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.

Album Review

Al DeGregoris: All In Good Time

Read "All In Good Time" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
December 4, 2014

Ask any chef worth their salt and they'll tell you that sometimes a followed-to-the-letter recipe can easily --and mysteriously --fall short of culinary delight. It's that unique dollop of creative juice and spoonfuls of love for the cooking that results in a uniquely special dish. With All In Good Time renowned keyboardist and smooth jazz songsmith, Al DeGregoris and his All-Star mates demonstrate that they have more than enough of both to whip up a recording worthy of a musical ...

Live Review

A Celebration of Lindsay Cooper (1951-2013)

by Duncan Heining
December 4, 2014

Lindsay Cooper Barbican London Jazz Festival November 21, 2014 I confess I'm less familiar with the work of the late composer and multi-instrumentalist Lindsay Cooper than I might be. On the basis of this gig, that's very much my loss. What brought me here was the fact that I did know Cooper as a fine, sympathetic improviser from her periods with Henry Cow, Mike and Kate Westbrook and folk terrorists Comus--if you haven't heard of ...

Album Review

Yoosun Nam: Light Of the City

Read "Light Of the City" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 4, 2014

Seoul native and New York based saxophonist Yoosun Nam's debut Light Of the City, true to its name, is a luminous album that showcases Nam's strong sense of lyricism and her exquisite agility on the her instrument. An incandescent feel imbues all eight Nam penned originals and although none of the tunes are particularly memorable there is a thematic cohesiveness to the record and a warm, organic ambience. On “Up and Down," Nam weaves a charming, spontaneous and ...

Album Review

Ivan Renta: Take Off - A Musical Odyssey

Read "Take Off - A Musical Odyssey" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
December 4, 2014

There is a time honored tradition in jazz of coming up as a sideman, earning as well as learning, paying some dues, and then moving on to a solo project. Saxophonist Ivan Renta has been doing just that. With an extensive formal music education, a premier session man and after years in the horn section of major salsa and Latin Jazz bands -notably that of Eddie Palmieri -he has released his first record as leader, Take Off -A Musical Odyssey ...

Live Review

Kenny Barron & Dave Holland at Queen Elizabeth Hall

by Ian Patterson
December 3, 2014

Kenny Barron & Dave Holland/The Jeremy Monteiro Trio Queen Elizabeth Hall EFG London Jazz Festival 21 November, 2014 The prospect of Kenny Barron and Dave Holland performing as a duo was a mouthwatering one. Both are well versed in the format. In 1971 Holland combined with Derek Bailey and then with Barre Phillips on ECM; Barron recorded in duet with Ted Dunbar in 1975. Since then Barron has conversed one on one with Regina ...

Extended Analysis

Wayne Horvitz/The Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble: At The Reception, Wayne Horvitz: 55: Music And Dance In Concrete

by John Ephland
December 3, 2014

Wayne Horvitz is a musical universe unto himself. Has been for well over 35 years. And it's not just his stick-to-it-ive-ness that continues to make his music so damn engaging, a contrariness redefined. Consider these two recent releases as prime examples. The composer/bandleader/keyboardist (who turns 60 in 2015) has a musical history that just might grab you by the throat, if not coax you into some kind of mesmerizing trance. 55: Music And Dance In Concrete and At The Reception ...

Album Review

Matt Lavelle and John Pietaro: Harmolodic Monk

Read "Harmolodic Monk" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 3, 2014

Every time it looks like all the gold has been mined from Thelonious Monk's music, somebody comes along to prove otherwise. Harmolodic Monk finds multi-instrumentalist Matt Lavelle and percussionist John Pietaro applying saxophone icon(oclast) Ornette Coleman's freeing philosophical ideal(s) to Monk's oft-performed music. To some, the resultant performances may seem far more complex than the originals, complete with mind-expanding abstractions, reductions, and alterations. To others, this music may be very simple to grasp. In truth, both viewpoints ...

Album Review

Keith Humble / Bert Turetzky: Kinetic Conversations

Read "Kinetic Conversations" reviewed by Robert Bush

by Robert Bush
December 3, 2014

This long-dormant recording by the late Australian composer/pianist Keith Humble and legendary contrabass virtuoso Bertram Turetzky is finally available as Kinetic Conversations a searing document recorded in Mandeville Auditorium at the University of California, San Diego, on March 19, 1986. The quality, both in terms of fidelity and performance values, is sterling throughout. Humble plays both grand piano and electronic keyboards--but neither in ways that conform to standard practices--although one could draw favorable comparisons to Cecil ...

Album Review

Chemical Clock: Bad Habitat

Read "Bad Habitat" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
December 3, 2014

Here's another example of music that's devilishly complex, a bit bizarre and full of diverse influences (avant-classical, IDM / electronica, jazz-rock, video game music, and disco-funk, just for starters) which manages to come across as a really warm, human, celebratory listening experience. It's been a couple of years since Chemical Clock issued their eponymous debut album, and though these guys are among Seattle's busiest young musicians, Bad Habitat's monumental heaviness shows that they haven't glossed over or sacrificed any aspect ...

Album Review

Joe Morris Quartet: Balance

Read "Balance" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 3, 2014

After several albums and great synergy, guitarist Joe Morris disbanded the quartet in 2000 with many of his associates stating it was a “terrible idea." For this reunion, the musicians' artistic evolution surges on via a conglomeration of diminutive and soaring theme-building episodes, asymmetrical footprints, and staggered detours, instilling a continual sense of anticipation. The gala is off to a rousing start on “Thought," fostered by Mat Maneri's buzzing viola passages, and the unit's synchronous improvisational attack, ...