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.

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Lili Añel: Finding Bliss by Climbing the Wall

by Belinda Ware
January 20, 2014

In defining the concept of good music, it goes without saying that it is subjective to the listener's taste both in styles and personal preferences. When the weekend arrives, it is common to see people heading out to catch a live music show in New York, Philadelphia, and other cities across America that are popular artist havens. Some of the most interesting original music can be heard while walking on the boulevard passing by a small café or ...

Album Review

Myles Weeks: Sense Of Self

Read "Sense Of Self" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 20, 2014

William Shakespeare, from Stratford, identified seven ages of Man, from puking to mere oblivion. Clever chap, although his songwriting was a bit rubbish. Bassist Myles Weeks, from Baton Rouge, has his own ideas about those seven ages. He brings them to life on his marvellous debut album, Sense Of Self. Weeks, now resident in New Orleans, calls Sense Of Self “a birth through death themed suite of music." Weeks is a bassist with real energy, a wide emotional ...

Album Review

Joe Sullivan Big Band: Northern Ontario Suite

Read "Northern Ontario Suite" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 20, 2014

The latest recording by Canadian trumpeter Joe Sullivan's big band is built around his picturesque six-movement Northern Ontario Suite, whose purpose is to portray musically the sights, sounds and ambience of Sullivan's frosty corner of the world including the often spectacular aurora borealis ("northern lights"). The suite is preceded by a pair of Sullivan's engaging compositions ("Plus ca Change," “Mambo #6") and followed by baritone saxophonist Jean Frechette's “Later Joe." While it is difficult for someone who ...

Album Review

Greg Sinibaldi / Jesse Canterbury: Ascendant

Read "Ascendant" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 20, 2014

Two men, two instruments and the instant multiplication of sound is the order of the day when Greg Sinibaldi and Jesse Canterbury record inside a water cistern in Port Townsend, Washington. The two-million gallon cylindrical concrete tank delivers a 45-second reverberation that requires a purposeful application of notes by imperturbable musicians. Any other approach, and the sound will inundate and overwhelm the affair. The acoustics of the cistern dictate that the direction of the music originates in the ambient realm. ...

Album Review

Pixel: We Are Small Pixels

Read "We Are Small Pixels" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 20, 2014

Hailing from Norway, Pixel's debut release Reminder (Cuneiform, 2012) was a shot of adrenaline for many aficionados and critics with its sprightly and irrefutably seamless alliance between Indie Rock and progressive jazz. Led by bassist Ellen Andrea Wang and her alluring pop-like vocal delivery, there are few operating entities that sport a signature sound, merging technically challenging jazz compositions with radio-friendly vocal choruses and gushing with highly melodic content. On We Are All Small Pixels, the band hits its stride ...

Multiple Reviews

New Compositions From Huddersfield On Another Timbre

by John Eyles
January 19, 2014

Soon after Another Timbre was inaugurated in autumn 2007, its proprietor Simon Reynell said, “My interest in contemporary classical music has continued alongside my passion for improv, so I was very clear that I wanted Another Timbre to cover both areas. However I soon discovered that most classical music is prohibitively expensive to bring to disc, unless you have a wealthy patron or commercial backer. So whereas I'd really like a third of the releases to be classical, the reality ...

Album Review

M13: 1 Human, Too Human

Read "1 Human, Too Human" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 19, 2014

M13 is a well-groomed thirteen-piece contemporary ensemble from Chicago whose uncredited leader (and composer / arranger) is saxophonist Aaron McEvers, an Eastman School grad who moved westward from his native Detroit. 1 Human, Too Human is the group's first recording after a decade of “rehearsals" at Quencher's nightclub in the Windy City and elsewhere. As is true of a number of younger big-band composers, McEvers likes to infuse his writing with special effects, but once one gets past them the ...

Album Review

Fabric Trio: Murmurs

by John Sharpe
January 19, 2014

While it would be an exaggeration to suggest that there was a house style for the adventurous Lithuanian No Business imprint, the European saxophone trio nonetheless forms a significant strand in its output. Recent winning entries in the format have included sets from the Anglo Polish Riverloam Trio, Thomas Borgmann's excellent US-German unit, and Evan Parker's longstanding trio. To these illustrious sessions must now be added the Fabric Trio featuring German reedman Frank Paul Schubert alongside Greek drummer Yorgos Dimitriadis ...

Album Review

Various Artists: Peru Maravillloso

Read "Peru Maravillloso" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 19, 2014

Peru Maravilloso: Vintage Latin, Tropical and Cumbia demonstrates what's best about the digital media revolution: It resurrects 15 singles released by homegrown Peruvian labels across the 1960s and '70s, two of the most vibrant musical decades in the history of Peru (and just about everywhere else). Compiled by label managers Duncan Ballantyne, Andres Tapia and Martin Morales, it presents the lively South American styles of cumbia and guaracha and more electric sounds of chicha with strains of music from the ...

Extended Analysis

Trombone Shorty: Say That to Say This

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 19, 2014

For his third Verve album, Troy Andrews, a/k/a Trombone Shorty, and his band Orleans Avenue go back to school--more precisely, back to the slippery yet organic “old school" sound of R&B, soul and funk, thanks to contributions from composer, instrumentalist and co-producer Raphael Saadiq, formerly of the soul vocal group Tony!Toni!Toné! How does Shorty describe his new album? “Really funky, like James Brown mixed with The Meters and Neville Brothers, with what I do on top; and we have a ...