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

Dexter Payne: Pra Vocé

Read "Pra Vocé" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
May 26, 2014

Pra Vocé is clarinetist Dexter Payne's homage to the late Thiago de Mello, the composer, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist whose life and music reflected the panoramic beauty of his native Brazil and with whom Payne recorded several beautifully reflective pieces of music, including and especially their self-produced 2007 duet Another Feeling (2006, Dexofon). Take time to stroll around and enjoy the beauty of its pathways and gardens, and sit in its contemplative shade, and you'll quickly learn that the quietly brilliant ...

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Genius Guide to Jazz

All About All About Jazz

by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius
May 26, 2014

The history of jazz on the Internet goes back almost to the beginnings of jazz itself, one crisp autumn day in 1924 when Louis Armstrong first conceived of breaking the music down into tiny packets that could then be distributed across a network where they could be reassembled at some other distant point back into their original form. The computer had not yet been invented, and Armstrong's plan was to distribute the packets via America's extensive network of hobos. The ...

Live Review

Norfolk And Norwich Festival 2014

by Bruce Lindsay
May 25, 2014

Norfolk And Norwich Festival Norwich, UK May 9-25, 2014 From a refurbished high street bank, to a 15th century church, via a Georgian trading hall and a 100-year-old travelling mirror tent, the 2014 Norfolk and Norwich Festival's jazz program covered a range of venues that offered plenty of history, quirkiness and decorative variation. The music added its own variety, from dance grooves to moments of extreme beauty, from 18th century mysticism to 21st century funk. ...

Live Review

Melissa Morgan Quartet at the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society

by Bill Leikam
May 25, 2014

Melissa Morgan Quartet Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society Half Moon Bay, Ca. May 11, 2014As is often customary, vocalist Melissa Morgan did not immediately appear on stage while her trio of Los Angeles based musicians, pianist Sam Hirsh,bassist Katie Thiroux, and Matt Witek on drums, opened the show with an old standard, “Satin Doll." It was the first time these musicians played the Bach. To a person, they were thrilled at the opportunity to join ...

Live Review

Little Barrie at Santos Party House

by Mike Perciaccante
May 25, 2014

Little Barrie Santos Party House New York, NY May 8, 2014 Little Barrie is a British blues-based power trio formed in Nottingham in 1999. Its music is an amalgamation of blues, psychedelia, garage rock, pop, soul, funk and good old fashioned rock 'n' roll with a bit of a jamband mentality. The original band featuring Barrie Cadogan (guitar, lead vocals), Wayne Fulwood (drums, vocals), and Lewis Wharton (bass) released a few independent singles before its ...

Album Review

Jenny Scheinman: The Littlest Prisoner

Read "The Littlest Prisoner" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 25, 2014

It's tempting to say that Jenny Scheinman has a split musical personality, but that's not really the case. The playful-and-devious violinist with a glint in her eye and the poised alt-country singer aren't as far apart as some may think, as both are powered by the heartbeat of American life; it's just important to remember that American life isn't so simple to define. It's gritty and gorgeous all at once, and Scheinman understands that better than most. The Littlest Prisoner ...

Album Review

Dave Sharp: Worlds

Read "Worlds" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
May 25, 2014

Detroit-based bassist Dave Sharp and the Secret 7 ensemble he leads have found acclaim for their expansive grasp of world music, including and especially jazz: Sharp has toured jazz clubs throughout Japan and studied jazz theory and music at the New College of California with bassist Herbie Lewis, who nailed down rock-solid rhythmic bottoms for soul-jazz hipsters Les McCann and Cannonball Adderley, but has also toured with rock iconoclasts The Melvins. Sharp began this exploration of music's various ...

Album Review

Dave Rempis / Darren Johnston / Larry Ochs: Spectral

Read "Spectral" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 25, 2014

"Invisible Architecture" is a self-coined concept that characterizes the raison d'être of this experienced, free improvisational trio. The three first met first in the fall of 2011, when alto sax player Dave Rempis journeyed from his home in Chicago to the West Coast, to collaborate with like-minded compatriots from the Bay Area scene. Trumpeter Darren Johnston, a frequent visitor to Chicago and collaborator of Rempis, suggested that the two join with saxophonist Larry Ochs, of the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, to ...

Album Review

Twin Forks: Twin Forks: Twin Forks

Read "Twin Forks: Twin Forks" reviewed by Mike Perciaccante

by Mike Perciaccante
May 25, 2014

It's safe to say that alternative, emo, indie rockers Dashboard Confessional's lead singer/chief songwriter, Chris Carrabba had become the posterboy for his generation and the fans of the genre. After 2009's Alter the ending (DGC/Interscope/Vagrant), Dashboard Confessional went on what is now clearly an indefinite recording hiatus. The band can't fully be called a thing of the past because as recently as 2011, Carrabba was touring in honor of the band's debut release The Swiss Army Romance (Drive Thru Records, ...

Album Review

Sinan Bakir: Tales & Stories

Read "Tales & Stories" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
May 24, 2014

Guitarist Sinan Bakir's Tales & Stories are told by a talented quartet, which takes the guitarist's own tunes and weaves a dozen musical narratives of real quality. Bakir--a Turkish musician who moved to the US after gaining an engineering degree--has developed an original style, combining his own Turkish upbringing with rock and jazz influences. Tales & Stories, his second album, hints at Chet Atkins, Kenny Burrell and even Steve Howe's jazz excursions in its flowing, melodic compositions. Whatever ...