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

Eric Schugren/Vin Scialla/Brian Charette/Mike DiRubbo: Wake Up!

Read "Wake Up!" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 14, 2014

Wake-Up! is one of those surprises that jazz lovers live for. The names--four of them on the very well-designed, 1960s Blue Note Records-like cover--aren't top shelf in terms of profile. They might even be completely unfamiliar to the less than fanatical jazz fans. But what a band! What a set! There's just something that says “lacking pretense" about a set of good old-fashioned organ combo sounds. Grant Green, Larry Young, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff are ...

Album Review

JP Soars: Full Moon Night In Memphis

Read "Full Moon Night In Memphis" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
October 14, 2014

The blues have proven to be a most durable musical genre. They are also quite fertile and productive, providing the basis for infinite interpretation. This is good and bad. It is good for all of the exceptional music that has been made atop the rugged 12-bar harmonic structure. It is bad for all of the bad music heaped atop the same. Regardless of what the record industry says, things can's be so bad when we have such a fortune of ...

Album Review

Tohpati: Tribal Dance

Read "Tribal Dance" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 14, 2014

Indonesian composer, producer and guitarist Tohpati continues his march toward dominating the jazz-rock fusion guitar world with Tribal Dance. Written and produced by the guitarist, this electrifying Dance was recorded live in a Los Angeles studio then finished in Indonesia, and is credited to “Tohpati featuring Jimmy Haslip and Chad Wackerman." Haslip and Wackerman previously worked together on the 2010 MoonJune set Blues for Tony, to honor the untimely passing in 2007 of drummer, composer and Lifetime bandleader Tony Williams, ...

Album Review

Cortex: Live

by Glenn Astarita
October 14, 2014

As the marketing info implies, this Scandinavian quartet summons remembrances of the Ornette Coleman ensemble featuring Don Cherry performing on cornet. Yet by no means are these gentlemen copycats. Hence, each composition imparts a different story, whether the artists are melding an open-air sound with bursting breakouts and idiosyncratic intonations or generating aggressive free-form escapades on these compositions by cornetist Thomas Johansson. Other than some loosely designed Ornette inferences, these works come at you from a myriad of sharp angles, ...

Album Review

3D: Dąbrowski Davis Drury: Vermilion Tree

Read "Vermilion Tree" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 14, 2014

The international 3D trio was initiated by Polish, Denmark-based rising trumpeter Tomasz Dąbrowski during his 2012 visit to New York that already yielded a duo with drummer Tyshawn Sorey (Steps, For Tune, 2013). Canadian, New York-based pianist Kris Davis and American drummer (with Nordic roots) Andrew Drury join Dąbrowski in a set of eight concise, snapshot-like duo and trio improvisations that blur the distinction with written compositions. The five longer compositions penned by Dąbrowski (plus one by Drury), all emphasize ...

Film Review

Clark Terry: Keep On Keepin' On

by Mark F. Turner
October 14, 2014

Clark Terry Keep On Keepin' On RADiUS-TWC 2014 Produced by Quincy Jones and Paula Dupre' Pesmen with first time filmmaker Al Hicks the multiple award winning documentary Keep On Keepin' On brings an intimate view into the extraordinary friendship between trumpet great Clark Terry and aspiring young pianist Justin Kauflin. The film begins with what seems like a simple teacher/student session. But there's something different about the setting. Terry is almost bedridden, wearing a robe ...

Catching Up With

Andrew D'Angelo: Story of the Living

by Daniel Lehner
October 14, 2014

The album artwork for Andrew D'Angelo's Norman features the album's namesake, D'Angelo's grandfather, as a young man, seated slyly and serenely. The significance of naming the album “Norman" was not only a nod to the fact that D'Angelo bears that as his middle name, but also that the album is dedicated in part to D'Angelo's mother. “I really wanted to make a record basically for my mother. Because, I mean, can you imagine what it's like watching your ...

Album Review

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer

Read "OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 13, 2014

While it may be hard to believe, the reality is that the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is nearing the end of its first half-century together. Formed in 1966 as the Thad Jones -Mel Lewis Orchestra, it continued on after Jones' departure as the Mel Lewis Orchestra, then as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra after Lewis' death in February 1990. During many of those years, the ensemble was enriched by the compositions and arrangements of the renowned Bob Brookmeyer (1929-2011), a master craftsman ...

Interview

Jon Irabagon: Examining All The Angles

by R.J. DeLuke
October 13, 2014

Saxophonist Jon Irabagon likes challenges in music; likes attempting different things. He's not opposed to things traditional, but would prefer to come at music and sounds from different angles. He enjoys the journey; enjoys experiencing the results. At 35, he's on the go all the time, ubiquitous on the New York City music scene. In the next minute, he's often off to Europe on tour with one of his own groups or playing as a sideman. Not long ...

Live From New York

Ches Smith, Patti Smith & Jesse Paris Smith

by Martin Longley
October 13, 2014

Ches Smith's We All Break The Stone September 30, 2014 The California drummer Ches Smith has long been transplanted to New York City, so that now he's indelibly embedded in its streets, he's frequently playing in a vast variety of settings. Some of these were presented during his six-night residency at the Stone, John Zorn's deeply uncompromising Alphabet City corner-venue. We All Break is a curious name for a combo that revolves around ...