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

Jeff Denson & Joshua White: I'll Fly Away

Read "I'll Fly Away" reviewed by Robert Bush

by Robert Bush
April 18, 2014

Jeff Denson has been alto saxophone legend Lee Konitz's bassist of choice for the past several years, and it's easy to see why on this superlative duet album of gospel music with the explosive pianist Joshua White, who, at age 28 appears ready to take the world by storm. White has almost twenty years of experience playing gospel music--obvious by the great liberties he uses to transform this music while retaining a visceral authenticity. There are three ...

Film Review

Kenny Werner: Effortless Mastery In Motion

by Dan Bilawsky
April 18, 2014

In the early moments of Effortless Mastery: The Four Steps, pianist Kenny Werner notes that he never aspired to be a guru; nevertheless, he's viewed as one by a significant number of musicians. If Werner had never put a single word on paper or shared a single thought about the art of playing, practicing, and learning, he'd still be recognized as a major musical figure. Over the course of the past three-plus decades, he's done everything from ...

Extended Analysis

Chris Standring: Don't Talk, Dance!

by Jeff Winbush
April 18, 2014

If jazz is to avoid being relegated to the pit of obsolescence where VCR's, pet rocks and NBC's fall lineup for the last five years has been consigned to it won't be enough to simply continue catering to the true believers and faithful die-hards that currently maintains the genre. Jazz will have to go places it hasn't been before and go after potential listeners who think of it as the music their grandparents listened to. One of those ...

Multiple Reviews

The Wild, Eclectic World of Koichi Makigami's Hikashu Band

by Eyal Hareuveni
April 18, 2014

Japanese vocal artist Koichi Makigami's main musical vehicle has been his band Hikashu since the late seventies. This band embodies Makigami's colorful eclectic tastes and myriad vocal personalities. They succeed in tying together eccentric collective improvisations, Japanese theater traditions or elements from Japanese films and pop songs, references to progressive rock and wild, virtuoso vocal acrobatics. Hikashu's 21st album Bankan and the following EP Chakra Biraki [Chakra Opening] show that when it comes to Makigami and Hikashu, you can only ...

Album Review

Alex Weiss: Fighter Planes & Praying Mantis

Read "Fighter Planes & Praying Mantis" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
April 18, 2014

Saxophonist Alex Ward's musical journey so far reflects his restful musical personality. He studied music in Boston, then relocated to San Francisco where he studied with Roberto DeHaven, the minister and musician of Saint John's Orthodox Church, better known as the John Coltrane Church. In the Bay Area he collaborated with innovative improvisers as saxophonist Glenn Spearman, Wadada Leo Smith, and Bertram Turetzky. Then he continued to Denmark where he performed with John Tchicai and later moved to Madrid, Spain. ...

Live Review

Live From Old York: Mokoomba, Alistair Anderson, Dan Walsh & The Toasters

by Martin Longley
April 17, 2014

Mokoomba The National Centre For Early Music April 10, 2014 This gig was on the ninth night of a 12-date tour, so Zimbabwe's Mokoomba were well primed for action, tightly configured and slickly earthy. The UK itinerary was assembled by the Making Tracks organisation, who are dedicated to presenting global sounds from all lands. Their taste is always trusty. As is often the case for gigs presenting such rootsy fare, the NCEM was ...

Album Review

Joe Beck: Get Me Joe Beck

Read "Get Me Joe Beck" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 17, 2014

It would be something of an understatement to say that the late Joe Beck was a fine guitarist. In truth, he was one of the most multifaceted players to wield the instrument during his lifetime. Beck was hailed for his funky fusion work, both as an individual and in combination with saxophonist David Sanborn, he was an ace studio musician, working with everybody from Miles Davis to Paul Simon to Gloria Gaynor, and he was a brilliant and daring interpreter ...

Live Review

Joshua Redman Quartet at Musical Instrument Museum

by Patricia Myers
April 17, 2014

Joshua Redman Quartet Musical Instrument Museum Phoenix, Arizona April 3, 2014 Saxophonist Joshua Redman played tribute to past tenor greats, putting his personal imprint on each chart, from Wayne Shorter's “Infant Eyes" to Joe Henderson's “Tetragon" and the sax standard, “Oleo" by Sonny Rollins. Performing with the quartet he formed in 1998--pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Gregory Hutchinson--Redman verified his nearly three-decade command of the tenor in boisterous exuberance and lyrical elegance. ...

Album Review

Hayden Powell: Roots and Stems

Read "Roots and Stems" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
April 17, 2014

For those who think the Norwegian jazz scene is all about electronics, sampling and processing (not that there's anything wrong with that), one look at Hayden Powell, born in England but relocated to Norway as a young child, and any such accusations and generalizations are quickly put to rest. A trumpeter on the ascendance with Magic Pocket and the esteemed Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Powell recently replaced Mathias Eick in Finish pianist/harpist Iro Haarla's quintet, and so it's only a matter ...

Extended Analysis

Medeski, Martin & Wood + Nels Cline: Woodstock Sessions, Vol. 2

by John Kelman
April 17, 2014

In retrospect, it was inevitable; why it took so long for veteran jazz jam band Medeski, Martin & Wood to get together with Nels Cline is anybody's guess. The über-guitarist has, since joining Wilco a decade ago, managed to significantly raise his visibility, but anybody who suggests that he's been “moonlighting" in the alt-country/alt-rock/alt-alt band to pay the rent hasn't been paying attention. Like keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood, Cline's career has been largely associated ...