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.

Live Review

The Necks at Cafe Oto

by Alex Franquelli
October 23, 2014

The Necks Cafe Oto London October 8, 2014 It is always a good sign when the imposing windows of Cafe Oto are misted up. If one could see through the condensation, if one could, with just one finger, remove the minuscule droplets amassed on the vertical plains, one would almost invariably spot fine music in the making. A woman, glass of red wine in hand, explains to her neighbour that, yes, this ...

Album Review

Paul Jackson Trio: Groove Or Die

Read "Groove Or Die" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
October 23, 2014

Groove Or Die. So says Paul Jackson, bassist extraordinaire. It's clear that the decision isn't one that's troubled Jackson, or fellow band members Xantoné Blacq and French percussionist Tony Match, for too long--this album is all about the groove. Or, to be more specific, the grooves. Jackson has been a first-call bassist for many years--a founding member of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, a member of the rhythm sections of luminaries such as Stevie Wonder and George Benson. The trio ...

Extended Analysis

Nguyen Le With Michael Gibbs & NDR Bigband: Celebrating The Dark Side Of The Moon

by Ian Patterson
October 23, 2014

It's a bold concept; take Pink Floyd's iconic Dark Side of the Moon (Harvest, 1973) and reinterpret it in a big band jazz setting. With upwards of forty million copies sold, every note, every nuance of Floyd's eighth album is so firmly entrenched in the minds of the band's legion devotees that to tamper with the work in any way is to leave oneself open to facile criticism. French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê, however, is nothing if not adventurous. ...

Album Review

Thomas Hass: Trio's & Beyond Lotus Energy

Read "Trio's & Beyond Lotus Energy" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
October 23, 2014

The packaging starts you thinking. There's a painting showing what looks like ectoplasm, or perhaps a space alien, playing two musical instruments at the same time, like Roland Kirk used to do. Then the cunning addition of an apostrophe in the Trios of the title, to render it meaningless, or perhaps abstract. Inside there's a selfie shot from low down of a bearded Thomas Hass looking God-like and grim, alongside text explaining his music: “Trio's & Beyond ...

Album Review

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer

Read "OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer" reviewed by John Ephland

by John Ephland
October 23, 2014

There's a richness, a depth, a density to his varied charts. And the soloists and ensemble passages inside those charts! Such has always been the case with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, then, and now. For real, gliding from the spirit of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, this edition of the VJO now embraces another one of its own: trombonist/composer/arranger/pianist Bob Brookmeyer, with Over Time: Music Of Bob Brookmeyer. And what different sound comes from this grand aggregate of ...

Catching Up With

Lloyd Swanton: The Necks Trust Each Other to Not Push the Music Too Fast

by Nenad Georgievski
October 23, 2014

The Australian jazz--improv--jam trio The Necks has been active for quarter century. Consisting of drummer Tony Buck, bassist Lloyd Swanton and keyboardist Chris Abrahams, The Necks' members are all seasoned jazzers who approach the trio's music rather differently. Drawing inspiration from electronica, systems music and rock, the Necks have reshaped the role of the jazz keyboard thus improvising with textures and space rather than just notes and chords. Characteristically, their performances are lengthy and their records often consist of one ...

Live Review

Abdullah Ibrahim at Zankel Hall

by Dan Bilawsky
October 22, 2014

Abdullah Ibrahim Zankel Hall Ubuntu: Music And Arts Of South Africa New York, NY October 17, 2014 Ubuntu. It's one little six-letter word that carries a world of meaning within its frame. The term itself, roughly translated to mean “I am because you are," took root as a philosophy for black youth liberation in the '40s and '50s, but over time, ubuntu has taken on a life beyond a specific movement. It's a ...

Extended Analysis

Andy Milne and Dapp Theory: Forward in All Directions

by Phil Barnes
October 22, 2014

Not all albums register immediately, sometimes it takes a while for unusual and individual music to settle in your subconscious, reveal itself incrementally as little details emerge with familiarity. This new release from Andy Milne and Dapp Theory, on Whirlwind records in the UK, is a good case in point Toronto born Pianist and keyboard player Milne first emerged from Steve Coleman's Five Elements, and played with many of the prime M-Base musicians including the likes of Cassandra ...

Album Review

Zoor: Volumes A + B

Read "Volumes A + B" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
October 22, 2014

Zoor is a French trio consisting of tenor saxophonist Bertrand Denzler, electric guitarist Jean-Sébastien Mariage and drummer Antonin Gerbal. All three have considerable experience with other bands -Gerbal in the jazz trio Peeping Tom and the improv trio R Mutt, both with releases on Umlaut, of which Gerbal was a co-founder in 2009. Denzler is well known for his albums on Potlatch, notably his innovative solo sax record Tenor (Potlatch, 2010) and in the sax quartet Propagations (Potlatch, 2007); he ...

My Blue Note Obsession

Introducing Johnny Griffin – Blue Note 1533

by Marc Davis
October 22, 2014

In jazz and rock--heck, even in classical music--there is a sacred throne for those who play fast. Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson occupy such thrones. So do Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen. Fast is fun. Johnny Griffin played fast--very fast. The evidence is here in Griffin's very first album, Introducing Johnny Griffin. It's a 1956 date with a quartet that includes Wynton Kelly on piano, Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. For ...