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.

Multiple Reviews

Grateful Dead: From the Archives '74, '76, & '79

by Doug Collette
April 26, 2014

With the Grateful Dead's impending 50th anniversary in 2015, the legacy of the iconic band continues to grow. The surviving four members continue to play regularly (with the exception of drummer Bill Kreutzmann) in their respective bands (Phil Lesh & Friends, Bob Weir & Ratdog, Mickey Hart in varying ensembles) with the former two having collaborated extensively over the past few years (in Furthur). Meanwhile, the current archiving of the Dead's vault yields treasures like Sunshine Daydream (Rhino, 2013) as ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp Trio: Root Of Things

Read "Root Of Things" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
April 26, 2014

The third album by pianist Matthew Shipp's trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey persuades as their strongest yet, no mean feat after the live disc included on The Art Of The Improviser (Thirsty Ear, 2011) and Elastic Aspects (Thirsty Ear, 2012). Over the six cuts from this 2013 studio session they restate their case to be considered one of the premier contemporary piano threesomes, supremely cohesive and thoroughly convincing in Shipp's unique idiom combining insistent themes, darkly ...

Scumbles

Jazz in the UK now

by Sammy Stein
April 26, 2014

The jazz scene in the UK is buzzing at the moment. Clubs whose managers not so long ago were faced with the difficult decision whether to continue offering new sounds to a dwindling audience or turn themselves into a wine bar--offering small slices of live music to appease their consciences perhaps--are finding it was worth hanging in there. It seems free music has been saved--not by record companies wanting to pour in their millions but by the very nature of ...

Album Review

sPacemoNkey: The Karman Line

Read "The Karman Line" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
April 26, 2014

sPacemoNkey is the duo project of Norwegian keyboards player Morten Qvenild, known from other innovative Norwegian bands as In The Country, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra and by his continuous work with vocalist Solveig Slettahjell, and drummer Gard Nilssen, one of the busiest musicians in the vibrant Norwegian scene, who plays in such outfits as Bushman's Revenge, AstroSonic, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and in the band of vocalist Susanne Sundfør. The two met in the recording of trumpeter Mathias Eick's Skala, ...

Live Review

Jazzablanca Festival 2014: Casablanca, Morocco

by Mehdi El Mouden
April 25, 2014

Hippodrome Anfa Jazzablanca Festival Casablanca, Morocco March 29-April 3, 2014 Jazz breathes new life through the Jazzablanca Festival. Rethinking Jazz culture is a difficult process, as no findings about jazz audiences in Morocco exist. Jazz is only brought to the fore of discussion at festival time. The media does not publicize jazz the rest of the year otherwise, only partnering with festivals for coverage purposes. Hence, the elitist question around jazz ...

Album Review

Cine Qua Non: Cine Qua Non

Read "Cine Qua Non" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
April 25, 2014

Sine qua non is a Latin term meaning something absolutely needed, or essential. This Portuguese quartet is exactly that in terms of bringing melody and accessibility back to the fore in European jazz. However, their name is mis-spelt because accordionist Joao Paulo Esteves da Silva says their music “alludes to the cinema." With his instrument lending a very French, nostalgic feel to the proceedings, the movie seems to be set in Paris. Jean Gabin and Michele Morgan ...

Multiple Reviews

An Intriguing Twofer from TUM Records: Henrik Otto Donner's And It Happened and Juhani Aaltonen's To Future Memories

by Hrayr Attarian
April 25, 2014

The Finnish label TUM has made its mission to shed light on native talent. The world at large is familiar with a few of the country's improvisers, like drummer Edward Vesala and saxophonist/flutist Esa Pethman, but many other, equally gifted musicians remain obscure to non-Finns. In the span of 11 years since its inception, TUM has accomplished a lot, in remedying the situation by recording and releasing primarily the works of local jazzmen and jazz-women. The sumptuously designed digipaks include ...

Album Review

The Greg Foat Group: Girl with Robot and Flowers

Read "Girl with Robot and Flowers" reviewed by Roger Farbey

by Roger Farbey
April 25, 2014

A lugubrious brass arrangement combined with keyboard and rock steady drums heralds the opening to “Girl with Robot and Flowers (Part I)," augmented by a plaintive harmonica. “Have Spacesuit Will Travel" has a filmic quality to it, and as the album title suggests--a spacey feel, with echoey piano redolent of a John Barry or Roy Budd soundtrack. Greg Foat's Hammond L100 intermittently recalls Brian Auger and at times even Soft Machine or Caravan, the latter group's ...

Album Review

Eric Revis Quartet: In Memory Of Things Yet Seen

Read "In Memory Of Things Yet Seen" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 25, 2014

Bassist Eric Revis has performed and recorded with saxophonist Branford Marsalis' bands since 1997, and is a first-call session artist. Marsalis appears on two tracks for the bassist's third solo date on the progressive Portugal-based label, Clean Feed Records. The core quintet features a formidable frontline with tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry and alto saxophonist Darius Jones. And diversity is a key driver during a host of jazz-centric formats, constructed on scrappy maneuvers; contrapuntal statements, quirky rhythmic jaunts, and ballsy, hard-hitting ...

Album Review

Obara International: Live at Manggha

Read "Live at Manggha" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
April 25, 2014

The sophomore release of Polish-Norwegian quartet Obara International, led by rising Polish alto saxophonist Maciej Obara, solidifies his affinity with cool Nordic jazz. The group is not only the powerful rhythm section of resourceful Norwegians--double bassist Ole Morten Vågan and drummer Gard Nilssen. Lush phrasing by Obara himself and emphatic, profound interplay rounded out by the fantastic young pianist Dominic Wania suggests a formative influence by the Jan Garbarek Norwegian-Swedish quartet from the seventies (with pianist Bobo Stenson, double bassist ...