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

Gabriel Espinosa/Hendrik Meurkens: Samba Little Samba

Read "Samba Little Samba" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 24, 2014

Mexican-born bassist Gabriel Espinosa and German-born harmonica specialist Hendrik Meurkens--though coming from vastly different backgrounds--have always had a common passion for the bossa nova and the samba. Continuing their successful collaboration of the past, the two co-leaders join forces once again for another Brazilian musical dance on Samba Little Samba and follow up to their highly-acclaimed Celebrando (ZOHO, 2012), their very first outing. The duo present an offering of nine originals (four each) plus one from pianist Misha Tsiganov who ...

Extended Analysis

Dylan Howe: Subterranean (New Designs on Bowie's Berlin)

by Phil Barnes
November 24, 2014

Jazz musicians love the tribute album, perhaps more than the listeners who receive them. That opportunity to suggest affiliation, tapping into an already established audience can be tempting and a useful much needed marketing tool as industry-wide sales collapse. But really there is no reason why a tribute can't work -do it with love, for the right creative reasons, and it can still sparkle it just rarely does. Partly this is lack of imagination-counting the money before the ...

Live Review

Jazztopad 2014, Three World Premieres

by Ian Patterson
November 24, 2014

Jazztopad Wroclaw, Poland November 13-15, 2014 Jazztopad enters its second decade with confident stride. The festival has come a long way in the first ten years, evolving, experimenting and growing as any good festival should. In 2014, Jazztopad stands as an internationally renowned festival with a clearly defined ethos, one that combines a strong respect for the traditions and roots of the music with a progressive vision that provides a platform for the contemporary and innovative. ...

Album Review

MoFrancesco Quintetto: Piedra Solar

Read "Piedra Solar" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
November 24, 2014

The instantly engaging “Ala'Ad-Din" opens this 70 minute set, the second album by this talented Lisbon-based group. A bass and piano riff confidently introduces “Abraxas" with unison horns taking up the main theme, leader Francesco Valente's electric bass to the fore and Brazilian guest percussionist Marcos Suzano playing pandeiro to great effect. Aline Frazão's sublime vocals on “Tres Morillas" or Guto Lucena's flute on the pastoral “Persian Story" demonstrate that this band has an innate ability to hold ...

Album Review

Benny Bailey / Nashville Big Band: A Bird in the Hand

Read "A Bird in the Hand" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 23, 2014

To accentuate the positive: A Bird in the Hand is Georgia-based drummer Ben Bailey's debut album as a big-band leader, and a splendid one it is, thanks to Bailey's ample talents and those of the Nashville Big Band. The recording arose from a chance meeting in 2011 when another well-known timekeeper, Duffy Jackson, traveled to from Nashville to Atlanta as featured artist with a band in which Bailey was the regular drummer. A bond of friendship and respect was formed, ...

Album Review

DIVA: A Swingin' Life

Read "A Swingin' Life" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 23, 2014

As if being the premier all-female big band on the planet weren't enough, DIVA has enlisted the services of two purebred divas--Nancy Wilson and Marlena Shaw--to enrich its latest album, A Swingin' Life, recorded live at Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild (November 2011) and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center (September 2012). Wilson and Shaw are more than window dressing, giving their all on five of the album's eleven numbers. Wilson brings out the best in ...

Live Review

Styx at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury

by Mike Perciaccante
November 23, 2014

Styx NYCB Theatre at Westbury Westbury, NY November 14, 2014 Styx is a rock band from America's heartland (Chicago) whose music blends the best part of rock, power pop, prog-rock, art-rock, arena rock with a touch of classical composition. The band originally consisted of brothers Chuck (bass) and John Panozzo (drums), Dennis DeYoung (vocals, keyboards), guitarists/vocalists, James “JY" Young and John Curulewski. Following Curulewski's departure and the arrival of guitarist Tommy Shaw, the band achieved ...

Live Review

Fitz and the Tantrums at The Space at Westbury

by Mike Perciaccante
November 23, 2014

Fitz and the Tantrums The Space at Westbury Westbury, NY November 11, 2014 Following an impressive opening set by Alan Wilkis' electronic music project, Big Data (who played an excellent version of its chart topping hit “Dangerous" and a fantastic cover of Hall & Oates' “Private Eyes"), with an all ages audience crowding the stage at Westbury, NY's The Space, the Los Angeles-based neo-pop/funk/soul group Fitz and the Tantrums blasted through a ...

Talking 2 Musicians

Badfinger's Joey Molland

by Alan Bryson
November 23, 2014

Badfinger was a band that rocketed to fame after being discovered by the Beatles' roadie Mal Evans and signing with Apple Records. They appeared on the world stage just as the Beatles went public with their breakup. With songs like “No Matter What," “Day After Day," “Suitcase," “Baby Blue," and “Carry On," Badfinger's tight soaring harmonies, melodic tendencies, and compositional talent filled a void left by the Beatles. They were also younger than the Beatles and still drawn to power ...

Album Review

Jason Yeager: Affirmation

Read "Affirmation" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 23, 2014

No sophomore slump for pianist Jason Yeager. His trio disc Affirmation actually has the feel of a mature artist's fourth, fifth, and sixth recording. Maybe that is because his trio is a true working unit with bassist Danny Weller and drummer Matt Rousseau or possibly it's his ability to integrate varying musical concepts without sounding imitative. Yeager's piano, under the tutelage of Danilo Perez, masterfully pulls from jazz, classical, blues and pop music with a seamless approach that ...