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

Whirlpool: This World and One More

Read "This World and One More" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 10, 2013

The collaborative Chicagoan trio Whirlpool aims to eliminate the boundaries between composition and improvisation. Its musicians--alto saxophonist Caroline Davis, also a vocalist who performs world music, hip-hop and folk-Americana; drummer Charles Rumback, a member of Colorist and collaborator of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and guitarist Jeff Swanson- -are versatile musicians, leaders of their own outfits. The nine pieces on the trio's debut recording feature clear and constant emphasis on form and a strong melodic core as the ...

Album Review

Michael Vlatkovich Quartet: You're Too Dimensional

Read "You're Too Dimensional" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 10, 2013

Longtime and prominent affiliate of California's progressive jazz sector, trombonist Michael Vlatkovich has nurtured strong relationships with multi-reedman Vinny Golia, tenor saxophonist Rich Halley and others of note. Yet Vlatkovich has long been considered as one of the finest improvising trombonist's within modern jazz and the avant-garde jazz spectrums. He's comfortable in a variety of settings, while recently cutting some vibrant trio outings for his independent label, Thank You Records. With this outing he reemerges with a quartet formation and ...

Book Review

Don Sleet

by Hrayr Attarian
December 10, 2013

Don Sleet Nicolas Rabel Ideo-Libris 2013 The electronic book, or the ebook, is one of the most significant innovations in publishing of the past three decades. It is versatile, saving cost and space. The French online publisher, Ideo-Libris has taken this concept one step further. The brainchild of children's author Armelle Modéré, bookshop owner and jazz enthusiast Nicolas Rabel and teacher Didier Dufresne, Ideo-Libris has released three works, one by each of the founders. These ...

Album Review

Stan Tracey: The Flying Pig

Read "The Flying Pig" reviewed by Duncan Heining

by Duncan Heining
December 9, 2013

Stan Tracey is one of the most highly regarded British jazz musicians of any era. Doesn't matter who you speak to--fans, critics or fellow musicians such as Guy Barker, John Surman, Evan Parker or Keith Tippett--Tracey's story is, in many ways, the history of post-war British jazz. This new CD, Flying Pig, is more than a reminder of his abilities. Like its predecessor, A Child's Christmas from 2011, it ranks alongside the pianist's best work. Tracey will be ...

Album Review

Robert Glasper Experiment: Black Radio 2

Read "Black Radio 2" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
December 9, 2013

The conditions have to be just right for lightning to strike twice in the same location which holds true for studio recordings where the variables of performers, music, and other factors can affect the outcome. While Robert Glasper's 2012 critically acclaimed Black Radio (Blue Note) deftly combined jazz, hip hop, and “Neo Soul" to win Best R&B Album at the 55th Grammy Awards, its follow up, Black Radio 2, is worthy but won't garner the attention of its predecessor. With ...

Live Review

Vijay Iyer Solo at San Francisco Performances

by Harry S. Pariser
December 9, 2013

Vijay Iyer San Francisco Performances San Francisco, CA November 16, 2013 Polymath, pianist, arranger, composer, Grammy nominee, creative program director, a doctorate holder, the recipient of a 2013 MacArthur “genius" fellowship, the recipient of a groundbreaking “quintuple crown" in the 2012 Down Beat International Critics Poll, as well as a “quadruple crown" in the JazzTimes extended critics poll. Soon to be a Harvard Professor. Declared Pianist of the Year for both 2012 and 2013 by ...

Album Review

Angelica Sanchez/ Wadada Leo Smith: Twine Forest

Read "Twine Forest" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 9, 2013

As the saying goes, “It takes two to tango." It certainly does, and it also takes two to make beautiful music together. Pianist Angelica Sanchez and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith produce abundant beauty from Sanchez' compositions on Twine Forest. Smith's recordings have ranged from large ensemble work-- Silver Orchestra, Organic, and his electric-Miles Davis tribute band with Henry Kaiser Yo Miles!--to intimate duos with Louis Moholo-Moholo Ancestors (TUM, 2013), Jack DeJohnette America (Tzadik, 2009), Anthony Braxton Organic ...

Live Review

Jason Moran, Randy Weston and Billy Harper at SFJazz

by Harry S. Pariser
December 9, 2013

Jason Moran, Randy Weston and Billy Harper SFJazz San Francisco, CA November 24, 2013 Three fine musicians came together on stage in a new jazz facility in San Francisco. First up was a rising star in the jazz world, an acclaimed pianist who frequently incorporates samples of taped music and text in his onstage performance. The second portion of the evening saw the reunion of two longtime off-and-on collaborators. The venue was SFJazz. The musicians: ...

Album Review

Orquesta Libre + Suga Dairo + RONxII: Plays Duke

Read "Plays Duke" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 9, 2013

Japanese drummer Yashuhiro Yoshigali's Orquesta Libre programs reflected the master musicians eclectic tastes and versatile capabilities--any thing from nuevo-tango, psychedelic hits from the sixties to Burt Bacharach and jazz standards, all performed in playful arrangements. So, dedicating a whole program to some of the most recognizable standards of Duke Ellington, few were popular dance songs, came as no surprise. The Orquesta Libre performed these standards regularly in the last years before recording them. The 10-piece orchestra ...

Profile

Being Grateful: Defining the Jazz Years Part One - 1973

by Jacob Hobson
December 9, 2013

Jazz, like the Grateful Dead, has never been particularly easy to define. It seems jazz, in its most simply defined meaning, is improvised music. The Grateful Dead have been called a thousand different things since its official formation in 1965, but has rarely been called a jazz band. There have always been and will always be heated debates about which years were the best, which tone of Jerry Garcia's was the best, which keyboardist was the best. I've heard it ...