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

Jason Jackson: Inspiration

Read "Inspiration" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 11, 2014

After recording his first CD as leader in 2001, New York-based trombonist Jason Jackson took his time before releasing a second--thirteen years, to be exact. To say it was worth the wait would clearly be an understatement. Inspiration, on which Jackson employs horn, rhythm and string sections to emblazon his musical scenario, is a superb anthology recorded in three sessions spanning a decade and spotlighting along the way such eminently talented artists as Slide Hampton, Dick Oatts, Pete Christlieb, Terell ...

Album Review

Berdon Kirksaether & the Twang Bar Kings: Latenighters Under a Full Moon

Read "Latenighters Under a Full Moon" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
October 11, 2014

It is really no longer appropriate to call American Music American. It is Global music and that is all it can be. Gone are those days when shellac and vinyl discs had to be exported. Music from anywhere on earth is as close as one's computer. Norwegian blues? Why not? Guitarist and composer Berdon Kirksaether has made a cottage industry of it at home, first as part of the locally renowned CIA and now as leader of the ...

Live Review

Steve Earle & Shawn Colvin at The Space at Westbury

by Mike Perciaccante
October 11, 2014

Steve Earle & Shawn Colvin The Space at Westbury Westbury, NY September 27, 2014 Grammy Award winning singer-songwriters Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin brought their “Stories & Songs: Together Onstage" tour to Westbury Long Island on a warm and pleasant Saturday evening in late September. After opening the evening's performance with a short but sweet cover version of the Everly Brothers classic “Wake Up Little Suzie," Earle announced, “We'll be ...

Album Review

Gary Clark, Jr.: Live

by Doug Collette
October 11, 2014

Anyone who's had the privilege to see Gary Clark Jr. in concert knows that his previous recordings, on his own Hotwired Records as well as the two major label titles, are but sketches of how he's progressively forging influences of rock, blues and r&b into a stirring style of his own. Live preserves for posterity a charisma that's growing in proportion to the confidence he brandishes on “Bright Lights." Recorded at various stops during tours of 2013 and ...

Live Review

Glenn Tilbrook at City Winery

by Mike Perciaccante
October 11, 2014

Glenn Tilbrook City Winery New York, NY September 26, 2014 Touring solo without his long-time writing partner Chris Difford no longer seems to be terrifying for Glenn Tilbrook. Over the years throughout all of the (many) break-ups, stops, starts, reformations and reconfigurations of Squeeze, Tilbrook has managed to build a very credible solo canon of work. Always at home on stage, Tilbrook's solo song-writing continues to evolve. As the co-writer of all ...

Album Review

John Coltrane: Offering: Live At Temple University

Read "Offering: Live At Temple University" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 11, 2014

Offering: Live at Temple University finally and officially releases the John Coltrane concert (in)famous for him singing with his voice in addition to singing through his saxophone during several pieces. Released on the saxophonist's 88th birthday (September 23, 2014), it presents a genuinely legendary 1966 performance in a small hall about ten blocks from Coltrane's own home in his adopted Philadelphia hometown, plus a snapshot of one of his most musically combustible ensembles: His wife Alice Coltrane on piano, Pharoah ...

Live Review

King Crimson at The Warfield

by John Kelman
October 11, 2014

King Crimson The Elements TourThe Warfield San Francisco, CA October 3-4, 2014 It's been eleven years since King Crimson last toured extensively, barring a brief four-city, fourteen-date tour in 2008 that acted as the final nail in the coffin of its 28-year run with pyrotechnic guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew. Never a fan of the gruelling toll of the road, guitarist/keyboardist Robert Fripp--the group's only remaining founding member--seemed resolute in retiring from active touring after that ...

Live Review

Ravi Coltrane at Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge

by Douglas Groothuis
October 10, 2014

Ravi Coltrane Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge Denver, CO September 26, 2014 The Ravi Coltrane quartet performed before a packed crowd at Denver's premier jazz club, Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge on September 26, 20014 at 9:00 PM. Having seen Mr. Coltrane perform there a few years ago, I eager awaited this concert, wondering if I would see the same band. The quartet was still comprised of saxophone, drums, bass, and piano, but it ...

Album Review

Pauline Oliveros: Accordion & Voice

Read "Accordion & Voice" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
October 10, 2014

It's understandable if Pauline Oliveros is not a top-of-mind name, even after more than five decades in music. The eighty-two year old composer has been far-removed from the mainstream as a pioneer in the subculture of experimental electronic music and composition since the 1960s and her acoustic instrument of choice is the accordion. Yet her résumé speaks to broad range of interests and an impressive demand for her talents. She influenced avant-garde composers John Cage and Terry Riley, performed with ...

Album Review

Nora Germain: Little Dipper

Read "Little Dipper" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
October 10, 2014

Jazz fiddlers are not exactly household renowned. Joe Venuti, Ray Nance, Stephane Grappelli, Michal Urbaniak, Svend Asmussen, Jean-luc Ponty and Regina Carter pop to the forefront, but then the list falls off quickly. Presently there emerges one Nora Germain (a name made to be in lights if there ever was one) who not only fiddles but also sings. She might be considered a more mainstream jazz Natalie Cressman, a singer/composer who doubles on trombone. Her voice is all jaunty NYC ...