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

Space F!ght: Sci-Fi

by Bruce Lindsay
June 4, 2014

Question: what inspires a band called Space F!ght to create a recording called Sci-Fi? Answer: the works of classic science fiction writers such as Isaac Asimov. Question: will such inspirations result in music that's worth listening to, music that excites, that bears repeated listening, that's enjoyable? Answer: yes. Radek Rudnicki, Space F!ght's leader, composer and driving force, holds a PhD in digital composition from York University and has collaborated musically with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and ...

Extended Analysis

No Pews Required: Chris McDonald Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
June 4, 2014

A glance at the name and song titles on Chris McDonald's new album might lead to an assumption that this is a Christian manifesto masquerading as big-band jazz, when in fact the reverse is true--McDonald, a superlative arranger, happens to be a man of faith who uses Christian themes as the basis for some of the most powerful and exhilarating big-band music you're likely to hear anywhere. This is in every respect the Chris McDonald JAZZ Orchestra, and the emphasis ...

Album Review

Frank Harrison Trio: Lunaris

Read "Lunaris" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 4, 2014

London-based pianist Frank Harrison is probably best known for his work backing saxophonist Gilad Atzmon, but his Lunaris should help to raise his profile as a major league piano trio guy. It's Harrison's third recorded effort in the trio format, and it stands out in a crowded field full of talent. Harrison and the trio go against common advice and open with a ballad, a solemn, tender, gorgeously spacious take on David Raksin's tune from the 1954 movie ...

Album Review

Alan Broadbent And NDR Bigband: America The Beautiful

Read "America The Beautiful" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
June 4, 2014

Being a part of the big band sound was an experience pianist Alan Broadbent embraced, endured and eventually, wanted to step away from. Orchestra music--comprised of boisterous reeds and brass sections--were far too loud and too big drowning out the finesse sounds of the acoustic piano. When Broadbent left the Woody Herman Big Band in 1972, he said good bye to the ensemble sound, so he thought. After receiving a commission for a radio program with the renowned NDR Big ...

Album Review

Chiemi Nakai: Transformation

Read "Transformation" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
June 4, 2014

New York-based pianist Chiemi Nakai is a native of Japan who began her musical journey in training as a classical pianist but preferred the sounds of Afro-Cuban and other Latin music. Moving to the Big Apple in 1998, Nakai began her professional career performing and touring with international Latin music stars, formed her own group, Chiemi Nakai & the Afro-Cuban Jazz Project and then teamed up with Latin jazz percussionist Emmanuel Bizeau and recorded her debut album Bridges (Self-Produced, 2008). ...

Album Review

Pedra Contida: Xisto

by Eyal Hareuveni
June 4, 2014

Pedra Contida (contained stone in Portuguese) is a Portuguese quintet assembled by guitarist Marcelo dos Reis to work together for a week in the remote mountain village Cerdeira in Serra da Lousã, in the Coimbra district of Portugal. The five musicians-- dos Reis also on prepared guitar, voice and singing bowls are Angélica V. Salvi on harp, Nuno Torres on alto sax, Miguel Carvalhais computer, and João Pais Filipe who also collaborates with dos Reis in the Fail Better! quintet ...

Album Review

Led Bib: The People In Your Neighbourhood

Read "The People In Your Neighbourhood" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
June 3, 2014

The People In Your Neighbourhood comes from Led Bib, “rock-jazzers" with a neat line in catchy grooves and prog-rock-meets-free-jazz. The London-based outfit, led by New Jersey ex-pat drummer Mark Holub, has been around for over a decade, gaining a Mercury Prize nomination for Sensible Shoes (Cuneiform Records, 2009). After a quiet couple of years since the release of Bring Your Own (Cuneiform Records, 2011), early 2014 sees a flurry of activity, with the simultaneous release on Cuneiform of The People ...

Live Review

Phronesis at Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast

by Ian Patterson
June 3, 2014

Phronesis Crescent Arts Centre Belfast, Ireland May 30, 2014 You had to feel sorry for the couple, rocking up at Belfast's Crescent Arts Centre fifteen minutes before show time only to be told that the concert was a sell-out. Slightly sorry, that is, because in times when jazz is often a hard sell, a 'sold out' sign is music to the ears--certainly for those lucky to have bagged a ticket for Phronesis' penultimate date ...

Album Review

Dorothy Donegan: Strength, Energy, Imagination

Read "Strength, Energy, Imagination" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
June 3, 2014

With this double album, Storyville Records--surely the greatest Danish invention since pastry--tells the story of a legend that never was. Dorothy Donegan, born in Chicago in 1924, trained as a classical pianist before switching to jazz and being hailed as “the female Art Tatum." She made her recording debut when she was 18 and three years later appeared in the movie “Sensations of 1945," sitting in with Cab Calloway's orchestra (see attached video). The ...

Jazz Near Me

All Smiles on Hilton Head Island

by Gloria Krolak
June 3, 2014

Fly, drive, bike or walk, if you can, to The Jazz Corner on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. But make reservations first or you may be going home early. This intimate jazz and blues club is booked solid every night weeks in advance, and I do mean every night. So it's been for 15 years, an incredible feat by owners Bob and Lois Masteller. The club, with its well-planned sound system and sightlines for all 100 seats, was named ...