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.

Rediscovery

Gallery: Gallery

by John Kelman
January 22, 2015

GalleyGalleryECM Records1982 Today's discovery is in my top 10 list of albums screaming for first-time issue on CD by Munich's venerable ECM Records. Gallery was a one-off, teaming vibraphonist Dave Samuels and Oregon's Paul McCandless with cellist David Darling, bassist Ratzo Harris and Michael Di Pasqua--a drummer who, with a resume on the label that included Ralph Towner, Jan Garbarek, Double Image and Eberhard Weber, was well on his way to becoming a label staple ...

Multiple Reviews

Martin Speake: The Unquiet Mind

by Duncan Heining
January 21, 2015

We have here three very fine CDs from British alto saxophonist, Martin Speake. Speake is classically trained and when I first heard him in the late 90s, he brought to jazz a tone that emphasised the clarity of each note and the purity of the melodic line that was quite unusual in a music more used to the personalised sounds of a Hodges, a Bird, a Desmond or an Ornette. Over the years, his alto playing has perhaps become more ...

Album Review

The Old Hat Jazz Band: Old Hat Jazz Band

Read "Old Hat Jazz Band" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 21, 2015

Brevity, so Polonius informed us, is the soul of wit. In which case, this four-track debut recording from the UK's Old Hat Jazz Band might well be the wittiest release of the year. It's also a tease. Four short tunes full of life, energy and nuanced performance give a contemporary twist to early jazz traditions, offer a reminder of just how entertaining this music can be and make the advent of a full-length album from the octet something to look ...

Album Review

Clarence Penn & Penn Station: Monk: The Lost Files

Read "Monk: The Lost Files" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 21, 2015

A well-established creative paradigm exists to justify Clarence Penn & Penn Station's recording Monk: The Lost Files. “Classical" music is often considered that music, composed long ago, that has stood the test of time, remaining viable to the public in recordings and live performance. These composers of this music tend to be Europeans from the last Millennium. It is the only logical jump to include American jazz composers like Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and our focus here, Thelonious Monk as ...

Live Review

Tim Warfield’s All-Star Jazzy Christmas at Tempe Center for the Arts

by Patricia Myers
January 21, 2015

Tim Warfield's All-Star Jazzy Christmas Tempe Center for the Arts Tempe, Arizona December 20, 2014 A top-level East Coast jazz sextet performed a concert that reinvented holiday-season favorites with jazzy improvisations as part of the monthly Lakeshore Music series. Saxophonist Tim Warfield led a strong contingent that featured trumpeter Terell Stafford, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Chris Beck, plus guest vocalist Joanna Pascale. The program included traditional, ...

Album Review

Ezra Weiss Sextet: Before You Know It [Live In Portland]

Read "Before You Know It [Live In Portland]" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
January 21, 2015

On Before You Know It, pianist / composer Ezra Weiss provides convincing evidence for the continued health and well-being of good old, straight ahead, gimmick-free modern acoustic jazz. The archetype for Weiss' beefy band and punchy charts would include Art Blakey's expanded Jazz Messenger lineups, some of McCoy Tyner's larger groups from the early-to-late 1970s, or perhaps some of Slide Hampton's septets and octets. Yet, Weiss' sound is utterly contemporary, exploring a wide variety of modern jazz styles in a ...

Album Review

Wayne Krantz: Good Piranha Bad Piranha

Read "Good Piranha Bad Piranha" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
January 21, 2015

If Wayne Krantz seemed to be embracing vocals on Krantz Carlock Lefebvre (Abstract Logix, 2009), where he sang on a third of the tracks, then the transition seemed complete on Howie 61 (Abstract Logix, 2012), where he sang on eight of the ten tracks, with the guitar--at least as an improvisational tool--taking a back seat to more melodic concepts. Good Piranha Bad Piranha marks Krantz' return to instrumental territory and reunites him with long-standing sparring partners, Keith Carlock and Tim ...

Extended Analysis

Gov't Mule Featuring John Scofield: Sco-Mule

by John Kelman
January 21, 2015

Since the news came out that Gov't Mule was finally releasing Sco-Mule, a collaboration with broad-minded jazz guitarist John Scofield, there's been plenty of speculation and anticipation. The power trio began as a part-time side project for then-Allman Brothers Band guitarist/singer Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody but, along with drummer Matt Abts, was so well-received that the southern-roots jam band ultimately took on an unexpected life of its own. Now that this live recording with Scofield is finally here ...

Interview

Will Kennedy: From East Bay Grease to the Yellowjacket Sound

by Ben Scholz
January 20, 2015

Among contemporary fusion musicians, drummer Will Kennedy stands out as a legend in both the creative and commercial scenes. Growing up in the Bay Area, Kennedy found music at the tender age of four. By his twenties, he was working in the Los Angeles studio scene as the go-to guy for talk show TV orchestras and movie scores. In 1986, he joined the legendary jazz fusion group Yellowjackets, remaining a key figure in the band for nine years and recording ...

Live Review

Pharaoh Sanders at SFJAZZ

by Harry S. Pariser
January 20, 2015

Pharoah Sanders SFJAZZ San Francisco, CA January 9, 2014 Pharoah Sanders is hardly a stranger to San Francisco. Residing just across the Bay Bridge in Oakland, the 74-year-old saxophonist has performed in the city on numerous occasions, including a solo gig at Grace Cathedral for SFJAZZ some years back. For this performance, SFJAZZ brought him back for a four-night gig, this time at its own hall and in the company of three seasoned musicians.