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

Skadedyr: Kongekrabbe

Read "Kongekrabbe" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
March 29, 2014

Skadedyr is a Norwegian democratic-anarchistic band comprised of 12 young and promising musicians, masterminded by tuba player Heiða Karine Jóhannesdóttir Mobeck and keyboards player Anja Lauvdal, both collaborated in the disbanded Your Headlights Are On. The 12 musicians offer unorthodox instrumental combinations-- brass, guitars, vocal, two drummers, strings and accordion-- and all are active on groups as the Moskus trio, as Lauvdal, Karokh and Lana Trio Mobeck and Lauvdal compositions for Skadedyr (pests in Norwegian) debut ...

Live Review

Celebrating Ornette Coleman at the Painted Bride Art Center

by Victor L. Schermer
March 28, 2014

Denardo Coleman Group and Jamaaladeen Tacuma Band The Painted Bride Art Center Philadelphia, PA March 21, 2014 This concert was the second in a series curated by saxophonist, band leader, and composer/arranger Bobby Zankel entitled “Still the New Thing" honoring three icons of avant- garde jazz: Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and Sun Ra on the occasions of their birth dates and anniversaries of key events in their careers. Jazz innovator Ornette Coleman ...

Album Review

Trio HSK: Trio HSK

Read "Trio HSK" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
March 28, 2014

With just three tunes and 25 minutes running time, the self-titled debut recording from Trio HSK can never be accused of over-burdening the listener with the sheer quantity of its musical outpourings. Quality, however, is present in abundance. The trio, based in Edinburgh, features the relatively unusual lineup of Richard Harrold's piano, David Series' electric guitar and Richard Kass' drums. The combination ensures that there's plenty of scope for experimentation and Series and Harrold ably cover for the ...

Live Review

Herb Alpert-Lani Hall Quintet at Musical Instrument Museum

by Patricia Myers
March 28, 2014

Herb Alpert-Lani Hall Quintet Musical Instrument Museum Phoenix, Arizona March 17, 2014 Trumpeter-vocalist Herb Alpert and vocalist Lani Hall performed a lively and captivating concert that linked their past triumphs to their newest collaborations. The uber-professionalism of this concert conveyed the ambience of a New York City cabaret show, an informal and relaxing mode that brimmed with rich talent. The California couple wove their vast catalog of standards, pop hits and Brazilian songs ...

Album Review

Penumbra Ensemble: Penumbra Ensemble

Read "Penumbra Ensemble" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

by Jakob Baekgaard
March 28, 2014

Penumbra Ensemble is the project of Swedish guitarist Henrik Olsson, who is based in Copenhagen. The ensemble's self-titled debut enlists noteworthy young Danish jazz musicians, including drummer Mads Forsby and saxophonist Lars Greve from Girls In Airports. The project is carried by Olsson's original concept where musical voices are twisted and turned. There is a clear influence from abstract painting, as evidenced by the composition “Klee," a reference to the Swiss painter Paul Klee. Olsson works with ...

Album Review

Dave Slonaker Big Band: Intrada

by Jack Bowers
March 28, 2014

Don't be put off by the name. Intrada, composer / arranger Dave Slonaker points out, is “a musical form often composed as a prelude, overture or fanfare," one whose upbeat phrases give rise to an exhilarating curtain-raiser on Slonaker's initial big-band recording. Rest assured this is a world-class ensemble and there's no doubt whose steady hand is at the helm: Slonaker wrote every number save the standard “It's Only a Paper Moon" and arranged the complete package. ...

Live Review

"In the Mood" at Mesa Arts Center

by Patricia Myers
March 28, 2014

"In the Mood": A 1940s Musical Revue Mesa Arts Center Mesa, Arizona March 12, 2014 A 13-piece big band revived the music of the 1940s, from Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey to Duke Ellington and Count Basie, accompanying six young singers and dancers in vintage costumes to re-create the music of the World War II era. The road show was conceived by pianist-director Bud Forrest, former accompanist for the Singing Sergeants of the ...

Album Review

Juhani Aaltonen: To Future Memories

Read "To Future Memories" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 28, 2014

Preeminent Finnish saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen is approaching his 80th birthday and continues to meld his technical artistry with fresh concepts. This album features compositions by composer and bassist Antti Hytti, who penned many of these works for movies and short films, featuring the saxophonist performing on the originals. Aaltonen alternates between tenor sax and flutes. With his noteworthy associates, including the dual bass attack of Ulf Krokfors (right channel) and Ville Herrala (left channel), the music takes on ...

Album Review

Stephan Meidell: Cascades

Read "Cascades" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
March 28, 2014

Norwegian, Bergen-based guitarist Stephan Meidell--known as a member of the experimental-improvising trio Cakewalk (Wired and Transfixed, Hubro, 2012 and 2013)--solo debut puts him in the same league of other Norwegian guitarists as Eivind Aarset and Stian Westerhus who redefined and re-conceptualized the role of the electric guitar. The Cascades project began in 2011 when Meidell wanted to test the acoustics of an old factory and meat storage space, the Bergen Kjøtt, before it was renovated as ...

Live Review

John O'Gallagher Trio at Triskel Arts Center, Cork

by Ian Patterson
March 27, 2014

John O'Gallagher Trio Triskel Arts Center Cork, Ireland March 22, 2014 Had there been a stage invasion--a historically rare occurrence at a jazz gig--saxophonist John O'Gallagher's trio, armed with its sticks, wood and metal--and with the ace up its sleeves of the high ground--would no doubt have repelled the waves. This, alas, was not a well attended gig. In fact, had the trio played an encore it could feasibly have dedicated one song per ...