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

Nick Grinder: Ten Minutes

Read "Ten Minutes" reviewed by Daniel Lehner

by Daniel Lehner
June 8, 2014

It's a shame that more trombonists don't make records like the one 25-year-old Nick Grinder has. The instrument has long since proven its worth in bebop, post-bop and neo- bop, but few bone players have elected to exploit the instrument's unique timbre and music- making structure, not to mention writing music most conducive for it, in the way that Grinder and his band have in their debut. In a strong first recording that lays out eight original compositions, Grinder and ...

Live Review

The Art of Blues at Herberger Theatre

by Patricia Myers
June 8, 2014

The Art of Blues Herberger Theater Phoenix, AZ May 4, 2014 “The Art of Blues," an original scripted tribute to blues legends Billie Holiday, Etta James, B. B. King and Buddy Guy, featured speed-artist Randall Hedden creating five-minute portraits to the accompaniment of a Phoenix-based sextet and four vocalists. The performance showcased Hedden's amazing ability to create five vibrantly hued portraits on a constantly spinning easel. Jazz and blues charts were delivered by ...

Album Review

Thom Douvan: Brother Brother

Read "Brother Brother" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
June 8, 2014

If it was going on sincerity alone it would be hard to knock Brother, Brother. Taken as a labor of love from guitarist Thom Douvan to the classic soul musicians collectively known as The Funk Brothers it sincerely tries hard, but unfortunately comes up short. The immediate problem with any an album of cover songs are most remakes can't help but pale in comparison to the original, so if you're going go down the well-trod path of playing ...

Album Review

Jeff Cosgrove: Alternating Current

Read "Alternating Current" reviewed by Harry S. Pariser

by Harry S. Pariser
June 8, 2014

Drummer Jeff Cosgrove's new CD “Alternating Current" is an endeavor built around the composition “Victoria," by the late drummer Paul Motian. Motian first came to prominence in the mid-1950s in the piano trio of Bill Evans, and later led several groups. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. For this date, Cosgrove brings together pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist William Parker, both long-established players on the avant-garde scene, and each with numerous releases. For ...

Multiple Reviews

Led Zeppelin Remastered: The First Batch (I, II & III)

by John Kelman
June 8, 2014

I, II, III | IV, Houses of the Holy For a time, Led Zeppelin was one of the biggest--if not the biggest--bands in the world, eclipsing the Rolling Stones, the Who...even the Beatles. Born out of the ashes of the Yardbirds--even operating, very briefly, under the moniker the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin came to symbolize the word hard in “hard rock," its ear-bursting, high-decibel performances the epitome of heavy. But from the very beginning, the brainchild of the ...

Multiple Reviews

Chicago Transit Authority / Chicago II / Chicago III

by Marc Davis
June 7, 2014

Chicago, the rock band, is not what you remember. Well, it is, but it's also more than that. The Chicago you remember is the hit machine of the '70s: “25 or 6 to 4," “Beginnings," “Make Me Smile," “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and many others. Of course, Chicago is also the wimp rock machine of the '80s: “Hard to Say I'm Sorry," “Hard Habit to Break," “You're the Inspiration" and “Will You Still Love ...

Album Review

Rodney Crowell: Tarpaper Sky

Read "Tarpaper Sky" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
June 7, 2014

Tarpaper Sky reaffirms Rodney Crowell's position as one of the most literate of contemporary songwriters. At the same time, it exhibits his unusual savvy as a musician and bandleader as he collects a core quintet to skillfully elicit both the intelligence and emotion of his original material. In its prolonged gestation before and after other projects- Kin (Vanguard, 2012) his collaboration with novelist Mary Karr and his reunion with Emmylou Harris Old Yellow Moon (Nonesuch, 2013)--Crowell's fourteenth album ...

Album Review

Art Tatum: Trio Days

by Marc Davis
June 7, 2014

I was wrong. I like Art Tatum. But in a slightly different way. My introduction to Art Tatum, many years ago, was a series of solo piano albums. They left me cold. No question, the man was gifted beyond belief. He could play faster, more accurately and with a greater sense of fun and originality than almost any pianist between Fats Waller and Thelonious Monk. And yet his solo work never felt right to me. Something ...

Live Review

Kansas at The NYCB Theatre At Westbury

by Mike Perciaccante
June 7, 2014

Kansas with special guests Arc & Stones The NYCB Theatre At Westbury Westbury, NY May 29, 2014 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kansas, with its Americana-heartland-meets-classical-with-a-dash-of-prog-rock sound, owned a large portion of AOR FM airplay. Songs such as “Carry On Wayward Son," “Song For America," “Point Of Know Return," and “Dust In The Wind" could be heard blaring from car radios and boom boxes across the country. Touring in celebration of ...

Album Review

Chick Corea: The Ultimate Adventure: You Can't Return to Forever

Read "The Ultimate Adventure: You Can't Return to Forever" reviewed by Marc Davis

by Marc Davis
June 7, 2014

The Beatles are gone. I know that. But I keep thinking if I buy just one more Paul McCartney CD, maybe the old magic will return. Maybe. But it never does. Paul McCartney is like that. You know how great he was with the Beatles. You even know how great some of his solo records were. And even though you know he'll never write another “Band on the Run," and surely he'll never write another “Sgt. ...