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

Daniel Lanois: I Look for Commitment and a Lot of Heart and Soul

by Nenad Georgievski
November 22, 2014

Whenever I'm asked to name a list of Top 10 all time favorite records, the list slightly changes and shuffles every time. However, one of the most common denominators to those diverse lists is producer/musician Daniel Lanois. Often called a “studio wizard" or “studio magician," this producer has become renowned both for his proficiency in the studio and his gift for motivating and enabling people to reach new creative heights. Armed with an intuitive combination of emotions and technical proficiency, ...

Album Review

Tom Barton: Aspirations

Read "Aspirations" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 22, 2014

Australian vocalist Tom Barton aspires to blur the lines between genres on this debut. Electronic and acoustic thoughts merge and co-exist beautifully, improvisational elements are born around concrete expressions, and in the middle of it all sits Barton, putting his poetry in motion with beautifully clear-headed vocals. While the gist of many an album can be gleaned from a single track, Aspirations doesn't work that way. If someone were to simply stumble upon Barton's take on “Spencer ...

Album Review

New Zealand School of Music Big Band: Awright Awright

Read "Awright Awright" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 22, 2014

It's hard to believe this is a school band, no matter what the level. Music director Rodger Fox, a seasoned trombonist who leads his own play-for-pay band, must be extremely pleased and proud of what his students at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington have accomplished, as their third album, Awright Awright, is superlative from start to finish. The first five numbers, in fact, offer a textbook lesson in how big-band jazz should feel and sound. The ensemble ...

Album Review

Kate Williams: Atlas & Vulcana

Read "Atlas & Vulcana" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
November 22, 2014

Atlas and Vulcana formed a strongman and strongwoman act--Vulcana's real name was Kate Williams--whose feats of strength were renowned in Victorian and early twentieth century Britain. Pianist and composer Kate Williams (no relation, presumably) takes inspiration from the couple in titling this album and two of its tracks. Atlas & Vulcana has its own strengths--no brute force, but plenty of power and dynamism. Williams has written some stunning tunes: she's also brought together a septet of some of the finest ...

Extended Analysis

Daniel Lanois: Flesh and Machine

by Nenad Georgievski
November 22, 2014

Credit should be given where it's due. Producer/musician Daniel Lanois has never been satisfied with just keep churning out the same kind of music for the same kind of audience that swooned over his song based records or the productions he did for other artists. As a true artist he wants to evolve and continuously create something different and Flesh and Machine is a move in that direction. Lanois' work cuts a distinctive swath through the last 30 years of ...

Album Review

Brad Gibson: Poontet

Read "Poontet" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
November 22, 2014

Seattle drummer Brad Gibson's second release as a leader Poontet is a spicy batch of soulful grooves that belong on the soundtrack of a 1970s gritty detective film. Heavily reliant on electric instrumentation and densely atmospheric these half a dozen tracks are short on improvisational rigor without being mundane. They also allow for some soloing room for the members the sextet to showcase their individual styles. The funky “I Hope U Make It Dirty" for instance features Gibson's ...

Live Review

Kitty la Roar and Nick Shankland at Scarfe's Bar

by Sammy Stein
November 22, 2014

Kitty la Roar and Nick Shankland Scarfe's Bar London November 13, 2014 With her elegance and style, Kitty la Roar cuts a beautiful, diminutive figure, gracing Scarfe's Bar in The Rosewood Hotel. La Roar is a singer whose confidence is growing, and with it the quality of her voice. La Roar can do quiet, and she does do quiet, but she can also do loud and strong. Her voice has developed a ...

Extended Analysis

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: CSNY 1974

by Doug Collette
November 22, 2014

Its multi-foldout package of three CD's, DVD (or Blu-Ray) and a one-hundred eighty-eight page booklet as smartly designed as it is handsome, CSNY 1974 represents a painstaking labor of love on the part of Graham Nash, who supervised the project over a protracted period of time, in collaboration with co-producer Joel Bernstein and engineer Stanley Tajima Johnston as well as Stephen Stills, David Crosby and Neil Young. The audio and video recordings within document a much ballyhooed reunion that's been ...

Album Review

Mike Kennedy: Insulation

Read "Insulation" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer

by Victor L. Schermer
November 21, 2014

This unpretentious but edifying album consists of a series of guitar originals which flow into one another to form a unified whole. The music is relaxing, with a light swing that calls to mind guitarists like Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall, and might be called, to coin a phrase, “soft bop." Mike Kennedy, guitarist and leader, Mike Frank, piano, Paul Gehman, bass, and Dan Monaghan, drums are all Philadelphia-based musicians with extensive track records (no pun intended), and the consistency ...

Live Review

Pat Metheny Unity Group at Centrepointe Theatre

by John Kelman
November 21, 2014

Pat Metheny Unity Group Centrepointe Theatre Ottawa, Canada November 12, 2014 “Every time we're planning a tour," he said to the near-sellout crowd at Ottawa, Canada's Centrepointe Theatre, “I always ask 'are we going to play Ottawa?' You think I'm joking..." It's not often that the opportunity arises to catch a group near the beginning and end of a year-long world tour but, after seeing guitarist Pat Metheny's Unity Group at Stavanger, Norway's ...