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

François Tusques / Alexandra Grimal / Sylvain Guérineau: La Jungle du Douanier Rousseau

Read "La Jungle du Douanier Rousseau" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
July 7, 2014

This ad-hoc French trio brings tenor saxophone players and free improvisers--Sylvain Guérineau, who is also a gifted painter, and Alexandra Grimal to the musical universe of veteran pianist Francois Tusques, who began to play jazz in post-war France and was a close associate of expatriate Americans like Don Cherry and The Art Ensemble of Chicago during the late 1960's. La Jungle du Douanier Rousseau--its title refers to the naïve paintings of post-impressionist Henri Rousseau--was recorded live and carries the exploratory ...

Album Review

Michael Dease: Relentless

Read "Relentless" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 6, 2014

While rising star trombonist Michael Dease's previous albums have all been small group affairs, much of his sideman work has marked him as something of a large ensemble specialist. He's put his slide to good use in numerous big bands and jazz orchestras, including those led by Christian McBride, Charles Tolliver, Roy Hargrove, Rufus Reid, and Nicholas Payton. Given that information, it should come as no great surprise that Dease decided to make a go of fronting his own big ...

Book Review

Don Drummond: The Genius and Tragedy of the World’s Greatest Trombonist

by Duncan Heining
July 6, 2014

Don Drummond: The Genius and Tragedy of the World's Greatest Trombonist Heather Augustyn 233 pages ISBN: #978-0-7864-7547-6 McFarland 2013 Don Drummond: The Genius and Tragedy of the World's Greatest Trombonist--Heather Augustyn's study of the late and extraordinarily gifted Jamaican trombonist, composer and ska pioneer is exceptionally well-researched and very readable. What impresses most about the work is the author's painstaking efforts not only to reconstruct Drummond's troubled life from the accounts of those ...

Album Review

Moutin Factory Quintet: Lucky People

Read "Lucky People" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
July 6, 2014

The Moutin brothers bassist François and drummer Louis co-lead their Moutin Factory Quintet on the delightfully engaging Lucky People, their first release with the above group. The intricately crafted tunes deftly interweave individual spontaneous expressions within each thematic framework bringing a stimulatingly dramatic sense to the music. On the darkly simmering “Conflict," pianist Thomas Enhco's polished but passionate bluesy chords and saxophonist Christophe Monniot's wailing luminous sopranino fade in and out of the spotlight and remain integral parts ...

Book Review

Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation

by Duncan Heining
July 6, 2014

Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation Heather Augustyn 163 pages ISBN: # 978-0-8108-8449-6 Scarecrow 2013 Heather Augustyn's Don Drummond: The Genius and Tragedy of the World's Greatest Trombonist offers an excellent study of a gifted but troubled man that succeeds both as analysis and narrative. By contrast, Ska: The Rhythm of Liberation is a less successful piece of work. It does have its strengths, however. Augustyn is particularly strong in her account of the ...

Album Review

Steve Lehman: Mise en Abîme

Read "Mise en Abîme" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 6, 2014

There's much ado about the co-mingling of styles, languages, and genres in saxophonist Steve Lehman's music. A good amount of what's been written about his work has focused on his use of spectral music techniques and live electronics, the specially-made microtonal vibraphone that Chris Dingman plays, and the way Lehman mixes it all together to create his own brand of creative music. It's completely understandable that those would be the talking points, but the music really speaks for itself.

Interview

Yaron Stavi: Profoundly Bassist

by Sammy Stein
July 6, 2014

Yaron Stavi is a bassist who has performed all over the world with many musicians, playing double and electric bass and crossing genres into rock, classical, jazz and World Music. He studied in Berlin and played with orchestras around Europe, North America and Asia, and was principal bassist with the Mahler Youth Orchestra under, among others, Pierre Boulez, Sir Neville Marriner and Mariss Jansons. He has played with violinist Nigel Kennedy and accordion player Richard Galliano, drummer Robert Wyatt and ...

Album Review

Andy Biskin Ibid: Act Necessary

Read "Act Necessary" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
July 6, 2014

Act Necessary is clarinetist-composer Andy Biskin's fifth album, where he integrates the jazz idiom into Americana, slapstick fare, funk and other disparate genres. He's an artist who stands out among his peers as he goes against the grain, while always mingling wit and whimsy into his overall musicality. Biskin's amiable and bubbly clarinet work forges an entryway into off-center rhythmic exercises amid a good-timey vibe; however, his music is not saccharine or schmaltzy. And he employs an all-star unit on ...

Album Review

Gregory Porter/Donald Smith/Mansur Scott: Great Voices Of Harlem

Read "Great Voices Of Harlem" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 5, 2014

Harlem has long been known as an incubator for talent, birthing and/or nurturing some of the all-time greats in music, literature, and art. Nearly a century separates the dawning of the famed Harlem Renaissance and the creation of this album, but Great Voices Of Harlem serves as undeniable proof that this large neighborhood at the north end of Manhattan still holds artistic treasures within its borders. Great Voices Of Harlem, in some respects, isn't just a nod ...

Live Review

Hot Tuna, Lebanon Opera House

by Doug Collette
July 5, 2014

Hot Tuna Lebanon Opera House Lebanon, New Hampshire June 17, 2014 Bassist Jack Casady almost stole the show during his seventh (8th?) appearance in New Hampshire with long-time friend and musical compadre guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. And that's not to disparage the latter, whose delicate precise picking (except for a few moments early on) mirrored Casady's own dexterity during the course of their ninety minutes on the New Hampshire stage. But Kaukonen's compliment to ...