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

Veslefrekk: Veslefrekk

by John Kelman
January 19, 2015

VeslefrekkVeslefrekkNORCD1994 Before there was Supersilent--the renowned Norwegian noise improv group that was a seminal part of the flurry of creative Norwegian activity that, between 1997 and 1998, literally shook the world of improvised music and brought a number of artists, including Nils Petter Molvaer, Bugge Wesseltoft and Eivind Aarset, to far greater international acclaim--there was Veslefrekk ("Little Rude," in Norwegian). But none of these artists--as exceptional, daring and, ultimately, influential as they would come to ...

Album Review

Dave Burrell / Steve Swell: Turning Point

Read "Turning Point" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 19, 2015

Distinguished jazz and improvisation artists, pianist Dave Burrell and trombonist Steve Swell have crafted one of the most exciting and unique duo presentations I've heard in quite some time. The album moniker Turning Point is the third in a series of five suites honoring the individuals and events of the American Civil War. Here, Burrell ruminates upon Civil War era Americana, integrated with a progressive jazz flair amid lofty improvisational sequences and humbly stated melodic choruses via the artists' respective ...

Album Review

Woven Entity: Woven Entity

Read "Woven Entity" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
January 19, 2015

Even by the standards of the increasingly improvisational Babel Label, the self-titled Woven Entity is an unusual release. With a core group of three percussionists and a bass, the Woven Entity quartet includes Lascelle Gordon, formerly with the acid jazz band, The Brand New Heavies. While Gordon doubles up on percussion and electronics, fellow percussionist Patrick Dawes and drummer Paul May stretch their limits by extending their kits to include almost anything that generates a congruent resonance. May has worked ...

What is Jazz?

Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaks on Jazz

by K. Shackelford
January 19, 2015

Thank you to reader Howard Bankhead for mentioning this speech. It is a short address to the audience of the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival by civil rights leader and Nobel peace prize winner, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The speech is entitled “Humanity and The Importance of Jazz." Humanity and The Importance of Jazz God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create--and from this capacity ...

Album Review

D.F.F.: Pouric Songs

Read "Pouric Songs" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
January 18, 2015

D.F.F. is a seven-piece super-group founded by multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Dave Flynn and Pouric Songs is its stellar debut recording. The versatile Flynn is also the man behind the Clare Memory Orchestra--a fusion of Ireland's leading traditional and classical musicians--so it's no surprise that D.F.F. blends genres and colors so seamlessly. Pop, rock, African rhythms and folksy balladry have all gone into the melting pot to produce a vibrant, celebratory idiom. Acoustic and electric guitar rub shoulders with cello and mbira; congas, ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Fats Navarro and Tadd Dameron – The Complete Blue Note and Capitol Recordings

by Marc Davis
January 18, 2015

There aren't many jazz records I'd consider essential. This is one. Granted, Fats Navarro isn't in the pantheon of jazz trumpeters. For starters, he didn't live long enough. He died in 1950 at age 26, so his discography is short. For another, Navarro's brief career overlapped that of trumpet legend Dizzy Gillespie, and came just before trumpet greats Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. It's hard to stand out in that crowd. But look closer: Fats Navarro ...

Album Review

Variable Density Sound Orchestra: Evolving Strategies

Read "Evolving Strategies" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 18, 2015

The constituent parts of guitarist Garrison Fewell's Variable Density Sound Orchestra shifted gradually between its eponymous inception (Creative Nation, 2008) and sophomore effort on Sound Particle 47 (Creative Nation, 2010). Inevitably there will be further changes in the future if the unit continues, as both trumpeter Roy Campbell and reedman John Tchicai have passed on since the session which yielded Evolving Strategies in January 2012. Such losses will make a big difference as the group has developed a distinctive ethos ...

Film Review

Rockin' The Wall: How Music Ripped The Iron Curtain

by Glenn Astarita
January 18, 2015

Various Aritsts Rockin' The Wall: How Music Ripped The Iron Curtain The Video Project 2014 This documentary focuses on the connotations of freedom and innate power of rock music, and its role in bringing down the Iron Curtain. Nonetheless, it's an intriguing history lesson for baby boomers and more importantly, Generation X and Gen Y. Narrated by actor Alec Baldwin, musicians from legendary 60s rock band Vanilla Fudge, Mark Stein (keyboards, vocals) and Vinnie Martell ...

Book Review

The Best Gig in Town: Jazz Artist at the White House 1969-1974

by C. Michael Bailey
January 18, 2015

The Best Gig in Town: Jazz Artist at the White House 1969 -1974 Edward Allan Faine 229 Pages ISBN: #9780985795245 IM Press 2014 There is something puzzling and curious about a book documenting jazz performances at the White House specifically during the Nixon Administration. A thoroughly divisive historical figure, President Richard Nixon, has on only rare occasions since his resignation, been treated in a positive, or even neutral, light. Author Edward Allan Faine ...

Album Review

Carol Saboya/Antonio Adolfo/Hendrik Meurkens: Copa Village

Read "Copa Village" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 18, 2015

Back in 1969, pianist Antonio Adolfo was working with vocalist Elis Regina. While touring through Sweden, Regina and her band had the opportunity to connect with Toots Thielemans, leading to the recording of Elis & Toots (Philips, 1969). Now, more than forty-five years later, Adolfo finds himself in a similar situation, working alongside another sunny Brazilian singer and European harmonica player--vocalist Carol Saboya, who happens to be his daughter, and vibraphonist/harmonica player Hendrik Meurkens. Copa Village finds ...