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

Gavin Bryars Ensemble At Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival 2014

by Ian Patterson
August 8, 2014

Gavin Bryars Ensemble St. Michael's Church Enniskillen N. Ireland August 1, 2014 That an anonymous homeless man, singing quietly to himself on a London street in 1971, should inspire a standing ovation and a well of emotions among the audience in St. Michael's Church forty three years later says much for the power of art to alter the way we view the world. Bassist/composer Bryars was briefly part of the 1960s British ...

Album Review

Elias Haslanger: Live at the Gallery

Read "Live at the Gallery" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 8, 2014

Live at the Gallery boasts rollicking, soulful performances of a first-class set list recorded live and hot onstage at a packed jazz club in Austin (Texas) led by Texas native, Austin resident and tenor saxophonist Elias Haslanger and featuring soloists Dr. James Polk (another native Texan and former organist, pianist, writer, arranger and conductor for Ray Charles) on Hammond B-3 organ and Jake Langley on guitar. Haslanger, who studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the University of ...

Catching Up With

Avishai Cohen: Family Bonds and Music from the Heart

by Urszula Orczyk
August 8, 2014

Avishai Cohen is a talented trumpeter, composer, band leader, co-leader and active sideman featured on over 50 records to date. Voted a Rising Star in the 2012 DownBeat Critics Poll, Cohen is also a musician with an individual sound, combining the best of traditional jazz with a modern compositional style. As a player, he demonstrates flexibility, soulfulness, sensitivity and extravaganza. Cohen has performed music since the age of 10, gaining experience with jazz, rock and pop groups while ...

Album Review

Doombalaya: Dinner

Read "Dinner" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 8, 2014

Doombalaya--"Jambalaya" with “Doom" in place of “Jam"--grew out of 2009/2010 jam sessions among Tulane University (Louisiana) jazz student. Since then, they've become deeply integrated with New Orleans' musicians and musical scene, playing in clubs uptown and downtown. “Doombalaya is a New Orleans Jazz/Afrobeat/Rock band that tries to push the limits of what we can do. We all have a deep love for music that's out and music that's in," explains composer and keyboardist Ethan Stern. “We're a band full of ...

Album Review

Bio Ritmo: Puerta del Sur

Read "Puerta del Sur" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 8, 2014

Bio Ritmo has kept the salsa flame burning for more than twenty years. “We all share a passion for salsa, a music that encompasses so many different styles and influences," explains producer, composer, pianist and bandleader Marlysse Simmons. “It's rooted in the experimentation of blending rhythms and sounds and this is exactly what we love to do." “Our mission from day one was to write original music in the classic salsa style," concurs lead composer and vocalist Rei ...

Album Review

Free Nelson Mandoomjazz: The Shape of Doomjazz to Come / Saxophone Giganticus

Read "The Shape of Doomjazz to Come / Saxophone Giganticus" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 8, 2014

Free Nelson Mandoomjazz is one hellacious trio led by Rebecca Sneddon on alto saxophone with bassist Colin Stewart and a bone-crunching drummer credited only as Archibald, and herewith explodes onto the global music scene with a single-disc that pairs their EPsThe Shape of Doomjazz to Come and Saxophone Giganticus. From their base in Edinburgh (Scotland), Free Nelson Mandoomjazz proves equally versed in the heaviest of heavy metal (including and especially Black Sabbath) and the most free of free ...

Album Review

Rodney Whitaker: When We Find Ourselves Alone

Read "When We Find Ourselves Alone" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 7, 2014

Bassist Rodney Whitaker is often cited for his affiliations rather than his own work. That's a shame, as it takes attention away from some wonderful music that he's put out under his own name, but it's easy to understand why that's the case. He anchored trumpeter Roy Hargrove's band for a while, ballasted and buoyed Wynton Marsalis's Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra during his stint with that acclaimed organization, and connected with drummer Carl Allen for a pair of exciting ...

Live Review

Newport Jazz Festival 2014

by Timothy J. O'Keefe
August 7, 2014

Newport Jazz FestivalFort Adams State Park Newport, RI Friday, August 1, 2014 The saxophone reed squealed, as David Sanchez tastefully demonstrated mastery of jazz, but with dark clouds looming on the horizon, music wasn't the only thing on the minds of the patrons at the 60th Newport Jazz Festival presented by Natixis Global Asset Management. On a sticky and hazy morning, Sanchez opened the main stage with the expressive and appropriately titled “Morning Mist." ...

Live Review

Gent Jazz Festival 2014 - Part One: Hardcore Jazz

by Martin Longley
August 7, 2014

Gent Jazz Festival Bijloke Gent, Belgium July 10-13, 2014 The two weekends of this year's Gent Jazz Festival were characterised by their extreme differences in weather. The first half, traditionally concentrating on jazz in its naked state, was buffeted by persistent rainfall and chilly temperatures. The second weekend always opens up the borders to musics on the jazz periphery, and this part was blessed with extreme heat and overall dryness. Ultimately, ...

Album Review

Claudio Fasoli Four: London Tube

Read "London Tube" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
August 7, 2014

One of the pleasures of traveling to events abroad is the opportunity to learn about musicians who may be established at home, but are deserving of more attention abroad. Such was the case when covering the Fondazione Siena Summer Jazz Workshop 2013 in Siena, Italy, and the chance to experience saxophonist Claudio Fasoli, both in action as an instructor at the academy and at a very special performance by his Claudio Fasoli Four. London Tube is the quartet's second recording ...