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.

Interview

Kobie Watkins: A Drummer's Voyage

by K. Shackelford
December 5, 2014

Chicago native Kobie Watkins is a leading voice in the new generation of jazz drummers. I saw Watkins several months ago at The Jazz Room in Charlotte and his performance was bananas--the crowd was in awe and after each solo there was thundering applause. An absolute wonder to watch, his polyrhythmic creativity and concepts create unique musical art that has put him in the category of a young jazz master. For this reason, he has been sought after by the ...

Album Review

Tammy Payne: Viva Outsider

Read "Viva Outsider" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
December 5, 2014

Viva Outsider is Tammy Payne's first album under her own name: original songs that mix blues, folk, jazz and soul influences together to create a stunning collection.Payne emerged in the early '90s, recording a superb cover of Deniece Williams' “Free" and the dance hit “Take Me Now." She's recorded sporadically since then, with bands such as Boca 45 and Smith & Mighty. In 2012 she recorded an album of classic folk and rock songs credited to Tamco (Don't ...

Album Review

JÜ with Kjetil Møster: JÜ Meets Møster

Read "JÜ Meets Møster" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 5, 2014

To experience this collaboration between Norwegian saxophonist Kjetil Møster and Hungarian power trio JÜ is to alternately move through hazy soundscapes and the perilous rapids of progressive music with avant-jazz leanings. JÜ--the trio of guitarist Àdàm Mészáros, bassist Ernö Hock, and drummer Andràs Halmos--deals in spiky tones and mystery-laced minimalism, working an artfully edgy angle with pile driver rhythms and shredding abandon one minute, and letting atmosphere trump firm direction the next. Møster matches their level of ...

Live Review

Tony Martucci Quintet at An die Musik LIVE!

by Tyran Grillo
December 5, 2014

Tony Martucci Quintet An die Musik LIVE Baltimore, MD November 22, 2014 Drummer Tony Martucci is the kind of musician who sneaks up on you. With the effortlessness of a Paul Motian, he is just as comfortable playing around the beat as he is swinging it hard, balancing those two dynamics as he does with rare intuition. And in the expansive soundscape of his quintet--which finds him in the company of tenor saxophonists Jeff Antoniuk ...

Live From New York

The Music Of Terry Riley, Miriam Makeba, Andy Warhol & Gil Evans

by Martin Longley
December 5, 2014

Darmstadt Essential Repertoire/Ensemble LPR (le) Poisson Rouge November 4, 2014 This rendition of Terry Riley's “In C" was presented by a grouping that virtually has no name. The Darmstadt Essential Repertoire team (long associated with Brooklyn's Issue Project Room) have been presenting an annual invocation of this pioneering minimalist classic by the almost octogenarian Californian composer. In recent years, the Poisson on Bleecker Street has been involved, and the venue's in-house ensemble formed ...

Album Review

Thomas Marriott: Urban Folklore

Read "Urban Folklore" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 5, 2014

Nothing has hit quite as hard as recent music from the trio of pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Eric Revis and Drummer Donald Edwards. The three musicians seek out (or probably are sought by) collaborators of equal weight and energy. It is not surprising that this recording of nine compositions, led by trumpeter and Seattle native Thomas Marriott, is a knockout from the opening number. Urban Folklore is Marriott's ninth as leader, and follows Dialogue (Origin Records, 2012) a ...

Album Review

Jonathan Suazo: Vital

by James Nadal
December 5, 2014

There is strong indication of a renaissance movement in jazz curriculum coming out of the major music schools in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It has been steadily growing over the last few years and appears to be on an upswing. As evidence of this, Vital, the self-produced release by alto saxophonist Jonathan Suazo,an honored alumni himself, was recorded at the prestigious Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico, in a live studio setting. Hopefully this will encourage others to follow suit. ...

Live Review

Pat Martino Trio at Chris' Jazz Cafe

by Victor L. Schermer
December 4, 2014

Pat Martino Trio Chris' Jazz Café Philadelphia, PA November 29, 2014 Over the years, Pat Martino's guitar artistry has been powerful and consistent, characterized by his precision, strong attack, uncanny mastery of the instrument, and hard rhythmic style honed in his apprenticeship with saxophonist Willis Jackson and organist Jack McDuff. Frequently on the road, and just returned from a tour of South America, Martino delivered on all these qualities in the ...

Album Review

Luis Lascano: Some Trips

Read "Some Trips" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 4, 2014

Luis Lascano may call New York home now, but his music still speaks strongly of his Argentinian origins. On this debut, the bassist delivers six enchanting modern jazz numbers delivered with strong South American accents. Some Trips opens on “El Mandril," a number that lives at the intersection of elegance and allure. Violinist Sergio Reyes and multi-reedist Sam Sadigursky have starring roles here, and both personify those aforementioned traits. Things then take a turn toward the mournful ...

Live Review

The Phantom Band at Birdland

by Tyran Grillo
December 4, 2014

The Phantom Band Birdland New York, NY November 21, 2014 When pianist Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Randy Brecker, tenorist Jimmy Greene, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Al Foster took to the Birdland stage to present its “Music of Joe Henderson" program, one thing was clear: these cats understand their history--Rosnes not least of all, having played in Henderson's quartet from 1987 until illness kept his reeds at bay. Foster, too, had backed Henderson in a variety ...