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

Jorge Moniz: Inquieta Luz

Read "Inquieta Luz" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
February 2, 2015

Inquieta Luz (Restless Light), by a band fronted by Portuguese drummer Jorge Moniz, explodes like a firework in all directions. The opener, “Interruptor," is electronic and discordant, having the same sort of effect on the listener's sensibilities as fingers scraping down a blackboard. After this--mercifully--things get very much better. The second track, “Neblina," is fusion à la In A Silent Way, featuring lilting, meditative piano from Luis Figueiredo and soaring guitar by Mario Delgado. ...

Album Review

Fresh Cut Orchestra: From The Vine

Read "From The Vine" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 2, 2015

Here's a Philadelphia band that offers a novel perspective on large ensemble jazz with ever-so-slight inclinations toward the outside realm, which is just enough to present an enlivening aspect to these nine diversely enacted tracks. Sadly, “The Mothers' Suite" compositions relate to the tragic passing of bassist Jason Fraticelli's mother-in-law, shortly before the birth of his first child. Off-kilter electronics treatments, polytonal nuances and other factors weave in and out of these works that tender a cornucopia of ...

Live Review

Bill Mobley, Andrew Beals, Jeff Pittson, Mark Hagan, Jimmy Madison At The Old '76 House

by David A. Orthmann
February 1, 2015

Bill Mobley, Andrew Beals, Jeff Pittson, Mark Hagan, Jimmy Madison The Old 76 House Mark Hagan's Jazz Salon Tappan, NY January 21, 2015 Jimmy Madison, the first of the band to arrive, wheeled his cymbal case in on a portable carrier and surveyed the array of drums, cymbals and stands before him. Spread out hither and yon and looking decidedly out of place in a formal dining room of tables with starched white ...

Album Review

Meeco: Souvenirs of Love

Read "Souvenirs of Love" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 1, 2015

Pianist, composer and producer Meeco alias Michael Maier delivers his fourth album with Souvenirs of Love offering a “collection of love songs that tell my life" story as the artist states, through a range of R & B, intimate jazz ballads and a touch of the hip-hop influence provided in a tasteful elegant platform. Not a conservative musician by any stretch, Meeco is used to doing things big, out of the norm and striking a new approach. On this venture, ...

Album Review

Selasee & The FaFa Family: Time For Peace

Read "Time For Peace" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
February 1, 2015

West African palm wine music, by the 1920's, was morphed into highlife in the country of Ghana --becoming the country's most popular and identifiable genre--and is the core substance of Time For Peace. Led by Ghanian native Selasee Atiase, now residing in America, The FaFa Family delivers roots reggae inflected with a soft undercurrent of highlife, and heartfelt inspiration of gospel and soul. Prepared with a strong music background and acknowledged as a gospel singer back in his ...

Film Review

The Girls in the Band

by Richard J Salvucci
February 1, 2015

The Girls in the Band Collective Eye (Educational version) 2011 That there are problems of race and gender in the history of American jazz comes as no surprise. Music, and popular music (as swing was in the 1930s and 1940s), is a part of everyday life. Why should jazz be any different? Yet the issues manifest themselves in many different ways. In all my time listening to swing bands as a kid, and you could ...

Album Review

Rob Mazurek: Alternate Moon Cycles

Read "Alternate Moon Cycles" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
February 1, 2015

The first half of the decade has seen cornet virtuoso and composer Rob Mazurek through significant achievements and personal losses, often linked inextricably through his creative processes. In and around the passing of his mentor and colleague, the trumpeter Bill Dixon in 2010 and his mother in 2013, Mazurek has found inspirations that are unique even for an innovator of his caliber. The latter life event was the impetus for two very different collections--Mother Ode (Corbett vs Dempsey, 2014)--a solo, ...

Album Review

Marbin: The Third Set

Read "The Third Set" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 1, 2015

Marbin is known for its extensive touring schedules, coupled with the instrumentalists' exhilarating interactions. But in the studio, the musicians present a variegated jamboree of acoustic-electric pieces, often layered with memorable hooks and textural soundscapes amid the frontline's invigorating solo jaunts. However, The Third Set captures the unit's explosive progressive rock and jazz rock nomenclature at its finest. It's an unrelenting feast for the aural senses as guitarist Dani Rabin and saxophonist Danny Markovitch generate lightning fast unison choruses and ...

Extended Analysis

Zhenya Strigalev's Smiling Organizm: Robin Goodie

by Phil Barnes
January 31, 2015

It's always interesting to discover how the rest of the world views your country and this, the second album by Strigalev's six piece Smiling Organizm, was apparently inspired by his time in England. So while we might reasonably expect a paean to the joys of tea, queue etiquette and appalling public transport, the mirror Strigalev holds up instead highlights “nature... humour, heroism, strong personalities, love, rebelliousness and... some stupidity." Well, I guess it could have been worse! There ...

Album Review

Annie Lennox: Nostalgia

Read "Nostalgia" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
January 31, 2015

You can't fault Annie Lennox if she gives the impression Nostalgia is her first swipe at a “serious" jazz record. Back in the 90's she entered the scene as the gender-bending vocalist of the Eurythmics turning out perfect synth pop. Lennox turned 60 this year and along with her closely-cropped grey hair, she displays the full maturity of a veteran artist. However, the end result here are bit muddled with peaks and valleys along the musical journey through ...