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

Aaron Germain: Chance

by Ian Patterson
November 13, 2013

San Francisco based bassist/composer Aaron Germain's follow-up to his debut Before You Go (Self Produced, 2010) harnesses some of the Bay Area's finest musicians on another set of the leader's original compositions. The personnel, who includes French/Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le, is completely different to Germain's eclectic debut and it sounds like it too. Whereas Before You Go reflected Germain's command of bop, funk, blues and Latin, Chance is more stylistically homogenous. To be sure, Germain's diverse musical threads are present, ...

Live Review

ACS: Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding at Mesa Arts Center

by Patricia Myers
November 13, 2013

ACS: Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding Mesa Arts Center Mesa, AZ October 22, 2013 The performance by ACS, the trio of pianist Geri Allen, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and bassist Esperanza Spalding, was a bold collaboration that showcased each individual talent and their intense synergy. The repertoire included a salute to Wayne Shorter, via his charts, that the trio has been performing around the nation and overseas in observance of ...

Extended Analysis

Bob DeVos: Shadow Box

by David A. Orthmann
November 13, 2013

On the face of it, Shadow Box, Bob DeVos' fifth outing as a leader, is a sixty minute case study of the evolution of the organ combo, one of the music's most popular and enduring formats. DeVos tips his hat to legendary individuals (some of whom he played with in the early stages of his career) like Wild Bill Davis, Jimmy Smith, Trudy Pitts, Charles Earland, Richard Groove" Holmes, Wes Montgomery with Melvin Rhyne, Jimmy McGriff, and Larry Young. Though ...

Album Review

Samo Salamon: Stretching Out

Read "Stretching Out" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
November 13, 2013

Slovenian master guitarist and composer Samo Šalamon is one of those rare musicians whose versatility is not aimless and his unique, instantly recognizable, style is far from predictable. Both of these characteristics are amply demonstrated on his fourteenth release, the double disc set Stretching Out comprising of two live sessions captured in 2008, and 2012. On the earlier date, Šalamon leads an all American quartet on three of his long and fiery originals that crackle with spontaneity and ...

Extended Analysis

Kitchen Orchestra with Alexander von Schlippenbach

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 13, 2013

The Norwegian, Stavanger-based Kitchen Orchestra may be one of Europe's best kept secrets. A collective of local musicians who come from classical, jazz, free improvisation and electronics. The orchestra was founded in 2005 and since then collaborated with guest conductors such as Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker and former Stavanger resident, bassist Per Zanussi, dance troupes and visual artists such as the Japanese Tetsuya Nagato--who designed the cover of this album--and Hiraku Suzuki. The orchestra's debut album, ...

Album Review

Hristo Vitchev and Liubomir Krastev: Rhodopa

Read "Rhodopa" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
November 13, 2013

As artists continue to explore new musical vistas, some, Ulysses-like will return home to explore their ethno-musical roots and look to gather new wine from older grapes. Such is the example of this unique and very exquisite recording. With Rhodopa, Bay Area guitarist/composer Hristo Vitchev and clarinetist Liubomir Krastev meld musical minds, dive exuberantly into an array of earthy Bulgarian folk material and come up with four hands of beauty. The result is a panoply of aural color, ...

Album Review

Eldbjorg Raknes: OPEN

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 13, 2013

Norwegian vocal artist Eldbjørg Raknes has created a sonic universe of her own. On every new release of her's, the solo album OPEN is already her 25th, she explores new and deeper sounds, nuances and colors. On the new album she focuses on the relation of the music and its raw, primal sounds and voices to the rooms, spaces and surroundings, indoors and outdoors, and how music is framed in relation to the audiences. Raknes is ...

Live Review

Barcelona Voll-Damm Jazz Festival 2013

by Bruce Lindsay
November 12, 2013

Barcelona Voll-Damm Jazz Festival Various Venues Barcelona October 29-November 3, 2013 A short quote, repeated to me more than once over the course of a few days in Barcelona, proved to be at the heart and soul of the 45th Barcelona Voll-Damm Internacional Jazz Festival. It goes something like this--"On the day that I die, shed no tears. Play my music, eat chocolate, drink rum and dance." So declared Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés, who died ...

Album Review

Joachim Kuhn: Voodoo Sense

Read "Voodoo Sense" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
November 12, 2013

The fourth outing from German pianist Joachim Kühn, Moroccan vocalist and guembri (bass lute) player Majid Bekkas, and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez continues the trio's exploration into free-jazz and North African roots that began with Kalimba ( ACT Music, 2007). The percussion and rhythms of the Magreb were more prominent on Out of the Desert (ACT Music, 2009) which featured a cast of Berber musicians, while Chalaba (ACT Music, 2011) returned to the stripped down trio format. Here, Kühn again ...

Album Review

Phill Fest: Projeto B.F.C.

Read "Projeto B.F.C." reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 12, 2013

Living in the South Florida area for over a decade now, guitarist Phill Fest rolls out a recording of Brazilian-style modern jazz dedicated to the strong ties that make Florida and Brazil so special to the development of his personal and professional musical career. Projeto B.F.C. (Project Brazil-Florida Connection) celebrates the proud Fest family tradition in the world of Brazilian music where father Manfredo Fest forged his connection to the bossa nova and samba jazz as keyboardist to the Bossa ...