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

B.J. Jansen: Ronin

by Hrayr Attarian
March 17, 2014

Baritone saxophonist B.J. Jansen demonstrates his versatility as a composer and performer on Ronin, his third release as a leader. The nine originals that comprise the album cover a gamut of styles while remaining firmly in the jazz mainstream. On the boppish “Manhattan Trane'in" for instance Jansen wields his horn with agility as he intricately embellishes the melody and deftly navigates its harmonic structure. “Diamonds for Lil," meanwhile, showcases his subtle and emotive balladry as his thick smooth ...

Album Review

Armen Donelian: Sayat-Nova: Songs of my Ancestors

Read "Sayat-Nova: Songs of my Ancestors" reviewed by Gabriel Medina Arenas

by Gabriel Medina Arenas
March 17, 2014

The sound of his piano evokes treasured sounds from a small and hidden mountainous country full of cultural richness and history in the heart of Eurasia. On his thirteenth solo album, the New Yorker veteran musician Armen Donelian paid a homage to Armenia, the homeland of his forefathers. Donelian, a classically trained pianist who played and recorded with legends like Mongo Santamaria, Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker and Paquito D' Rivera, titled his latest record Sayat-Nova: Songs ...

Album Review

Mark Dresser / Gerry Hemingway / Assif Tsahar: Code Re(a)d

Read "Code Re(a)d" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
March 17, 2014

Code Re(a)d documents the live, free improvised meeting of Israeli saxophonist Assif Tsahar with the massive rhythm section of double bass master Mark Dresser and powerful drummer Gerry Hemingway, recorded at Tshar's home base, the Levontin 7 club in Tel Aviv in May 2011. Dresser and Hemingway began to play together in the legendary Anthony Braxton Quartet (with pianist Marilyn Crispell), almost thirty years ago and continued to play together in various, respective solo projects, developing a unique, telepathic rapport. ...

Album Review

Carol Fredette: No Sad Songs For Me

Read "No Sad Songs For Me" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
March 17, 2014

The fact that Carol Fredette's CD is going to be a rare treat is suggested by its very first track, the lesser-known Cole Porter gem, “I Am in Love." As arranged with ingenuity and class by bassist/producer David Finck. (who also wrote the wry title track), this jubilant samba makes one thing clear from the jump: that this high-level group swings like crazy, but in the cool and masterful way that doesn't require knocking over the furniture. There ...

Live Review

Jeff Hamilton at Phoenix Musicians Union

by Patricia Myers
March 16, 2014

Jeff Hamilton Trio with Armand Boatman and Jack Radavich Phoenix Musicians Union Phoenix, Arizona March 6, 2014 An Oscar Peterson Trio-like swingfest was delivered by Los Angeles-based drummer Jeff Hamilton in a reunion with longtime Phoenix pianist Armand Boatman, for a scholarship benefit concert presented by the Phoenix Musicians Union as part of its Centennial celebration. The trio, with Phoenix-area bassist Jack Radavich, displayed the big-ears attention required of unrehearsed gigs, resulting in an amazingly ...

Album Review

Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra: Habitat

by Dan Bilawsky
March 16, 2014

The blurry photo that adorns the cover of Habitat is completely at odds with what awaits inside the package: Some of the most incredibly focused and finely wrought large ensemble music to emerge in recent memory. Canadian saxophonist/composer Christine Jensen won plenty of fans with the her last jazz orchestra album--Treelines (Justin Time Records, 2011)--but this one puts her in an entirely different category. With Habitat, Jensen joins the ranks of the large ensemble elite.

Album Review

Colin Vallon Trio: Le Vent

by John Kelman
March 16, 2014

When Bill Evans emerged in the 1950s, he represented a paradigm shift for the jazz piano trio. No longer a lead instrument supported by a rhythm section, Evans' more egalitarian approach to music-making allowed delineated soloists to engage in a more fully conversational context, with any instrument capable of pushing the music in a new direction at any moment. Half a century later, Evans' influence can still be felt, but there's been further development, stripping away individual virtuosity and leaving ...

Film Review

The Allman Brothers Band: Live at Great Woods 1991

by Doug Collette
March 16, 2014

The Allman Brothers Band Live at Great Woods 1991 Legacy 2014 When The Allman Brothers Band regrouped in 1989, there were no long- term plans after the roadwork in support of the box set Dreams (Polydor, 1989). Accordingly, when the response to those concerts led to further work, including the signing to Sony/Epic Records, the support the band received, at least at first, was in keeping with the Brothers' growing (re)commitment to themselves and ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Dee Bell

by AAJ Staff
March 16, 2014

Meet Dee Bell: Dee Bell has three jazz albums that have all been at the top of the airplay charts. The most recent, Sagacious Grace (Laser Records) with Houston Person, was released in August 2011 and hit the JazzWeek charts at 31. Bell's debut album, Let There Be Love with Stan Getz on saxophone and Eddie Duran (a Benny Goodman Band graduate) on guitar, was released on the Concord Jazz label as an LP for Valentine's Day in 1983. ...

Album Review

Shawn Maxwell: Shawn Maxwell's Alliance

Read "Shawn Maxwell's Alliance" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
March 16, 2014

Woodwind player and composer Shawn Maxwell's Shawn Maxwell's Alliance on the Chicago Sessions label is a carefully orchestrated suite with a subtle yet distinct dramatic sense. Although the description in the liner notes makes mention of a group of friends experimenting with new styles and sounds the disc is not a blowing date nor it is meant to be one. The fantastical “Iynes Crayons" opens with a stately, almost baroque theatricality as French horn players Rachel Maxwell and ...