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.

Extended Analysis

Daniel Lanois: My Music for Billy Bob

by Nenad Georgievski
July 26, 2014

Translating guitarist/producer Daniel Lanois' evocative guitar and ability to create stratified soundscapes into soundtrack music for actor Billy Bob Thornton's directorial debut Sling Blade may seem an unusual choice, but the outcome turns into an interesting and unique blend of his darker, moodier incidental guitar and a variety of other instrumental touches. Lanois' music has always been about mood and ambience and other people have benefited from his unusual gift of capturing or creating all kinds of ambiences. This multitalented ...

Album Review

Jeremy Lyons: Vestige

Read "Vestige" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
July 26, 2014

It's been a good year for Jeremy Lyons. In March, the Belfast tenor saxophonist's dectet opened the Brilliant Corners 2014 jazz festival with a resounding set before an enthusiastic home audience. Here, stripped back to the more intimate surroundings of a quartet, Lyons' debut as leader brings together seasoned pros from the UK jazz scene on a set of his original compositions that are straight ahead in conception. The rhythm section of bassist Vicky Tilson and drummer Buster Birch is ...

Live Review

Vinicius Cantuaria and Bebel Gilberto at Celebrate Brooklyn

by Ernest Barteldes
July 26, 2014

Vinicius Cantuaria and Bebel Gilberto Brasil Summerfest at Celebrate Brooklyn Brooklyn, New York July 18, 2014 On the opening night of the third edition of the city-wide Brasil Summerfest, guitarist Vinicius Cantuaria took the stage with his quintet. He played a semi-acoustic guitar and started with a syncopated instrumental interlude that led into Gilberto Gil's “Procissão," a tune whose irony-filled lyrics wax critical against the blind faith of religious communities in Brazil. ...

Album Review

Ross Hammond: Humanity Suite

Read "Humanity Suite" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
July 26, 2014

Guitarist Ross Hammond is building upon his conspicuous artistic persona as a new wave jazz and improvisational guitarist, composer who aligns with fellow West Coast denizens, including seminal Southern California based woodwind ace Vinny Golia and others. With a dozen albums under his belt, the guitarist has exponentially pushed the envelope, largely with great success. He also possesses an idiosyncratic style, where unanticipated curveballs, off-center phrasings and variable use of distortion techniques have become a primary component of his rangy ...

Multiple Reviews

The Vocal Art of Norwegian Stine Janvin Motland

by Eyal Hareuveni
July 26, 2014

Norwegian vocal artist Stine Janvin Motland is known for highly original, extended vocal techniques. Her range and imagination mark new frontiers for the natural acoustics of the human voice. Motland previously recorded with drummer Ståle Liavik Solberg in MotSol, and with he and local sax hero Frode Gjerstad, plus American cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm in the quartet VCDC. She has slap worked with her home-town, Stavanger-based Kitchen Orchestra and collaborated with other Scandinavian sonic innovators like Maja Ratkje and Mats Gustafson. ...

Album Review

Klas Nevrin Ensemble: Live At Lederman

Read "Live At Lederman" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
July 26, 2014

Swedish pianist and composer Klas Nevrin, known for his ongoing collaborations with reed player Fredrik Ljungkvist in Ljungkvist's bands Yun Kan 5 and Yun Kan 10 and in the Norwegian- Swedish quartet Honeyleap, suggests a new arresting sonic aesthetic in his new solo album. His compositions forge a middle path between the rock-inspired lineage of free jazz and the ultra- minimalist school of contemporary improvisation, without settling for any of these contrasting aesthetics. Furthermore, Nevrin applied alternative, non-Western micro-tonal intonation ...

The Vinyl Post

Something Smoky and Something Blue

by C. Andrew Hovan
July 25, 2014

With Vincent Herring's alto providing the clarion call that ushers in the troops for a quicksilver performance entitled “Elation," it became clear that the analog warmth of this particular vinyl release possessed a tangible charm that was undeniable. So while this reviewer had previously reviewed Herring's The Uptown Shuffle as heard in the CD format and found the overall set quite enjoyable, there seemed to be a more visceral punch to the performance on vinyl that somehow managed to form ...

Album Review

Audrey Martin: Living Room

Read "Living Room" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 25, 2014

Music and therapy aren't so different. In fact, many view music as therapy; it provides an outlet for expression for those who create, it helps those on the receiving end to find meaning in life, and it provides the means for people on both sides to look inside and beyond themselves. Countless individuals understand the nexus between these two worlds, as it's what draws them toward music in the first place, but vocalist Audrey Martin has actually lived it.

Album Review

Phillip Blackburn: Music of Shadows

Read "Music of Shadows" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
July 25, 2014

UK native and multi-media artist Phillip Blackburn approaches the musical structures on Music of Shadows as part naturalist, part classical composer and brings the two elements together in an avant-garde narrative. Blackburn's works have been performed in numerous outdoor settings and art galleries as well as on traditional stages. The physical locations of performances are an integral component in his creative process and production as he looks to have his pieces exist as mobile entities rather than static works.

Extended Analysis

Lion

by John Kelman
July 25, 2014

Despite having yet to make a breakthrough in North America, in the space of less than five years Marius Neset has gone from virtual unknown to one of Europe's hottest properties, gigging with his quartet all around the continent, including an incendiary showcase at the 2012 Jazzahead! trade show in Germany and an even more searing set at the 2014 Jazzkaar festival in Estonia. That this young Norwegian-born/Denmark-based saxophonist (still on the shy side of 30) has managed to achieve ...