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

Sam Rivers: Contrasts

Read "Contrasts" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
October 25, 2014

Multi reedist Sam Rivers' 1980 Contrasts in addition to being his only date as a leader for ECM, is a perfect example of his mid-career oeuvre. A sublime balance of intense, almost mystical lyricism and a singular sense of adventure permeates the album that appears for the first time in the CD format and is simultaneously rereleased on LP after 34 years of its initial appearance. The classically influenced “Solace" opens with Rivers' soprano saxophone meandering around percussionist ...

Extended Analysis

Starless

by John Kelman
October 25, 2014

After seeing the “Seven-Headed Beast of Crim"—words used by the group's co-founder and only remaining original member, guitarist/keyboardist Robert Fripp, to describe the 2014 incarnation of King Crimson that just wrapped up a 20-date, 10-city American tour including two exhilarating nights at San Francisco's Warfield Theatre—now is the perfect time for a detailed look at Starless: Live in Europe, the third box released in as many years by the band celebrating its 45th year in 2014. While King Crimson 2014 ...

Album Review

Arun Ramamurthy Trio: Jazz Carnatica

Read "Jazz Carnatica" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 24, 2014

On his 1967 hit song “Monterey," Eric Burdon, of Eric Burdon and the Animals, sang that Ravi Shankar's music made him cry. This was part of a litany of observational praises of the artists who performed at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival: The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, the Birds, The Jefferson Airplane. And from India, Ravi Shankar, an odd and foreign name dropped in with the big time rock stars of the day. By 1967, Beatles ...

Album Review

The Urban Renewal Project: Local Legend

Read "Local Legend" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 24, 2014

If high spirits and good humor alone could carry the day, Local Legend, the second album by the California-based Urban Renewal Project, would earn five stars for candor and commitment. The group is comprised of talented musicians (twenty-seven in all) who believe in what they are doing and give every one of the album's nine numbers their best shot. On the other hand, the music ranges from pop and rap to funk, blues, R&B, soul and hip-hop, offering little in ...

Extended Analysis

Danish Radio Big Band: A Good Time Was Had By All

by Chris Mosey
October 24, 2014

To paraphrase Shakespeare, there is something rockin' in the state of Denmark. It's the Danish Radio Big Band, best of its kind in Europe, indeed--depending on who is conducting and the mood of the players--on occasion best in the world. Against all the odds in these cash-strapped times, the DRBB, as it is universally known, is celebrating its 50th birthday. This six-CD box set commemorates the event, tracing the band's story from its rather shy birth in ...

Album Review

Kenny Shanker: Action City

Read "Action City" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
October 24, 2014

Saxophonist Kenny Shanker was eight years post-graduation before recording his debut album, Steppin' Up, which took another two years to get its 2011 release on Posi-tone records. So admirers of the New York based musician could be forgiven for not expecting album number two quite so soon. But here it is, Action City: released just 17 months after it was recorded and readily fulfilling the promise of the debut. Just what kind of action does Shanker find in ...

Talking 2 Musicians

McLaughlin, Barot, & Mbappe Remember Mandolin Shrinivas

by Alan Bryson
October 24, 2014

Uppalapu Shrinivas, best known as Mandolin Shrinivas, was born in 1969 in southeast India. At a very young age his affinity for the mandolin and his precocious musical talent was recognized by his father who placed him under the tutelage of an instructor in the carnatic school of Indian classical music. By the time he was nine years of age he was playing in public and quickly gaining fame in his native India. In 1983 at the age ...

Album Review

Expansions: The Dave Liebman Group: Samsara

by Dan Bilawsky
October 24, 2014

Trying to keep up with all of saxophonist Dave Liebman's musical exploits? Good luck. A year doesn't seem to go by when Liebman doesn't release multiple recordings with different bands on different labels. Take 2014 for example: it's a year that has already seen his big band-based A Tribute To Wayne Shorter (Mama Records, 2014), an exploratory venture with The Saxophone Summit on Artistshare, and a co-headlined release dubbed The Miami Jazz Project (Zoho, 2014). And then there's Liebman's live ...

Multiple Reviews

A Different Drummer: Two Sides of Janis Görlich

by Jakob Baekgaard
October 24, 2014

Things are happening in the jazz underground in Berlin. One of the labels to look out for is Shoebill Music. The label was founded in 2006 by Johannes Haage, Philipp Gropper, Christian Lillinger, Roland Schulz, and Sebastian Sternberg, but today it is run solely by Johannes Haage. In recent years, the label has taken a turn and is now focusing on releasing high quality vinyl albums that come with download codes. It is the plan to offer digital distribution as ...

Album Review

Hanna Paulsberg Concept: Song For Josia

Read "Song For Josia" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
October 23, 2014

Norwegian saxophonist Hanna Paulsberg founded the HPC in 2011, whislt studying at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Her quartet's debut, Waltz for Lilli (Ora Fonogram, 2012) announced a notable talent, one conversant in the North American swing tradition as well as influences closer to home. The concept, perhaps, was not new, but the reviews were universally positive. Since then, Paulsberg has been busy leading the HPC and touring with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, which collaborated with ...