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

Jo-Yu Chen: Stranger

Read "Stranger" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 20, 2014

The title of pianist Jo-Yu Chen's third album refers to strangers of two different sorts: those who were once strangers but became part of Chen's life, and those who took the reverse course. Chen notes that as a Taiwanese artist living in New York, she's often felt like a stranger herself. That may be the case, but her music never betrays that fact; she plays like an insider looking out, not the other way around. Stranger finds ...

Album Review

Pat Mastelotto / Tobias Ralph: ToPaRaMa

Read "ToPaRaMa" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
June 20, 2014

Like the rhythm of blood flowing through the heart; the drum is the rhythmic pulse of music. Drummers Pat Mastelotto and Tobias Ralph collaboration in ToPaRaMa is an adrenaline-charged project that includes the two on drum kits, splashes of electronic sound-design and contributions from talented guests. Mastelotto and Ralph's combined resumes contain a striking list of progressive rock artists that include Allan Holdsworth, King Crimson, and the Screaming Headless Torsos so it's a given that they rock the beat with ...

Live Review

Wayne Shorter Quartet at National Concert Hall, Dublin

by Ian Patterson
June 20, 2014

Wayne Shorter Quartet National Concert Hall Dublin, Ireland June 14, 2014 The rapturous applause that greeted the Wayne Shorter Quartet as it took to the stage of Dublin's National Concert Hall was a heart-felt show of appreciation for Shorter's immense contribution to jazz over the past six decades. From his role as artistic director in both drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and trumpeter Miles Davis's second great quintet to his fourteen-year tenure alongside keyboardist Joe ...

Album Review

Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage

Read "Maiden Voyage" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
June 20, 2014

Over the past forty-nine years there's been no shortage of ink spilled extolling the musical virtues of Herbie Hancock's 1965 recording, Maiden Voyage. Featuring the great trumpet of Freddie Hubbard and the bracing tenor of George Coleman, the record is as good as any effort turned in by Hancock during that period. It's a record every jazz fan should know. Unfortunately, Maiden Voyage also has a long-standing reputation for mediocre sound quality. In another review of an expensive ...

Book Review

The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop

by C. Michael Bailey
June 20, 2014

The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop (Music of the African Diaspora) Kindle Edition Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. 257 Pages ASIN: # B00CDTSS78 University of California Press 2013 All of the sudden, we have competing biographies of modern jazz pianist Bud Powell. For the longest only Francis Paudras' deeply sentimental memoir, Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell (Da Capo, 1986) and Bertrand Tavernier's imaginative ...

Album Review

Joel Harrison: Mother Stump

Read "Mother Stump" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
June 20, 2014

Every so often, musicians feel an inner urge to return to their roots and test their acumen with newer techniques and perspectives. Here, guitarist Joel Harrison revitalizes his early persuasions in a trio format, with keyboardist Glenn Patscha appearing on several tracks. Recognized for his heterogeneous projects, including big band, world-jazz, progressive jazz and distinctive style as a guitarist not content to his rest on his laurels, Mother Stump interconnects another phase of his all-embracing faculties. With dreamy volume control ...

Interview

Bobby Sanabria Spreads The Latin Jazz Gospel

by Steve Bryant
June 20, 2014

Drummer, percussionist, composer, educator, Bobby Sanabria has gained renown and respect from fans and musicians alike as one of the foremost proponents of what is labeled Afro-Cuban/Latin Jazz. Born and raised in the South Bronx, Sanabria performed with a veritable Who's Who in the world of jazz and Latin music, as well as with his own critically acclaimed ensembles. His diverse recording and performing experience includes work with such legendary figures as Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauzá, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera,, ...

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Interview

Horace Silver: Blue Note Records and His Lady Music

by Ed Hamilton
June 19, 2014

The Q&A portion of this article first appeared on KPFK 90.7 FM (Los Angeles) in 1974. 75 years ago Blue Note Records was started by two German immigrants who loved jazz and believed that the music should be heard and preserved. Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff collaborated and built the Blue Note vault of music that included the artistry of immortals: Miles Davis, Sonny Clark, Sidney Bechet, Clifford Brown, Art Blakey, The Jazz Messengers, Lee Morgan, Freddie ...

Album Review

Andreas Dreier Trio: Poinciana

Read "Poinciana" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
June 19, 2014

There's no doubt when the soft tapping of drums announces a beat as light as lovers dancing through a summer night. This is the signature of one of the greatest cover versions of all time. Or rather, this is the watermark of a cover made into a new composition. Pianist Ahmad Jamal's trio now virtually owns the tune “Poinciana" and the album it comes from, At the Pershing: But Not for Me (Chess, 1958), has become a classic in its ...

Catching Up With

Jimmy Haslip: Former Yellowjacket Generating a New Buzz

by Richard J Salvucci
June 19, 2014

Well, the Joint Base San Antonio Fort Sam Houston News Leader is probably not the best place to look for local jazz updates, even if the venue is on the base. “Tickets for the next Friday Night Jazz concert at the Fort Sam Houston Theater are on sale. Featured artists include the Jeff Lorber Fusion with special guest saxophonist [sic] Jimmy Haslip of The Yellowjackets." Not a promising start, unless Jimmy has taken up a new axe and rejoined his ...