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

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Worker

by Dave Wayne
January 30, 2015

Of all the bands playing jazz-rock, or fusion, or whatever-you-want-to-call it, the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (or JFJO as they're known by their fans) is the one that comes closest to embodying Joe Zawinul's dictum regarding Weather Report's modus operandi: ..."nobody solos, everybody solos." The similarities stop there, however, though JFJO's careening omnivorous creativity, like Weather Report's, has enabled the band to carve out some very distinctive sonic territory. While JFJO's omnivorous jazz aesthetic--one which embraces Earl Hines as well ...

Live Review

McCoy Tyner with Geri Allen and Kenny Barron at SFJAZZ

by Harry S. Pariser
January 29, 2015

McCoy Tyner with Geri Allen and Kenny Barron SFJAZZ San Francisco, CA January 18, 2015 Three of the jazz world's best known pianists recently came together at SFJAZZ in San Francisco, California for a memorable triptych of styles. Heading the bill was piano patriarch McCoy Tyner. Now 76, Tyner initially made his mark as a pianist in the John Coltrane Quartet before moving on to compose as well as to front his own ensembles. Over ...

Album Review

Meeco: Souvenirs Of Love

Read "Souvenirs Of Love" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 29, 2015

Meeco doesn't skimp on star power when he puts a record together. The personnel listings from his previous projects--Amargo Mel (Connector Records, 2009), Perfume E Caricias (Connector Records, 2010), and Beauty Of The Night (Connector Records, 2012)--read like the invite list for the NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony: Jazz elders--bassists Ron Carter and Buster Williams, flautist Hubert Laws, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, saxophonist Benny Golson, and pianist Kenny Barron, to name a few--joined in at one time or another, and younger ...

Album Review

Jeff Hamilton Trio: Great American Songs Through the Years

Read "Great American Songs Through the Years" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
January 29, 2015

In a sonic climate full of studio fixes, it's always refreshing to hear something real--especially when it's executed with this level of excellence. At this point the Jeff Hamilton Trio has been together for over a decade, and it shows in their relaxed and seamless interplay. On this CD, a limited reissue of a 2013 Japanese release, the trio gives new life to ten classics from the American songbook, showing the fine bone structure that made each tune a classic ...

Album Review

Lisa Parrott: Round Tripper

Read "Round Tripper" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 29, 2015

Alto saxophonist/free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, in the recording studio for bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma's For the Love of Ornette (Jazzwerkstatt, 2010), said to a band about to break into a tune: “Fellas. Fellas. Can you hear me? Forget the notes and get to the idea." New York-based, Australian-bred alto and baritone saxophonist Lisa Parrott seems to have taken at least half of that advice to heart. It's uncertain whether or not she has forgotten the notes, but she most definitely ...

Album Review

Makiko Hirabayashi/Flemming Agerskov: Binocular

Read "Binocular" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
January 29, 2015

Binocular is an extraordinary piece of musical art. Pianist Makiko Hirabayashi has a distinct, recognizable style of composition and performance. Her music has a kind of floating quality created by melodic phrases and lines which imply tonality rather than stating it, phrase lengths and rhythmic accents which further weaken any overt tonality, plus a piano and pedal technique which many times overlaps notes, creating many high overtones that add a shimmering envelop to the sound. She ...

Bailey's Bundles

Dust Bowl Rodeo – Red Eye Gravy

by C. Michael Bailey
January 29, 2015

When Nathaniel asked Philip, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Nathaniel could have been referring to East Oklahoma. Or, that is what many think. But Oklahoma is the home of not a few pivotal musicians. The flat terrain, constant wind, and warm sun proved quite fertile for musicians. In jazz, there is guitarist Charlie Christian, trumpeter Chet Baker, bandleader Jay McShanne, and saxophonists Don Byas, and Sharel Cassity (I asked her if she had lost her Oklahoma ...

Record Label Profile

7Dreams: The Story of a Country, a Friendship and a Sound

by Jakob Baekgaard
January 28, 2015

One of the things that is great about the digital age is how easy it is to get access to music from different parts of the world. Pluralism is the keyword. Jazz is not just one thing and each country has its specific take on the jazz tradition. However, sometimes jazz musicians of a particular country forget their own heritage because they are too busy following the latest trend. This is not the case with Nicolas Simion, Romanian ...

Album Review

Chris Klaxton: Starcode

by James Nadal
January 28, 2015

Oftentimes the back story behind the motivation and inspiration for songs compiled on a record is just as fascinating as the music itself. Case in point is trumpeter Chris Klaxton, whose interest in subjects as diverse as astrophysics, the intellectual philosophies of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff, and spiritual continuity of life, culminated in his recording Starcode. Though all of this might sound complicated when applied to jazz, his music is grounded and accessible,implemented with profound sensitivity. The title track ...

Album Review

Lisa Parrott: Round Tripper

Read "Round Tripper" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 28, 2015

More than ten thousand miles separate New York and Australia, but saxophonist Lisa Parrott's music bridges that gap. On Round Tripper, the Australian-born, New York-based Parrott makes music that speaks to her connections to both locales and the bonds that she's made in both places over the years. Round Tripper finds Parrot working with an integrated American-Australian outfit: Omnipresent drummer Matt Wilson and bassist Chris Lightcap represent the former category while guitarist Carl Dewhurst, one of Parrot's ...