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.
Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results
Out Of/Into: Motion I
by Mike Jurkovic
Most supergroups happen and barely dent the dust. Despite those odds, one or two happen for a reason. That reason is Motion I by Out Of/Into. Formerly known as The Blue Note Quintet--pianist Gerald Clayton, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, drummer Kendrick Scott, and bassist Matt Brewer--hijack the lead track “Ofafrii" with a brazen romp of everything tuneful and tasty. Wilkins and Ross virtually ground the driving ethic while power-gliding above the whole enterprise. It is a hellion ride, considering ...
Continue ReadingTwo return visitors to Another Timbre, performed by Apartment House
by John Eyles
One would have to think long and hard to find several similarities between composers Adrian Demoč and Linda Catlin Smith. Of different genders, they were born on different continents in different decades. Their routes to becoming composers differed, yet they both ended up as Another Timbre artists with a respectable selection of album releases on the label and the prospect of more to come. Nonetheless, Demoč and Smith do have similarities; firstly each of them is a talented composer who ...
Continue ReadingAnett Tamm and the David Chevallier Trio At the Vuotalo Cultural Center
by Anthony Shaw
David Chevallier and Anett Tamm Vuotalo Cultural Center Borders Tour Helsinki, Finland November 19, 2024 The concert in the eastern suburb of Helsinki marked the first of 24 concerts spread over far-flung cities in Finland and Estonia in November and December, 2024, seeing the artists trek through a very Scandinavian blizzard to make the first date on time. The ensemble had started this tour in France, under the title Borders, but ...
Continue ReadingGwendolyn Kassenaar at LightSounds 2024
by John Eyles
Gwendolyn Kassenaar Rich Mix LightSounds 2024 London, United Kingdom November 23, 2024 The weekend of Saturday November 23rd and Sunday November 24th saw the annual LightSounds festival which, instead of being a mere offshoot of music or visual art, positions audiovisual art at the center of the creative universe. This year, the festival was opened by keynote speaker Gwendolyn Kassenaar, herself a visual artist who has long championed cross-fertilisation between music and visual arts. ...
Continue ReadingBrian Landrus: Plays Ellington & Strayhorn
by Jack Bowers
When gathering material for a new recording, one time-honored rule of thumb is that it is hard to stray too far off course when revisiting the musical handiwork of renowned composer Duke Ellington and/or the Duke's virtuosic alter ego, Billy Strayhorn--even if one chooses to lead with an Ellington theme as relatively unknown as “Agra" from 1967's Far East Suite, which baritone saxophonist Brian Landrus does on Plays Ellington & Strayhorn, a graceful and stylish quartet date that also encompasses ...
Continue ReadingSpencer Zweifel: The Life or Death Situation
by La-Faithia White
Spencer Zweifel is an accomplished jazz pianist who graduated in 2019 with a degree in jazz studies from the University of Northern Colorado. He won best pop/rock soloist in the 2018 Downbeat magazine student awards. In 2021, Spencer completed a master's in jazz studies at William Paterson University, where he studied with Bill Charlap, Aaron Diehl and Geoffrey Keezer. In 2020 he formed the Spencer Zweifel Quintet, which has released two records, including Before It's Too Late (Self Produced, 2022). ...
Continue ReadingSue Rynhart: Say Pluto
by Ian Patterson
Traditionalist or avant-garde provocateur? Singer or poet? Dubliner Sue Rynhart is all these things and more, and therein lies her appeal. Her debut, Crossings (Songs For Voice And Double Bass) (Self Produced, 2015), an alluring duo recording with Dan Bodwell, earned Rynhart broad critical acclaim for its hybrid folk, indie pop, spoken word and jazz/improvised spirit. Signals (Mrsuesue Records, 2017) added new textures to similar ingredients, with mbira, recorders, zither and Francesco Turrisi's lute and frame drum ornamenting Rynhart's strikingly ...
Continue ReadingGong at the Louhisali Theater
by Anthony Shaw
Gong Louhisali TheaterEspoo Cultural CentreEspoo, Finland November 19, 2024 If writing about music is as senseless as dancing about architecture maybe we should take a leaf out of the antics of Gong's lead guitarist and singer Kavus Torabi. Maybe it was a consequence of the bite of a chill wind blowing through the concrete streets of Tapiola Center in Espoo that he had sampled before the start of this, the second concert in Finland ...
Continue ReadingCharles Tolliver Music Inc.: Live at the Captain's Cabin
by Pierre Giroux
Charles Tolliver's Live at the Captain's Cabin is a previously unheard two-CD set captured at an intimate venue in Edmonton, Alberta, on June 24, 1973, produced for release on Reel to Real Recordings by tenor saxophonist and jazz entrepreneur Cory Weeds. The synergy and spontaneity heard in this session can only come from a group accustomed to the rigours of the road. With no prior intention to record, trumpeter Tolliver and his quartet, comprised of pianist John Hicks, bassist Clint ...
Continue ReadingOreglo: Opedge
by Scott Lichtman
This writer was persuaded to switch from trumpet to tuba in high school and, ever since has been looking for a modern, hard-grooving quartet underpinned by tuba on which to hang his fanboy hat. The moment has arrived: the band is oreglo and the song featured here is “opedge." Guitarist Linus Barry, drummer Nicco Rocco, keyboardist c-sé and tubaist Teigan Hastings lock in the listener's attention from start to finish by seamlessly switching between fusion, reggae, electronic groove, big band ...
Continue Reading
