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.

Live Review

Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Vogue Theater

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
January 1, 2014

Tedeschi Trucks Band Vogue Theater Vancouver, BC November 8, 2013 Jazz has always taken from the pop music of its day and culturalized it, intellectualized it, added some soul or swing and for those who are capable, added the personalized artistic X factor that is unique to that artist's DNA. Not that simple by any means, of course. Today, the younger rock generation often wishes they were around when the Rolling ...

Live Review

John Calloway at the Red Poppy Art House

by Ken Vermes
December 31, 2013

John Calloway Red Poppy Art House San Francisco, CA December 14, 2013 The holidays can be tough on jazz and world music fans in the San Francisco Bay Area. It seems the clubs and restaurants are all looking to please the crowds that go out rarely, but suddenly appear during this time. That's why the appearance of longtime Bay area flautist John Calloway at the Red Poppy Art House was a special holiday ...

Album Review

Jim Clayton: Songs My Daughter Knows

Read "Songs My Daughter Knows" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 31, 2013

Pianist Jim Clayton must have one hip daughter; or perhaps it's the other way around. Regardless, both parties clearly inspire one another through music. On the simply-and-directly titled Songs My Daughter Knows, Clayton explores the musical ins-and-outs of the first three years spent with his cherished child--Eileen Agnes “Lenny" Clayton. The album opens on the fairly obscure, Sesame Street-connected “Grouch Anthem." After hearing this performance, it's hard to understand why the song isn't a favorite among the ...

Extended Analysis

Paul Motian: Jack of Clubs

by Dan McClenaghan
December 31, 2013

As a drummer, Paul Motian (1931-2011) came to an early fame from his association with Bill Evans. It was the pianist's 1961 Riverside Records trio albums Waltz for Debby and Sunday at the Village Vanguard that did the trick, shifting the way of the piano trio into the direction of democracy and intricate interplay, also launching Motian's career as a much coveted sideman, with pianists Paul Bley and Keith Jarrett, saxophonist Charles Lloyd and bassist Charlie Haden--a list that just ...

Album Review

Tiger Hatchery: Sun Worship

Read "Sun Worship" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 31, 2013

The Chicagoan power-jazz trio Tiger Hatchery debut mini- album is released on ESP-Disk, the label that was the most influential free jazz label in the mid-sixties. So it is no coincidence that Tiger Hatchery are influenced by Albert Ayler's seminal album Spiritual Unity, the first album that ESP-Disk released, as well as other high-octane trios like the recent ones of Peter Brötzmann--Full Blast and Trio Roma--or the Scandinavian trio The Thing, adding a noisy, rock edge to their sonic mayhem. ...

Album Review

Kandinsky Trio: On Light Wings

Read "On Light Wings" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 31, 2013

Twenty-five years running, the Kandinsky Trio bridges many gaps and overlays numerous musical perimeters via a thoroughly hip stance. Here, the trio records two suite-like compositions by John D'Earth who is the University of Virginia's Director of Jazz Studies, and a contributor to 50 recordings, including stints with Buddy Rich, Tito Puente and the Kronos Quartet. They also perform one extended piece by fabled composer and New England Conservatory luminary, Gunther Schuller. Of particular note is the inclusion of jazz ...

Year in Review

R.J. DeLuke's Best Releases of 2013

by R.J. DeLuke
December 31, 2013

Always a tricky thing is the selection of “best of" lists for the year. I don't get to hear everything that comes out, so a lot of fine music is missed. Also, the selection itself is subject to whims. An album may hit you right from the get-go. Another might take time to grow on you, and maybe it never gets that time. Then there are the many good albums that fall by the wayside in the selection ...

Year in Review

Robert Bush’s Best Releases of 2013

by Robert Bush
December 31, 2013

2013 proved to be another banner year for recorded jazz--so much wonderful music--no one could argue that this is a dying art form. These ten recordings stood out in particular. Mark Dresser Quintet Nourishments (Clean Feed) Keith Jarrett Somewhere (ECM) Wadada Leo Smith Occupy The World (TUM) Nate Wooley Sit In The Throne Of Friendship (clean feed)

Album Review

Susanna and Ensemble neoN: The Forester

Read "The Forester" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
December 30, 2013

It's strange how a single event can change--or, at least, appear to change--an artist's direction, transporting it to a place previously seeming unreachable or, at the very least, unexpected. Prior to the surprise of 2012's sublime If Grief Could Wait (ECM), Norwegian singer Susanna Karolina Wallumrød was largely splitting her time. On one hand, there were solo recordings like 2009's Flower of Evil and 2007's Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos (both Rune Grammofon) that, running the gamut from inventive covers of ...

Profile

In Memoriam: Dr. Yusef Abdul Lateef

by John Wesley Reed Jr.
December 30, 2013

Yusef Lateef defined music far from Western concepts while presenting cross-cultural fusions. His life was committed as a premier jazz saxophonist, flutist, and many woodwinds entering crossing musical boundaries. This journey ended on Monday, December 23, 2013 at his home in Shutesbury, Amherst, Massachusetts. Dr. Lateef was 93 years old. Dr. Lateef's distinctive sound came from a tenor saxophone, mystified with a big tone with blues indications. His style separated similar saxophonists during the 1940s. Playing in the ...