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

The Bureau of Atomic Tourism: Spinning Jenny

Read "Spinning Jenny" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 29, 2014

The Bureau of Atomic Tourism (also known as BOAT) fittingly represents the image of Rat Records, given that the name is an acronym for “rare and treacherous." Spinning Jenny--the second outing for the group--is a challenge to both players and listeners with its mix of free improvisation, electronics, and avant-garde. Founded by drummer Teun Verbruggen, BOAT takes a radical approach to the configuration of the pieces on Spinning Jenny as each is built more on the collective momentum of individual ...

Live Review

Hot 8 Brass Band at Mawazine Festival 2014

by Mehdi El Mouden
June 29, 2014

Hot 8 Brass Band Rabat Streets Mawazine Festival Rabat, Morocco June 4-7, 2014 From New Orleans, down to Rabat, The Hot 8 Brass Band crossed the Atlantic to revive the tradition of the marching band in an African spot. Part of the street program in Mawazine Festival Rhythms of the World, Hot 8 Brass band played for four days in four different parts of the city. Marching down the hot and even mean streets ...

Album Review

Lucky Peterson: The Son Of A Bluesman

Read "The Son Of A Bluesman" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 28, 2014

When the multi-talented Lucky Peterson sings of blues in his blood, it's not merely figurative boasting; Peterson's pedigree reads like a partial history of the music. Peterson was born into the blues, growing up in a home where his father--James Peterson--played guitar, sang, and passed on his gifts to his offspring. More importantly, the elder Peterson owned the Governor's Inn--a blues venue in Buffalo where Lucky Peterson soaked up the sounds of the legends who passed through ...

Live Review

Buddy Guy At the Paramount

by Mike Perciaccante
June 28, 2014

Buddy Guy The Paramount Huntington, NY June 11, 2014 On a pleasant Wednesday evening in early June, following a bluesy and soulful acoustic set by opening act Matt Anderson, six time Grammy Award winner and Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame member Buddy Guy brought his unique brand of Chicago Blues to Huntington, NY's Paramount announcing his presence with a flourish. Appearing on stage at precisely 9:08 p.m., resplendent in white pants, his trademark white ...

Live Review

Glen David Andrews at the Rockwood Music Hall

by Mike Perciaccante
June 28, 2014

Glen David Andrews with special guest Henry Butler Rockwood Music Hall New York, NY June 18, 2014 Glen David Andrews is a showman--pure and simple. He thrives in the spotlight. Shine a spotlight on the man and he comes alive. He is a force of nature, and one to be reckoned with. He has been described as over-the-top. In many ways that's an understatement. He is over-the-top. He is pure energy. He has charisma. He ...

Live Review

Goo Goo Dolls & Daughtry at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater

by Mike Perciaccante
June 28, 2014

Goo Goo Dolls & Daughtry with special guests Plain White T's Nikon at Jones Beach Theater Wantagh, NY June 14, 2014 On June 14, the Goo Goo Dolls/Daughtry summer tour rolled into the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, in Wantagh, New York. Sharing the stage with Plain White T's, all three acts delivered impressive and energetic sets. Touring behind 2013's Magnetic release (Warner Bros Records) as well as the iTunes-only released Warner Sound ...

Album Review

Xavi Reija: Resolution

Read "Resolution" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
June 27, 2014

Catalan drummer Xavi Reija's fifth recording and his first with MoonJune Records is a highly charged affair that draws from rock, jazz and the shifting ground between. Reija's hard-edged polyrhythms, bassist Bernat Hernandez' thundering bass lines and guitarist Dusan Jevtovic's raw, fuzz-toned electric guitar combine to stir up a storm that evokes memories of drummer Tony Williams' Lifetime and mid-seventies King Crimson. That, however, is only half the story, for a meditative, slow-burning quality reigns at times while ambient loops ...

My Blue Note Obsession

The Amazing Bud Powell, Volumes 1 and 2 – Blue Note 1503 and 1504

by Marc Davis
June 27, 2014

In the pantheon of bebop's Founding Fathers, there are three giants. Everyone knows Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Everyone forgets Bud Powell. Like Bird and Diz, Powell could spit out notes faster than anyone before or since. Also like Bird and Diz, Powell sometimes fell in love with his own speed, so some recordings became exercises in ridiculously frantic keyboard runs because... well, he could. Fortunately, these two early Powell discs emphasize the quirky, fun, inventive ...

Album Review

Fred Hersch Trio: Floating

Read "Floating" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 27, 2014

Live albums and studio albums can by miles or millimeters apart in terms of presentation, conception, quality, layout and reception; it all depends on the circumstances and intentions when a record is made. Pianist Fred Hersch's Floating, for example, nearly erases that potential divide. While it's against his very nature, Hersch could've haphazardly thrown together a random list of tunes and gone into the studio cold, using an ad hoc group to flesh out this album. In ...

Live Review

Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion at Yoshi's

by Harry S. Pariser
June 27, 2014

Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion Yoshis Oakland , CA June 15, 2014 Dedicated. Stubborn. Outspoken. Perspicacious. These are some of the descriptions which come to mind when considering the personality and legacy of legendary drummer Ginger Baker. Baker first came to prominence as a member of the rock power trio Cream, with guitarist {{Eric Clapton and bassist Jack Bruce, establishing himself as a role model for many an aspiring teenage rock drummer. Later, ...