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.

Extended Analysis

Op Der Schmelz Live

by Dave Wayne
September 15, 2013

This album is a winner from the git-go. Brooklyn-based pianist Roberta Piket summons the spirits with a gentle, but emotionally direct solo piano rumination. Harmonically rich, with a probing depth that brings Paul Bley and Steve Kuhn to mind, Piket's invocation is just the first in series of golden moments on Op der Schmelz Live. A co-operative quartet comprised of Piket, veteran German drummer Klaus Kugel, the energetic Ukranian bassist Mark Tokar, and the Luxembourg-based French saxophonist Roby Glod, their ...

Live Review

Chicago Jazz Festival 2013

by Mark Corroto
September 14, 2013

Chicago Jazz FestivalChicago, ILAugust 29-September 1, 2013Chicago is...You get the feeling it is a jazz city when, waiting in line at the airport, you overhear a conversation about Anthony Braxton's first meeting with Derek Bailey. Then, your suspicions are confirmed in the taxi, on the drive to the 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival when the cabbie engages you in a discussion of the major works of Eddie Harris and Gene Ammons. From Louis Armstrong's travels up ...

Album Review

Joey Baron: Just Listen

Read "Just Listen" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 14, 2013

Drummer Joey Baron and guitarist Bill Frisell have collaborated on and off for three decades, and both artists are firmly ensconced within the modern era's jazz transformation, spanning avant-garde, modern mainstream jazz, jazz-rock and so on. Frisell is a guitar hero, while Baron's far-reaching influence needs no elaboration here. This album denotes the output from a 2008 drum summit in Bonn, Germany. But as producer Stephan Andrae cites in the album notes, the program was based on “three abstract pillars ...

Album Review

Ralph Alessi: Baida

by John Kelman
September 14, 2013

With 2013 heading into fall, it's a good time to take stock of a label that has all too often been (falsely) accused of minimizing the country where jazz began. Excluding reissues, this year's ECM regular series releases represent about thirty percent American leadership; given jazz's increasingly global nature, hardly a bad number--and better still, when considering ECM's qualitative consistency. From Chris Potter's impressive label debut as a leader, The Sirens, to Craig Taborn's boundary-stretching Chants, and Steve Swallow's career-defining ...

Live Review

Leonard Cohen at Arena Pula

by Nenad Georgievski
September 14, 2013

Leonard CohenArena PulaPula, CroatiaAugust 2, 2013On a sweltering day, with temperatures rising high above in the red, Canadian singer Leonard Cohen performed with a skill, passion and hunger that ultimately rendered all those restrictive perceptions of age, time or genre utterly redundant. Performing on St. Elijah's day at a Roman amphitheater in Pula--a renowned location for various cultural happenings that include film festivals and A-list concerts--the walls of this two-millennia-old building provided a beautiful backdrop ...

Album Review

Matt Savage: A Bigger Celebration

Read "A Bigger Celebration" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 14, 2013

Pianist / composer Matt Savage's career has been on an upward curve since he recorded his first album--before his tenth birthday! Now twenty-one and a recent graduate of Boston's Berklee School of Music, Savage and his trio have released their tenth album, A Bigger Celebration, this one employing the services of some heavy-swinging guest artists including the celebrated tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi. A child prodigy? Without a doubt. A remarkably talented jazz musician? Ditto. Diagnosed at age ...

Live Review

Cheap Trick at NYCB Theatre at Westbury

by Mike Perciaccante
September 14, 2013

Cheap Trick NYCB Theatre at Westbury Westbury, NY August 24, 2013Since its debut, Cheap Trick has been blending Beatlesque pop with elements of arena/classic rock, hard rock, punk, modern rock and even a touch of blues. Its sound is instantly recognizable, its lyrics are definitely sly, wry and tongue-in-cheek. Overall, the band's musical onslaught of crunchy pop chords and powerful yet melodic vocals is sure to make even casual fans smile. This was never more ...

Album Review

Jamie Baum: In This Life

Read "In This Life" reviewed by Franz A. Matzner

by Franz A. Matzner
September 14, 2013

From its first penetrating flute notes the sonic textures of South Asia frame Jamie Baum's ambitious collection In This Life, which successfully spotlights her compositional acuity, instrumental prowess, and talents as a bandleader.As the title track “Nusrat" implies, the album is inspired in no small measure by internationally influential performer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, whose efforts brought the Sufi qawwali musical tradition to popular attention both through his performances and contributions to Hollywood movie scores. As well, Baum's ...

Album Review

Carla Bley / Andy Sheppard / Steve Swallow: Trios

by John Kelman
September 13, 2013

In a career more defined by memorable compositions than instrumental acumen, it's easy to forget that Carla Bley may not be the most virtuosic pianist on the planet, but she's a far more than capable one, as evidenced on duo recordings like Are We There Yet? (Watt, 1999), with life partner/bassist Steve Swallow, and Songs With Legs (WATT, 1995), a trio date with longtime collaborator, saxophonist Andy Sheppard--also heard in Bley's larger ensemble of Appearing Nightly (Watt/ECM, 2008) and quartet ...

Bailey's Bundles

Heleen van den Hombergh: Going Dutch

by C. Michael Bailey
September 13, 2013

Dutch vocalist Heleen van den Hombergh has released bookend recordings, Rush In The Woods (2004) and Way Back Home (2011). In between, life intervened, as it often will, coloring the second release considerably different from the first. Hombergh's singing and composition remain organic and compelling over the whole course, offering a glimpse at an artist at two very different places. Heleen van den Hombergh Rush In The Woods Soul On Track ...