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.

Extended Analysis

Kit Downes: Light From Old Stars

by Phil Barnes
February 12, 2014

Arch collaborator Kit Downes has been near ubiquitous in UK jazz terms over the last few years. His trio collection Golden was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize (the nearest thing to a UK Grammys) in 2010 and considerably raised his public profile. Yet in interview Downes has commented upon the double edged sword that this exposure brought--happy with the increased bookings and CD sales, but less fond of the exposure to criticism from a less empathetic mainstream audience. Such ...

Album Review

Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz: Genevieve & Ferdinand - Live

Read "Genevieve & Ferdinand - Live" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 12, 2014

All About Jazz colleague Dan Bilawsky indulges no hyperbole when he describes vocalist Kate McGarry or Genevieve and Ferdinand: Live: “There is no greater beacon of sincerity, honesty and emotional purity than Kate McGarry...Genevieve & Ferdinand doesn't contain bold proclamations or daring musical acts, but it's filled with some of the most genuine music that anybody is likely to ever hear." High praise indeed, but Kate McGarry, along with Gretchen Parlato, Sara Gazarek, Becca Stevens, Rebecca Martin and Tierney Sutton ...

Album Review

Paulinho Garcia: Beautiful Love

Read "Beautiful Love" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 12, 2014

Brazilian son Paulinho Garcia may not be an immediately recognizable figure in the jazz world today and that is largely by design as he eschews the limelight in favor of being behind the scenes producing concerts, working with other artists and serving as a clinician. A fine vocalist and guitarist, Garcia is no novice with several albums to his credit but Beautiful Love, is a special solo album and vehicle defining a humbling artist as he emerges from the shadows ...

Album Review

2° ‘etage: Grey Matter

Read "Grey Matter" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 12, 2014

The album liners disclose that 2° 'etage improvises with the panache of storytellers, painters and poets. Starkly expressive, the program is sculpted with a mindset that parlays the old adage, “let the chips fall where they may," largely framed on airy dialogues, minimalism and unorthodox soundscapes. They work from a platform, consisting of fractured passages and take their time unraveling themes other than spots where eminent drummer Gerry Hemingway interjects rumbling fills into a broad plane of free-flowing exchanges.

Extended Analysis

Danilo Perez: Panama 500

by Victor L. Schermer
February 11, 2014

Danilo Perez is one of our finest contemporary jazz pianists and educators. Most recently, he has recorded and toured extensively with the ground-breaking Wayne Shorter Quartet. Residing in the Boston area, Perez maintains close ties with his native Panama and has initiated jazz education and festival programs there. In this album, devoted to his cultural origins, he becomes the creator of a multi-dimensional musical suite in celebration of the 500th anniversary of Spanish explorer Balboa crossing the Isthmus of Panama. ...

Album Review

Cava Menzies/Nick Phillips: Moment to Moment

Read "Moment to Moment" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 11, 2014

Hushed lyricism, noir-ish episodes and smoky scenarios are brought to mind with Moment To Moment. This gentle quartet outing is a product of the budding musical relationship between trumpeter Nick Phillips, a music business veteran who still finds time for his horn, and Cava Menzies, a music educator who lives a double life as a performing pianist. While both artists are essentially moonlighting as musicians, the music they make never hints at that fact. Together, they turn ...

Album Review

Catherine Russell: Bring It Back

Read "Bring It Back" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 11, 2014

New York City vocalist Catherine Russell is the brilliant eutection of two bright tones. Her father, the late Luis Russell, collaborated with Louis Armstrong as his bandleader and arranger. Russell's mother was the inestimable Carline Ray who concluded her seven decade career with her debut as a leader Vocal Sides (Self Produced, 2013) before passing away at aged 88 July 27, 2013). Russell was intimately involved in the project with her mother. These spirits mixed to create the formidable talent ...

Album Review

Invisible Astro Healing Rhythm Quartet: Invisible Astro Healing Rhythm Quartet

Read "Invisible Astro Healing Rhythm Quartet" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 11, 2014

While the tagline 'Miles Smiles' is more befitting Miles Davis' second great quintet, it is an apt reference to this recording by the Invisible Astro Healing Rhythm Quartet (IAHRQ), who draw not so much from the Columbia recordings by Miles Davis E.S.P> (1965), Sorcerer (1967), or Nefertiti (1968) but from the great electricity of Live-Evil (1971) and Get Up With It (1974). Like Miles, the IAHRQ merge the intersecting lines of jazz, funk, and rock on this live 2012 date. ...

Extended Analysis

Norma Winstone: Dance Without Answer

by John Kelman
February 11, 2014

If there's a single accomplishment that can be attributed to ECM Records--though there are, of course, many in its 45-year history--it's that it welcomes unusual instrumentation with open arms, affording such collaborations the opportunity to grow, to evolve, and build a new language. From the pan-cultural CODONA Trilogy (2009), which collected the three genre-defying recordings made in the late '70s/early '80s by Collin Walcott, Don Cherry and Nana Vasconcelos, to Jon Balke's Siwan (2009), which collected, amongst others, Fourth World ...

Album Review

Michele Ramo: A Cigar & A Scotch

Read "A Cigar & A Scotch" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 11, 2014

Hailing from the Mediterranean fishing town of Mazara, Italy, guitarist/violinist and composer Michele Pugielese-Ramo has been fishing the jazz waters of New York and Detroit for the last twenty-six years. Having recorded countless albums as leader during that time, his most recent endeavor, A Cigar & A Scotch, captures a gifted musician and his World Jazz Orchestra in a live setting that must have been exciting to experience in person. Whether performing on the smaller higher-pitched Requinto guitar, the 8-string ...