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

Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica Quartet: Where Here Meets There

Read "Where Here Meets There" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 20, 2013

The eternally clever, Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica Quartet led by vibraphonist, percussionist Brian O' Neil categorizes itself by travelling to a future moment where American music is as exotic as its past. Hence, a persuasive declaration as the band minces Eastern modalities with cool, jazz grooves and world music cadences. They also delve into the annals of American popular music by performing three Gershwin compositions and one comp by jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader amid several group-penned originals. There are ...

Live Review

Peter Bernstein, Larry Goldings, Bill Stewart at The Sugar Club, Dublin

by Ian Patterson
December 19, 2013

Peter Bernstein, Larry Goldings, Bill Stewart The Sugar Club Dublin Ireland December 11 2013 The healthy queue outside The Sugar Club--a mixture of oldies, professional musicians and music students from Dublin's Newpark Music Centre--was testament to the enduring appeal and influence of one of jazz's longest running trios. It had been a dozen years since guitarist Peter Bernstein, drummer Bill Stewart and organist Larry Goldings last played in Dublin so there was a ...

Album Review

Luca Aquino: aQustico

Read "aQustico" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
December 19, 2013

Based upon his recorded offerings to date, one might get the impression that Italian trumpeter Luca Aquino has legendary Italian explorers' roots in his musical DNA. While Columbus, Vespucci and others took sail over uncharted waters, Aquino (which translates as “little water") sets off yet again and delivers aural riches with aQustico. In this engaging and intimate effort, Aquino, backed by a superb group consisting of accordion with rhythm section, explores extended musical textures and sends up ...

Year in Review

Bruce Lindsay's Best Releases Of 2013

by Bruce Lindsay
December 19, 2013

As 2013 drew to a close the Jazz Police appeared to be resurgent, at least in the UK--busily condemning those foolish enough to make and/or enjoy popular music and entertainment rather than listen to the latest cutting-edge ensemble from somewhere or other. Thankfully, the musicians just got on with it. In at least ten cases, they produced recordings of outstanding wonderfulness and gave me the chance to hear them. This is my list of ten whose wonderfulness was particularly outstanding. ...

Album Review

The Remote Viewers: Crimeways

Read "Crimeways" reviewed by Alex Franquelli

by Alex Franquelli
December 19, 2013

There is an almost indiscernible, cynical element in The Remote Viewers' music. It is probably hidden between the folds of its noir aesthetics, where contemporary fables of cops and thugs, the fuzz and hoodlums, seem to flourish in the dark corners of complex rhythmic patterns and atonalism. Or it is maybe the juxtaposition between the nocturnal, austere strut of the conversations entertained by the saxophones and the rare but effective interludes in a major key. Whatever it is, it works. ...

Extended Analysis

Don Cherry: Live in Stockholm

by Florence Wetzel
December 19, 2013

Trumpeter and world-music pioneer Don Cherry had a very special relationship with Sweden, a place he called home for twenty years. And Sweden had a special relationship with Cherry: the country and its musicians recognized the master in their midst, and in 1972 the state-subsidized record company Caprice put out the double album Organic Music Society (which they reissued in 2012). Now with Live in Stockholm, Caprice has gone into its vaults and pulled out three stunning long-form songs from ...

Album Review

Oddjob: JAZZOO

by James Pearse
December 19, 2013

With five diversely themed full-length albums (all Grammy-nominated) under its collective belt, it was anyone's guess as to where Swedish jazz ensemble Oddjob would take its music next. Oddjob's last release Clint (ACT, 2010) saw the quartet rework, reimagine and 'jazzify' classic Western themes by Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, et al. JAZZOO (Headspin Recordings, 2013) also works on a fairly familiar theme--this time that of jazz for kids--but does it with such gusto and inventiveness that there's something ...

Year in Review

Eyal Hareuveni Best of 2013 List

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 19, 2013

There were so many great releases in 2013 that inspired me, provoked my conceptions about music and art, disturbed my peace of mind and mainly, enriched my life. This list--presented in no particular order and enhanced with video and Soundcloud clips--represents the tip of my listening iceberg. Kitchen Orchestra with Alexander von Schlippenbach Kitchen Orchestra with Alexander von Schlippenbach (CCAP) An exemplary collaboration between legendary German composer-pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach ...

Album Review

Davor Kajfeš: Dialogues With Scriabin

Read "Dialogues With Scriabin" reviewed by James Pearse

by James Pearse
December 19, 2013

You'd be forgiven for being unfamiliar with the work of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) or, indeed, Croatian jazz pianist Davor Kajfeš. Sadly neither one has been widely heard outside of their respective--or adopted--countries to date. We can celebrate, then, that the release of Dialogues With Scriabin (Headspin Recordings, 2013) brings the music of these two masters together for the delight of audiences further afield. Pianist, composer and teacher Kajfeš was born in the Croatian capital Zagreb in 1934. While ...

Album Review

Jane Ira Bloom: Sixteen Sunsets

Read "Sixteen Sunsets" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 19, 2013

Soprano saxophone virtuoso Jane Ira Bloom's intensely intimate and simultaneously cinematic Sixteen Sunsets is quite different from her preceding albums, Like Silver, Like Song (Artistshare, 2005), Mental Weather (Outline, 2008) and Wingwalker (Outline, 2010). Gone are the edgy flirtations with freer styles as well as the provocative, electrifying compositions. Instead the material is mostly standards and a few originals that are in the essence of those time honored songs, all interpreted with a lush lyricism laced with elegant spontaneous flourishes. ...