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

Daniel Rosenboom Quintet: Fire Keeper

Read "Fire Keeper" reviewed by Robert Bush

by Robert Bush
May 5, 2014

"Fusion" has rarely been so bold. Drawing on the traditions of the original Mahavisnu Orchestra, and Ornette Coleman's Prime Time, with liberal doses of Slavic folk-music and free-jazz, trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom's Quintet is an experiment of nuclear proportions. Featuring heavy electrical input from guitarist Alex Noice and “Bear-Trax" (hybrid-double-neck) bassist Kai Kurosawa, this orgy of odd meters really soars on the magic rhythm carpet laid down by drummer Dan Schnelle, whose traps bristle with a kinetic, ...

Album Review

Jon Mapp: The World Will End with A Bang

Read "The World Will End with A Bang" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 5, 2014

British electric bass guitarist Jon Mapp suggests two parallel ways to experience his debut solo album. The first, and most impressive one, feature his unorthodox technique and personal improvisational approach. Mapp plays the bass guitar as an instrument that its sonic spectrum is similar to the acoustic guitar, varying his gentle, melodic touch with percussive sounds. He uses pedals and a laptop to create different looping layers of music and trigger electric effects. The second way ...

Live Review

Jazzahead! 2014

by John Kelman
May 4, 2014

Jazzahead! 2014 Bremen, Germany April 24-27, 2014 It's hard to imagine, with diminishing music sales, the emergence of streaming services as the musical version of the antichrist for musicians and the increasing challenge of putting rear ends into seats at North American jazz festivals, but as it heads into its ninth year, Jazzahead! continues to provide unassailable evidence that it may be struggling to be so, but jazz is, indeed, a business. A place where artists, ...

Live From Philadelphia

Jazz Appreciation Month 2014 in Philadelphia: A Recap

by Jason Fifield
May 4, 2014

This April was a month of truly spectacular music on all fronts in Philadelphia. I know I missed a whole lot (see Philadelphia Jazz Project and Ars Nova Workshop) but here's my take. I kicked off the month with my trio Mischa Machez at our monthly First Friday Happy Hour at the Dog and Bull, always a well-attended event, with keyboardist David Dzubinski and drummer Phil Horwitz. That night was also the opening of this year's performance of ...

Extended Analysis

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Red Hot!

by Dave Wayne
May 4, 2014

I've been too busy enjoying the music of Mostly Other People Do The Killing (MOPTDK) to realize how controversial they've become. If you doubt their ability to rile the jazz world, all you have to do is post one of their videos on your Facebook page and wait for the ensuing kerfuffle to begin. The core band is comprised of four virtuoso instrumentalists, free-spirits who think nothing of hopping from honest-to-god punk rock, to free improv, to hard bop, to ...

Album Review

Jean Toussaint: Tate Song

Read "Tate Song" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
May 4, 2014

Ten albums in twenty five years isn't prolific but in a world awash with inferior music saxophonist Jean Toussaint's unhurried approach has consistently produced high-quality recordings that stand the test of time. What's more, the lapses between releases make each production a bona fide event. Certainly, the four years since his live album and the nine since his previous studio effort, Continuum Act One (Space Time, 2005) have created an expectation around Tate Song, and true to form, Toussaint delivers ...

Album Review

Vasilis Xenopoulos: The Wind Machine

Read "The Wind Machine" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
May 4, 2014

It would be easy, too easy, to write-off Greek-born (now U.K. resident) Vasilis Xenopoulos as yet another mainstream jazz musician. This would be a grave mistake because, as witnessed here in this, his second album, Xenopoulos breathes brave new life into old standards. Not only that, but these numbers are executed with superb skill. The Woody Herman band's “Four Brothers" kicks off sharply and smartly followed by “The Groove Merchant." Already the listener can discern a class act in the ...

Album Review

Jeff Hackworth: Soul To Go!

Read "Soul To Go!" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
May 4, 2014

His fifth album as leader and follow up to the critically acclaimed Night Owl (Big Bridge Music, 2011), Jeff Hackworth's Soul To Go! offers a brash new statement packed with bop, blues and soulful renditions of jazz classics. A New York-based saxophonist of note, and like many a great sax men--Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley and Stan Getz among others--who have called the Big Apple their home at some point in their respective careers, has the benefit of drawing ...

Album Review

Brute Force: Brute Force

Read "Brute Force" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 4, 2014

Faithful to its name, the young Norwegian noise-improv trio Brute Force is determined to make its point loud--loudest by any standard--and clear. This trio's brutal sonic raison d'être derives its reckless power from negation of improvisational forms in jazz and rock, the classic trio format, and even daily life in peaceful Norway. Revolt is the essence. Surprisingly, this trio--guitarist Karl Haugland Bjorå, bassist Egil Kalman and drummer Ole Mofjell--began to work as an acoustic trio (guitar, ...

Album Review

Oscar Penas: Music Of Departures And Returns

Read "Music Of Departures And Returns" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 3, 2014

In putting together his fourth album, guitarist Oscar Penas looked to composers he connects with, songs that speak to him, and originals that fit comfortably with the rest. That's the concept here, plain and simple, and the end result is a thirty-eight minute beauty that's alluring and completely accessible. Two different rhythm sections and three guests come and go during these eight tracks, but Penas' presence ties everything together. The first three numbers--a cheery choro featuring clarinetist ...