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

Tony Oxley: A Birthday Tribute--75 Years

Read "A Birthday Tribute--75 Years" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
October 23, 2013

As its title indicates, this album was released to mark the occasion of drummer Tony Oxley's seventy-fifth birthday (which occurred on June 15 2013.) Fittingly, it is released on Incus, the ground-breaking label that Oxley established in 1970 with Derek Bailey and Evan Parker, frequently cited as “the first independent musician-run record label in Britain" (just about true because of the inclusion of “independent"--which rules out The Beatles' Apple label--and of “in Britain," which rules out Debut set up by ...

Album Review

Becky Archibald: Midnight At Monteton

Read "Midnight At Monteton" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
October 23, 2013

Pianist and composer Becky Archibald's sixth release as a leader, Midnight at Monteton is a diverse collection of highly polished originals with catchy harmonic hooks. Recorded over a span of three years, Archibald is heard mostly with a variety of her regular collaborators creating a relaxed amicable mood that permeates the entire album. The tracks range from the intimate and nocturnesque to the Latin flavored to those that sway with a soulful swagger. Her shimmering piano together with ...

Extended Analysis

Kaze: Tornado

by Dave Wayne
October 23, 2013

With Tornado, pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura may get you shaking your head in wonderment. Firstly, the convergence of metaphors inherent in the album title, the name of the band (kaze means “wind" in Japanese), and the fact it features two trumpeters is enough to bring a smile to anyone's face. More heartening is the rapidity with which Kaze, a quartet with trumpeter Christian Pruvost and percussionist Peter Orins, has emerged from the couple's myriad side projects into ...

Album Review

TOTEM>: Voices of Grain

Read "Voices of Grain" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 23, 2013

It took five years for the New York-based trio TOTEM> to release its sophomore album (after Solar Forge ESP, 2008) but the waiting paid off. This leaderless trio--comprised of guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil, double bassist Tom Blancarte and drummer Andrew Drury--is more than the sum of its parts and stronger than ever. The trio alternates between experimental sonic exploration, and intense fiery free improvisations. On one hand, the sounds themselves, raw and brutal as they come, and ...

Multiple Reviews

Leigh Carriage: Get Out Of Town/Mandarin Skyline

by Ian Patterson
October 22, 2013

After just one studio album in the previous eight years--Until (Self Produced, 2004)--Australian singer/composer Leigh Carriage has released not one but two albums in less than a year, showcasing different sides of her musical personality--the interpreter of standards/torch songs, and the songwriter. Lismore, NSW-based Carriage is Head of Vocal Studies at Southern Cross University, and there's plenty for vocal students to ponder across these two soulful recordings. Leigh Carriage Get Out Of Town Self Produced ...

Album Review

3 Cohens: Tightrope

Read "Tightrope" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 22, 2013

It shouldn't come as a shock that the 3 Cohens stress the idea of interconnectedness in their music; soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen, multi-reedist Anat Cohen and trumpeter Avishai Cohen are, after all, blood. With albums like One (Anzic, 2004), Braid (Anzic, 2007) and Family (Anzic, 2011), these three horn-playing siblings have made it clear that they're forever linked to one another in life and music, but they don't always address these bonds in the same fashion. Braid, for example, was ...

Extended Analysis

Asaf Sirkis Trio: Shepherd's Stories

by John Kelman
October 22, 2013

It's getting to the point where it's almost impossible to pigeonhole an artist into any one category---and that can't be anything but a good thing. Sure, some people like to think of the artists they love as jazz, rock or classical musicians, but the truth is that, more and more, musicians simply want to be thought of as people who play music. Still, there's an intrinsic need to categorize music, if for no other reason than to help provide some ...

Album Review

DePaul University Jazz Ensemble: Salutes Woody Herman

Read "Salutes Woody Herman" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
October 22, 2013

Anecdotes of all kinds about bandleader Woody Herman-- whose centennial is celebrated this year--circulate among musicians and fans to this day. From them, we deduce that “The Chopper" had a straight-razor tongue, wry humor, and less-than-zero patience for disingenuous fan-fawning over himself or his band's celebrity. Even as road-weary big bands faded from the scene and Herman's unfortunate financial straits overwhelmed him, with Woody it was always about the music. All ways. With Salutes Woody Herman, The DePaul ...

Extended Analysis

Philip Dizack: Single Soul

by Andrew Luhn
October 22, 2013

Young trumpeter Philip Dizack is a new name on the Criss Cross record label but not a new name for those who closely follow the New York jazz scene. Since his arrival in New York, Dizack has been making waves and winning awards with his beautiful tone and dark intensity, both of which were on full display on his last album, End of an Era (Truth Revolution Records, 2012). For his Criss Cross debut, Dizack continues his maturation as a ...

Album Review

Arun Ghosh: A South Asian Suite

Read "A South Asian Suite" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
October 22, 2013

One second? No. Five seconds? Getting there. Ten? Almost. Fourteen seconds. That's how long it takes. Fourteen seconds into “The Gypsies Of Rajasthan," and the first of A South Asian Suite's irresistibly danceable grooves jumps out of the speakers. The idea that jazz is a music for dancing may sometimes seem a rather alien notion these days, but British-Asian musician Arun Ghosh--clarinetist, composer and bandleader--hasn't lost sight of this crucial characteristic. Of course, Ghosh isn't just drawing on ...