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

Steve Coleman and Five Elements at SFJAZZ

by Harry S. Pariser
December 24, 2014

Steve Coleman and Five Elements SFJAZZ San Francisco, CA December 14, 2014 “The main thing that I consciously try to follow is things I find in nature, in universe. Basically I see the universe as sort of giant palette of forms within forms."--Steve Coleman He is a 2014 MacArthur Fellow. An alto saxophonist and bandleader who has taught at UC Berkeley. A disciple of Chicago saxophonists Von Freeman, Sonny Stitt and Bunky Green. ...

Genius Guide to Jazz

Jingle All the Damned Way

by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius
December 23, 2014

I'm not an unreformed Scrooge, I assure you. I do not lack for holiday spirit, even if I don't decorate the Geniusdome until it looks like a busload of drag queens crashed into a 30-foot Balsam fir. Christmas, to me, is attending Mass on Christmas Eve and then spending Christmas Day cooking a feast for my family. Christmas, to me, looks like the last 5 minutes of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the really good animated one, not the Jim ...

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Mix Tape

Jazzy Christmas

by Michael Ricci
December 23, 2014

Enduring holiday classics from Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Kenny Burrell, Bill Evans, Jimmy Smith, Vince Guaraldi and more. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1The Christmas Song3:30Ella FitzgeraldElla Wishes You A Swinging Christmas2Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!4:37Joe WilliamsVerve Presents: The Very Best Of Christmas Jazz3Santa Claus Is Coming To Town4:27Bill EvansThe Best Of Bill Evans On Verve4What Are You Doing New Years Eve2:24Nancy WilsonUltra-Lounge: Christmas Cocktails, Part One5Winter Wonderland2:28Chet BakerYule Struttin'6Greensleeves5:28Vince GuaraldiA Charlie Brown Christmas7Christmas Is3:12Lou RawlsStarbucks Holiday8Jingle Bells3:12Jimmy SmithVerve ...

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Mix Tape

Classic Christmas

by Michael Ricci
December 23, 2014

Time-honored classics for the most wonderful time of the year. Lights and snow not included. TrackNameTimeArtistAlbum1Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town2:38Tony BennettSnowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album2A Holly Jolly Christmas2:14Burl IvesClassic Christmas3Looks Like A Cold, Cold Winter3:50Bing Crosby with Sonny Burke's OrchestraClassic Christmas4Winter Wonderland2:16Ella FitzgeraldElla Wishes You A Swinging Christmas5Baby, It's Cold Outside2:20Dinah Shore & Buddy ClarkClassic Christmas6Sleigh Ride3:20Tex Beneke & Yhe Glenn Miller OrchestraClassic Christmas7Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season2:39Andy WilliamsThe Andy Williams Christmas Album8White Christmas2:30Dean MartinMy Kind of ...

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Extended Analysis

Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs and Englishmen

by C. Michael Bailey
December 23, 2014

Mad Dogs and Englishmen A & M Records 1970 Give me a ticket for an aer-o-plane...I ain't got time to take no fast train... The first record album (long player of LP, that is—what old people put on turntables and played) I ever bought was Joe Cocker: With A Little Help From My Friends ( A&M, 1969). I purchased this lovely for $2.69 at Osco Drug in the University Mall in ...

Album Review

Mario Castro: Estrella De Mar

Read "Estrella De Mar" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
December 23, 2014

Though the concept of augmenting a jazz quintet with a string section may not be anything new, the direction saxophonist Mario Castro takes this combination on Estrella De Mar is quite novel in its sophisticated, yet hip, arranging. The strings are not utilized merely as accompaniment, but are engaged in the front line of harmony and solo interchanges. The record opens with the dramatic “Pilares," where rising crescendos build up to fellow tenor man David Sanchez joining in ...

Album Review

Tomas Sauter: Double Life

Read "Double Life" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
December 23, 2014

Tomas Sauter, known heretofore as a fine guitarist, leads a quartet--Ralph Alessi, trumpet and bass; Luzius Schuler, electric keyboards; Dominik Burkhalter, drums--as an electric bassist on the intriguing album, Double Life. For those who are always looking for, and expecting, new sounds, this session will shock in how retro it sounds. The overall vibe is, superficially, 'soft groove' atmospheric background music projecting the image of low lights, glasses of wine and an overstuffed sofa--and it can be listened ...

Album Review

Russ Johnson: Meeting Point

Read "Meeting Point" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 23, 2014

Trumpeter Russ Johnson has been all over the progressive jazz map. He's been an A-list performer for several years. A longtime resident of New York, he recently relocated to Chicago and has become a major contributor to its fertile improvisational scene. On this release, he utilizes the talents of the region's prominent artists who push the envelope when it comes to risk-taking and thinking outside the box. After listening to this album several times--and as anticipated--Johnson and his cohorts hit ...

Album Review

Luis Tabuenca: Volavérunt

Read "Volavérunt" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 23, 2014

As a performer and composer, Spanish percussionist Luis Tabuenca focuses on the contemporary and experimental, blurring distinctions between improvised and composed music. He has studied in esteemed modern ensembles such as the Ensemble Intercontemporain and the Ensemble Recherche and he has written music for solo percussion, contemporary dance, documentaries and visual artists. Volavérunt is based on the Spanish artist Francisco Goya's print series “Los Caprichos," created in 1797 and '98. Goya used these prints to condemn ...

Rediscovery

Collin Walcott: Grazing Dreams

by John Kelman
December 23, 2014

Colin Walcott Grazing Dreams ECM Records 1977 It's always great to go back and revisit a longtime favorite not heard in too long. Today's Rediscovery? Collin Walcott's Grazing Dreams, an ECM classic with Don Cherry, John Abercrombie, Palle Danielsson and Dom Um Romao. A truly deep recording that makes Walcott's death in a car accident while on tour with Oregon nearly 30 years ago all the more tragic. Walcott's work with Oregon, on ...