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.

Live Review

ICP Orchestra Plus Ken Vandermark/Nate Wooley at FringeArts

by Victor L. Schermer
January 16, 2015

ICP Orchestra FringeArts Ars Nova Workshops Philadelphia, PA January 11, 2015 Despite a cold and damp Sunday night in January, a packed house came to hear a stellar group of musicians from the Netherlands for a performance at the FringeArts Center in the Old City section of town. This collective of seasoned and versatile musicians call themselves the ICP or Instant Composers Pool, and they embody guitarist Jim Hall's broad definition of jazz ...

Live Review

Mark Hagan's Jazz Salon At The Old 76 House

by David A. Orthmann
January 16, 2015

Mark Hagan's Jazz Salon The Old 76 House Tappan, NY January 7, 2015 While the outside temperature plummeted to single digits and everyone groused about the bitter cold, tenor saxophonist Ralph Lalama--undeterred by the circumstances--calmly suggested “Winter Wonderland." The seasonal favorite was the second selection by an ad hoc group assembled by bassist Mark Hagan, as part of his Wednesday night Jazz Salon series at The Old 76 House in Tappan, NY. A rewarding ...

Album Review

Ashley Daneman: Beauty Indestructible

Read "Beauty Indestructible" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 16, 2015

During 2013 singer and songwriter Ashley Daneman and her husband, trumpeter Benje Daneman, raised the funding for Beauty Indestructible via 200 Kickstarter contributors. To each and every one of those contributors, “Thank You." For Beauty Indestructible is a striking debut, full of strong, memorable, songs and performances.Every song is a Daneman original. She's a self-declared fan of '70s singer-songwriters--..."raised on Carole King and Joni Mitchell..." as she puts it. Some of the finest moments on Beauty Indestructible seem ...

Album Review

Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra: Future Steps: Live at Jazzaar Festival 2014

Read "Future Steps: Live at Jazzaar Festival 2014" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 16, 2015

This engaging in-concert album by the Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra and an array of renowned guest artists is properly described in an accompanying press release as “Bandstand Learning with Role Models," as indeed it is. The SYJO is literally surrounded by them (role models, that is), with the more seasoned players handling the bulk of the solos in a program that consists for the most part of music by the orchestra's director, Fritz K. Renold, composed in the style of ...

Rediscovery

Yes: Relayer

by John Kelman
January 16, 2015

YesRelayerPanegyric2014 (1974) Today's Rediscovery is an anomaly in the catalog of one of progressive rock's most innovative groups of the late 1960s/early '70s, and how better to experience it than with Steven Wilson's upgraded 2014 stereo (and 5.1 surround sound) remix, as the former Porcupine Tree frontman nears the release of his own Hand. Cannot. Erase. (Kscope, 2015). But back to Relayer. Wilson has described Lizard (DGM Live, 1970)--the first of his run ...

Interview

Artt Frank: Talking Chet Baker

by Nicholas F. Mondello
January 15, 2015

In Chet Baker: The Missing Years--A Memoir (BooksEndependent,LLC), drummer/composer Artt Frank delivers an in-the-room intimate, yet no-holds-barred tale of his professional and personal relationship with the mythologized jazz trumpeter. Drawn from deep admiration for and loyal friendship with Baker, as well as his 14 years performing with him, Frank has painted a distinctive, poignant and dramatically heartfelt portrait of the Chet Baker persona. All About Jazz: Thanks for taking time to speak with us about the book ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with Jimmy Bennington

by AAJ Staff
January 15, 2015

Meet Jimmy Bennington: Jimmy Bennington was born May 22, 1970 in Columbus, OH. Mentored by late Coltrane drummer Elvin Jones, Bennington celebrates 25 years in the music field in 2015. Jimmy has performed and recorded with many artists including David Haney, Perry Robinson, Julian Priester, Steve Cohn, Ed Schuller, Daniel Carter, Ken Filiano, and Fred Jackson of the AACM. Career highlights include performances in Paris and New York, at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge, and at the Chicago Jazz Festival, ...

Album Review

Ronny Johansson: Japanese Blue

Read "Japanese Blue" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 15, 2015

Abandoning for the moment his usual piano-bass-drums format, Swedish pianist Ronny Johansson has the stage to himself on Japanese Blue, an album whose name and spirit epitomize a country in which Johansson has spent many pleasurable moments. Aside from pointing out the obvious --that Johansson's harmonic figures are engaging and his technique flawless --a number of salient qualities should be noted at the outset. First, the album has been wonderfully recorded, mixed and mastered by Lars Nilsson; ...

Album Review

Trudy Kerr: Contemplation

Read "Contemplation" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 15, 2015

Subtitled The Best Of Trudy Kerr, Contemplation is a retrospective of the singer's career through selections from her ten album discography. Contemplation takes in Kerr's career from Blossom Dearie's “Sweet Surprise"--a track from her debut album (Sweet Surprise, Jazzizit Records, 1997)--through to “Poppies," from The Rhythm of Life: Ted And Gladys (Jazzizit Records, 2013), credited jointly to Kerr and her husband and bassist Geoff Gascoyne. Across these songs Kerr is acompanied by some of the finest ...

Album Review

Gebhard Ullmann/Basement Research: Hat And Shoes

Read "Hat And Shoes" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 15, 2015

Saxophonist Gebhard Ullmann might be the German equivalent of Chicago's Ken Vandermark. Both players are influential composers and both maintain multiple creative ensembles in Europe and the United States. Like Vandermark, Ullmann's catalog is vast. Hat And Shoes is his 50th release as a leader or co- leader, and this band Basement Research have put out seven titles.Similar to the now defunct Vandermark 5, Basement Research's quintet features a smart balance between composed and improvised music. Ullman's choice ...