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.

Interview

Justin Faulkner: Serving the Music

by Paul Naser
April 10, 2014

The rare balance of passionate ambition and mature dedication that are the hallmark of young professionals puts them in a category all their own. More often than not they began honing their skills at an early age and it seems as if life conspired to help them succeed. Justin Faulkner, the young drummer for the legendary Branford Marsalis's band, has a story that fits this description to a T. At 23 years of age, it's remarkable how many ...

Extended Analysis

Barry Guy New Orchestra: Amphi - Radio Rondo

by John Sharpe
April 10, 2014

One of the most noteworthy releases of 2013 was the Barry Guy New Orchestra's Mad Dogs (Not Two), a five disc compendium which collected largely freeform meetings between various subsets of the 11-piece company during their 2010 residency in Krakow. However even that copious set offered only a partial view of the Orchestra's range, a deficiency filled by the issue of Amphi + Radio Rondo which should perhaps be seen as a companion piece. Recorded in St Johann in Tirol, ...

Album Review

Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra: Habitat

by Jack Bowers
April 10, 2014

Christine Jensen is one of the new breed of composer / arrangers who write for large ensembles on a grand scale, favoring themes that paint well-drawn pictures and tell evocative stories, most of which are based on personal experiences or particular sights or sounds that have lingered in their mind and led them to put pen to paper (metaphorically speaking, of course, as most musicians these days use computers like the rest of us). Jensen, a Canadian, ...

Album Review

Art Lillard's Heavenly Band: Reasons to Be Thankful

Read "Reasons to Be Thankful" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
April 10, 2014

Although drummer Art Lillard's Heavenly Band makes its home about as far from heaven as one could plausibly roam--New York City, to be precise--the music it produces on Reasons to Be Thankful (recorded in 2000 and released six years later) evokes at times an empyrean vibe, thanks in part to blissful arrangements by Lillard and guitarist Mark McCarron and spirited blowing by the ensemble. As for the point of view, it might best be described as contemporary swing, employing sophisticated ...

Album Review

Skogen: Despairs Had Governed Me Too Long

Read "Despairs Had Governed Me Too Long" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
April 10, 2014

With their previous two Another Timbre releases, Ist Gefallen In Den Schnee (2012) and Rows (2013), Magnus Granberg's large international ensemble Skogen established themselves as purveyors of exquisitely-played spacious music, that transcends the composition-improvisation border and makes beguilingly beautiful listening. On the 2012 album, a nine-member version of the group played a one-hour-plus rendition of Granberg's title piece. On Rows, an eight-member version--substituting Ko Ishikawa on sho for Leo Svensson Sander on cello and John Eriksson on vibraphone--played nine shorter ...

Album Review

Yolanda Duke: Te Llevo Bajo La Piel

Read "Te Llevo Bajo La Piel" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
April 10, 2014

Born in the Dominican Republic but raised in New York City, Yolanda Duke is no ordinary artist. Gifted with a powerful voice and a presence on the stage, Duke has earned the reputation as the “Queen of Latin Soul." On Te Llevo Bajo La Piel (I've Got You Under My Skin), Duke comes out swinging in big band style as she reprises many of the songs found on her previous Many Moods (Amigos Music, 2008) where she sings several standards ...

Extended Analysis

Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band: Landmarks

by John Kelman
April 9, 2014

Four records in 16 years may not be prolific, but clearly Brian Blade and his longstanding Fellowship Band aren't about quantity. While a seemingly scant two years separated the drummer's leader debut (and inspiration for the group name), Fellowship (Blue Note, 1998) from its even more impressive follow-up, Perceptual (Blue Note, 2002), the group's next record, Season of Changes (Verve) came a full eight years later in 2008, and beyond a label change also reflected the trimming down of the ...

Album Review

Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek: Reeds Ramble

Read "Reeds Ramble" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
April 9, 2014

Saxophonists Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek are both into their third decades as professional musicians. Their working relationship goes back to the early-90s when Cheek was a member of Blake's “alternative grunge jazz" band The Bloomdaddies. On Reeds Ramble (the title is borrowed from a tune written by guitarist Jerry Reed) the two men lead a quintet on a selection of tunes ranging from Elmo Hope's upbeat “De Dah" to Brian Wilson's oddly unsettling “'Til I Die," with one original ...

Album Review

David White Jazz Orchestra: The Chase

Read "The Chase" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
April 9, 2014

Some of the same high school kids that we're jamming with composer/arranger/trombonist David White more than fifteen years ago still occupy a space alongside newer faces in his New York based jazz orchestra. Tradition and transition are very much at the core of White's approach to progressive swing. White continues to express his unique style of progressive swing on his sophomore release The Chase. Like his debut Flashpoint (Self-Produced, 2007), The Chase pushes instrumental boundaries while paying just enough respect ...

Live Review

Ibrahim Maalouf at Jazzablanca Festival 2014

by Mehdi El Mouden
April 9, 2014

Ibrahim Maalouf Hippodrome Anfa Jazzablanca Festival Casablanca, Morocco March 31, 2014 Before composer and trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf stepped onto the stage, the audience of Jazzablanca Festival was already cheering wildly. There was a general feeling that his concert would be a memorable one, for fans eager to attend this performance. Scheduled on the third day of the festival and subsequent to Joss Stone and Stacey Kent, Maalouf drew crowds. On the eve of the ...