmann
February 18, 2015

The View From The Back Of The Band: The Life And Music Of Mel Lewis Chris Smith 399 pages ISBN: #978-1-57441-574-2 University Of North Texas Press 2014 “Good drummers were a rarity and that's all there was to it. There's no ego problem involved, it's just there weren't many good drummers. There still aren't." --Mel Lewis (21) Chris Smith's The View From The Back Of The Band: The Life ...

Album Review

John Law: Goldberg

Read "Goldberg" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 18, 2015

J.S. Bach's The Goldberg Variations is one of the most famous works in the literature of the piano and an endless source of inspiration for pianist around the world -and not only classical pianists. Bach's music simply transcends genres and his ability to develop and sculpt variations on a theme remain unsurpassed. It is no coincidence that the legendary saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, himself a master in the art of thematic variation, deeply admired Bach. In the informative ...

Live Review

George Benson and the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra at Mesa Arts Center

by Patricia Myers
February 18, 2015

George Benson and the Phoenix Symphony OrchestraMesa Arts Center Mesa, Arizona January 21, 2015 Guitarist-vocalist George Benson performed two straight hours of soul-satisfying and totally thrilling music that reprised his five decades of hits in jazz and pop- contemporary music acclaim. The non-stop set ranged from his 1964 jazz albums debut through multiple Grammy-winning gold and platinum CDs, to his 2013 Nat King Cole tribute, Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole (Concord Records, 2013). ...

Album Review

Alekos K. Vretos: K On Top

Read "K On Top" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 18, 2015

All musical genre can be blended with one another. As I get older and more persnickety, I am coming to believe that just because two musical traditions can be blended that they necessarily should be. I have listened to countless experiments with cross-pollination that best have been left alone. Gratefully, this is not true of Greek musician and composer Alekos Vretos, who seamlessly divines the perfumed essence of Middle Eastern music, infusing that essence into jazz and creating a rich ...

Extended Analysis

Maurizio Minardi: Piano Ambulance

by Phil Barnes
February 18, 2015

Moving to London in September 2008 appears to have set Italian pianist Maurizio Minardi on a creative hot streak. A new name to me Piano Ambulance is the third album in which Minardi has chosen to share his love of jazz with us since 2012 and leaves the listener with an abiding impression of precision in both expression and melody. Intended to evoke his London home these tight, classically influenced compositions, gain a significant emotional pull from the contrast between ...

Album Review

Aldo Salvent: Da Capo

Read "Da Capo" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 18, 2015

Cuban-born saxophonist Aldo Salvent makes an impressive entrance into the world of recorded jazz with his debut as leader on the stunning Da Capo, a disc of mainstream modern jazz featuring ten originals performed by a superb quintet. Currently seeking his Master's Degree in Jazz Saxophone Performance at Florida International University in Miami, FL, Salvent's musical background traces from Cuba and Costa Rica to the fertile talent-rich south Florida community where he performs regularly in Miami's bourgeoning jazz scene. This ...

Album Review

Kalle Kalima and K-18: Buñuel de Jour

Read "Buñuel de Jour" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
February 18, 2015

With the intriguingly seductive Buñuel De Jour guitarist Kalle Kalima and his quartet, the K-18, continue their paean to the rebel auteurs of cinema. Their third installment in this series, again on the Finnish TUM label, is obviously dedicated to the iconoclastic surrealist filmmaker, Luis Buñuel. His works themselves, not the scores, serve as inspiration to the dozen originals that comprise the album. Each improvisation heavy piece truly reflects the spirit of its namesake. “Belle de Jour" for ...

Rediscovery

Steve Kuhn: Non-Fiction

by John Kelman
February 18, 2015

Steve Kuhn Non-FictionECM Records1978 Today's Rediscovery is another title that falls into the category of “begging to be issued on CD for the first time. When ECM Records released Life's Backward Glances--Solo and Quartet in 2009--part of its Old & New Masters Edition series of box sets that gathered together various albums, some never before on CD in their full form, others never on CD before ever--there seemed to be one notable absence from a ...

Album Review

Eli Bennett: Breakthrough

Read "Breakthrough" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 17, 2015

Checking out up-and-coming tenor saxophonists is often akin to checking out strong man competitions: In both cases you often have strapping and stentorian figures going through their routine(s) while trying to impress by bulldozing through anything in their path. These types of musical displays are often awe-inspiring, whether observed live or on record, and a good number of dazzling tenor exhibitionists have truly earned the attention, ink, and acclaim they've received through such work. But there are also plenty of ...