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

Low Society: You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down

Read "You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 11, 2014

Let's not insult Low Society lead vocalist Mandy Lemons by noting she was influenced by Janis Joplin. That is the lazy critic's out. Better we describe her as the love child of a serious Amy Winehouse and Big Mama Thornton, irradiated by beta particles that had once passed by an AM radio, late at night, playing “Ball and Chain" in 1968. Lemons is a tornadic force of nature laying waste to all of the blues-rock produced since the 1960s. Lemons ...

Album Review

George Taylor: TroubleTown

Read "TroubleTown" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 11, 2014

On George Taylor's second recording, Rain or Shine (Self Produced, 2014), the guitarist looked oddly like a square accountant. On his first recording, TroubleTown he looks like Texas surfer cleaned up in a blue blazer. On both recordings, Taylor plays some of the freshest throw-back Americana being played. Touted as a “Blues musician," and, while he does play the blues, he is not defined by them. Traditional country & western, folk, and Roy Orbison inform his music as much as ...

Album Review

Plasmic: Live At Chilli Jazz Festival 2013

Read "Live At Chilli Jazz Festival 2013" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
November 11, 2014

This European outfit started as a trio in 2003, and extended its reach by integrating avant-vocalist Agnes Heginger into its rather pliant mode of operations amid some asymmetrical shenanigans, devious interactions and shifty dialogues. The live recording imparts an air of excitement into your listening space, as the artists' push and prod each other within the idea department. And each musician is a catalyst at various times throughout the course of the program, including Heginger's skittish vocalizing and extraterrestrial -like ...

Extended Analysis

Simon Purcell: Red Circle

by Phil Barnes
November 11, 2014

The title of this debut CD by UK Pianist Simon Purcell, Red Circle, is rich in metaphor and layered meanings. Does it for example refer to the belief amongst practitioners of ritual magic that a marked out circle can contain energy in a sacred space or sometimes offer a form of magical protection--surely a metaphor for music or the spotlight on a performer? Or is it a reference to the similar ideas in eastern religions where, for example, a mandala ...

The Vinyl Post

Complete Newport 1956 & 1958

by C. Andrew Hovan
November 11, 2014

It's interesting how time seems to serve an artist when offering a better perspective of a particular time period or body of work. Such is the case with Louis Armstrong. Critics often cite his earliest recordings as the be all and end all, as if he had never recorded another note past 1950. In fact, Armstrong was still a few years away from his 60th birthday when he was captured on tape at Newport doing what he did best-interacting with ...

Album Review

Enoch Lee: Finish Line

Read "Finish Line" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
November 10, 2014

It is one thing for an aspiring musician to debut his album with talented veterans but quite another for him to create such an accomplished work as found in New York pianist/composer Enoch Lee's Finish Line. It breathes originality and purpose not only for the contributions from stalwarts that include saxophonist David Binney and bassist Drew Gress but also because of Lee's stellar charts--thought-provoking compositions and engaging melodies which inspire killing performances from the aforementioned veterans and rising stars guitarist ...

Album Review

Ensemble Progresivo: Hesitancy

by John Eyles
November 10, 2014

Ensemble Progresivo was formed in 2007 by saxophonist/clarinetist Ricardo Tejero after he had an idea of working with improvisation within a compositional context. Although he was not the first to have such an idea, Tejero says that his method of making music was born with the band. As with several other successful London-based improvising ensembles (Roland Ramanan Tentet and Barrel spring to mind) the members of Ensemble Progresivo were drawn from the ranks of the London Improvisers Orchestra--violinist Alison Blunt, ...

Album Review

Samo Salamon: 2Alto

by Hrayr Attarian
November 10, 2014

Slovenian guitarist Samo Šalamon is ever the intrepid adventurer of modern music. With each release he explores new sonic textures and harmonic ideas. The 2014 2 Alto on Steeplechase is no different. Šalamon combines his polyphonic guitar-work with the contrasting and complementary sounds of saxophonists Loren Stillman and John O'Gallagher and the propulsive beats of frequent collaborator, drummer Roberto Dani to create a delightful variety of abstract soundscapes. On the cinematic “Man of Mystery" for instance Šalamon enhances ...

My Blue Note Obsession

The Magnificent Thad Jones – Blue Note 1527

by Marc Davis
November 10, 2014

Man does not live by hard bop alone, even on Blue Note. Sometimes, you just got to have a ballad. When you're in the mood, this is the record for you. Thad Jones provides the horn, and he has never been better. Jones is best known as co-leader of the big band that bore his name, but this 1956 recording is his break-out moment as both a small-group leader and trumpeter. And while you may think of Jones ...

Album Review

The David Ullmann 8: Corduroy

by Dave Wayne
November 10, 2014

I have to admit to suffering a bit of cognitive dissonance upon listening to David Ullmann's Corduroy. Ullmann's original compositions, expertly played by an ensemble comprised of Brooklyn's top-drawer modern jazz talent, are ostensibly inspired by television themes from the 70s. For me, 70s television themes evoke gritty, urban sounds full of clavinet, fuzz-wah Rhodes, funky drums, thumping Fender bass, and blues-rock guitar. You know... like Mannix, Streets of San Francisco, Baretta, Barney Miller, Sanford and Son, and... well... you ...