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

Jim Pembroke: If The Rain Comes

Read "If The Rain Comes" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
November 17, 2014

Singer / songwriter Jim Pembroke has had a fascinating career to say the least. A native Londoner, Pembroke journeyed to Finland to visit his then-girlfriend in the mid-1960s. He wound up staying, and by the end of the decade he had recorded an album with the seminal Finnish rock band, Blues Section, taught himself piano, and gone on to form co-found the country's most well-known progressive rock band, Wigwam. Staying with Wigwam into the late 1970s, Pembroke also maintained a ...

Multiple Reviews

Rex Richardson: Bugles Over Zagreb: The Music of Doug Richards and Blue Shift

by Ken Hohman
November 17, 2014

Rex Richardson Bugles Over Zagreb: The Music of Doug Richards Self Produced 2014 Master class trumpeter virtuoso Rex Richardson is one of a rare breed of jazz musicians who can successfully straddle the worlds of classical and jazz without sounding like he's a mere overnight guest when performing in either genre. His focused, fiery delivery and high wire act of technical prowess is uncompromised whether soloing for orchestras in Slovenia and Manchester or ...

Interview

Cecil McBee: Masterful, And Always Equipped

by R.J. DeLuke
November 17, 2014

Cecil McBee is one of the finest bass players on the scene, a status he's held among musicians for many years, even if the public is slower to pick up on the achievements of this 79-year-old musician extraordinaire. A natural, he was quick to connect with musicians in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. But helping him along the road to becoming a top-flight musician was a series of encounters where people would come asking for him. They were ...

Album Review

UDU CALLS/Tiziano Tononi & Daniele Cavallanti with William Parker: The Vancouver Tapes

Read "The Vancouver Tapes" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 16, 2014

The Vancouver Tapes might have been called The Lost Recordings had drummer Tiziano Tononi not found this recording at the bottom of a chest he stored it in after his appearance with saxophonist Daniele Cavallanti and bassist William Parker. It was their first ever meeting at the 1999 Vancouver Jazz Festival. The instant the trio hits the stage the upsurge of energy is palpable. Nay flute, bells, and the dynamo of Parker's bass ignites the two lengthy sets. ...

Extended Analysis

Dave's Picks Volume 12 Colgate College 11/4/1977

by Doug Collette
November 16, 2014

There's much that's distinctive about Dave's Pick's Volume 12, not the least of which are concert notes by the late Dick Latvala on the fold-out insert included in the 3CD digi-pak package. This inclusion in lieu of the customary essay by one esteemed Deadhead or another is particularly appropriate as the latter-day archive series, the followup to 'Dick's Picks,' the original project in the same mold, wends its way to its third year of existence, simultaneously moving one step closer ...

Album Review

Carol McCartney: Be Cool

Read "Be Cool" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 16, 2014

Toronto native Carol McCartney records another impressive vocal statement on the breezy Be Cool cementing her reputation as one of Canada's finest jazz vocalist and building on the foundation established from her critically-acclaimed debut Night In Tunisia (CDBaby, 2007). Though presenting a selection of primarily familiar standards from the jazz cannon, the Joni-Mitchell pop tune title track is an exception to this rule and is transformed into a jazz song with a clever arrangement from pianist Brian Dickinson who--along with ...

Album Review

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast: Settle

by Dave Wayne
November 16, 2014

There are ways to get to know people really well, really quickly. Many of these fall under the general category: “challenge them, somehow." For a certain time of my life this meant: “go camping with them." Really. If you go camping with a group of people, you will find out a lot about them in a very brief time. Over the past decade or so, I've found that if you play really intense music with other musicians, you will also ...

Live Review

2014 Voodoo Music and Arts Experience: The Local Heroes & The Up-And-Coming Stars of Tomorrow

by Mike Perciaccante
November 16, 2014

2014 Voodoo Music and Arts Experience New Orleans, LA October 31 -November 2, 2014 In 1974, after seeing a performance at the Harvard Square Theater, Jon Landau once wrote, “I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time." What a bold, prophetic and accurate statement. Now, forty ...

Book Review

Joe Maini

by Hrayr Attarian
November 16, 2014

Joe Maini Nicolas Rabel 17 Pages Ideo-Libris 2014 Saxophonist Joe Maini's life was short, fast and colorful and it ended tragically when he was still in his prime. A talented yet erratic musician Maini was a fervent admirer of saxophone master and innovator Charlie Parker, but only spent a very brief while in New York learning from his idol. Otherwise he spent most of his career in Los Angeles and remains sorely unknown outside ...

Album Review

Steve Khan: Subtext

Read "Subtext" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
November 16, 2014

From his obscure gems on Columbia Records--Tightrope (1977), The Blue Man (1978) and Arrow (1979), or the critically acclaimed 1980s Eye Witness recordings, to 2011's Latin-tinged Parting Shot (Tone Center), jazz guitarist Steve Khan continues to deliver his unique artistry--exquisite touch, expressive solos, and warm tonality--that's made his music identifiable. Subtext finds that mastery still intact with a renewed mix of originals and covers. In addition to Khan's musicianship, he's always been a great interpreter of standards, ...