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

Live From Birmingham: Jeffrey Lewis, Jesús Fernández, Kadialy Kouyaté & Peatbog Faeries

by Martin Longley
July 16, 2014

Jeffrey Lewis & The Jrams The Actress & Bishop June 17, 2014 Singer, guitarist, rapper and comix artist Jeffrey Lewis is always itching to change the name of his backing bands. Here's yet another, with the Jrams being a bass-and-drums pair (Heather Wagner and Caitlin Gray), keeping the tourbus lightly populated for maximum road-grease on the leader's endless touring schedule. He was returning to The Actress & Bishop's upstairs room after a couple ...

Album Review

Nate Wooley/Hugo Antunes/Chris Corsano: Malus

by John Sharpe
July 16, 2014

Named musician of the year in the El Intruso 2013 critics poll, trumpeter Nate Wooley looks to be on a roll. That's in spite, or perhaps that should be because, of being so hard to pin down. His output stretches from experimental solo works such as Trumpet/Amplifier (Smeraldina-Rima 2011) and The Almond (Pogus Productions, 2011), to his more tradition-orientated quintet on (Put Your) Hands Together (Clean Feed, 2011) and (Sit In) The Throne of Friendship (Clean Feed, 2013). Malus pitches ...

Album Review

Meade Lux Lewis: The Blues Piano Artistry of Meade Lux Lewis

Read "The Blues Piano Artistry of Meade Lux Lewis" reviewed by Marc Davis

by Marc Davis
July 16, 2014

In three decades of professional writing, I don't think I've ever used the word “twee." But I'm about to. Look it up. Dictionary.com says “twee" means “affectedly dainty or quaint." Put another way: Unnaturally cute. That's the celeste in jazz. It's cute and dainty and thoroughly unnatural. What's more, it's a mood killer. I can't understand why anyone would use it. You've heard the celeste, even if you don't know it. It sounds like ...

Album Review

Brandee Younger 4tet: Live At The Breeding Ground

Read "Live At The Breeding Ground" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 16, 2014

While a list of currently operating notables on nearly any given instrument could fill anywhere from a chapter to a book or two, a rundown of head-turning active jazz harpists might only fill out a very small portion of a leaflet. The most important among them--Latin jazz trailblazer Edmar Castaneda, refined role model Carol Robbins, and wide-ranging experimentalist Zeena Parkins, to name just a few--all manage to say something unique with the instrument, pushing it into places where it wasn't ...

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Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff: A Touch of Radiance

Read "A Touch of Radiance" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
July 15, 2014

Trained in an intensive ten-year classical piano program at Moscow's Gnessins School, and after quietly making records for over two decades, Russian native Yelena Eckemoff has been transitioning to a form of hybrid, classically informed improvisation with some exceptional results. 2010's Cold Sun, a trio featuring the exquisite drumming of Peter Erskine, was a tremendous musical statement for a leader making an early foray into improvisation and a record that is well worth seeking out to this day.

Album Review

InDuologue: Blue Skies

Read "Blue Skies" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 15, 2014

A majority of jazz vocals discs I have heard in my 20 years of writing about them have included at least one voice-bass duet. It is a most effective format, but one not for the faint of heart as an artist. Both duet participants are more naked than in any larger format. It takes two performers who not only have perfect time, but perfect time that is synchronized to one another. When effective, this format makes for a challenging and ...

Album Review

Borah Bergman/Kidd Jordan/William Parker/Michael Wimberly: Vita Brevis

Read "Vita Brevis" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
July 15, 2014

Vita Brevis represents maverick pianist Borah Bergman's last session before his death at age 85 in 2013. In the liners label boss Joe Chonto speculates that Bergman suffered from undiagnosed Aspberger's syndrome. As such it's perhaps not a surprise that he found his niche in outsider music--the jazz avant-garde. However his musical ability was never in doubt, given his remarkable facility to simultaneously pursue separate lines at length with each hand. On this date he's surrounded by other elder statesmen ...

Album Review

Francois Carrier / Michel Lambert / Alexey Lapin: The Russian Concerts Volume 1

Read "The Russian Concerts Volume 1" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
July 15, 2014

Back in 2011, this trio released an excellent trilogy of albums which documented a December 2010 tour of Russia by Canadian alto saxophonist Francois Carrier and his long-time drummer Michel Lambert during which they played with Russian pianist Alexey Lapin in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Now, The Russian Concerts Volume 1 again documents the three together in Moscow, but this is not a fourth record of the 2010 tour, instead being the first (of several, judging by its title) from ...

On and Off the Grid

Practice, Do You? Part 3-3

by Dom Minasi
July 15, 2014

Continued from Part 2 I began studying the guitar when I was seven years old. I hated my teacher and I didn't practice much, but when I changed teachers' and I went to Joe Geneli, I regained a love for the guitar that I first had when I was four years old when I first saw Roy Rogers sing and play. It was with Joe that I began to practice. I found an hour a day was sufficient, ...

On and Off the Grid

Practice, Do You? Part 2-3

by Dom Minasi
July 15, 2014

Continued from Part 1 I began studying the guitar when I was seven years old. I hated my teacher and I didn't practice much, but when I changed teachers' and I went to Joe Geneli, I regained a love for the guitar that I first had when I was four years old when I first saw Roy Rogers sing and play. It was with Joe that I began to practice. I found an hour a day was sufficient, ...