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

Billy Bang: Da Bang!

by John Sharpe
August 27, 2013

Even were one not viewing Da Bang! through the lens of this being violinist Billy Bang's last album, recorded just two short months before he succumbed to cancer in April 2011, there is still a detectable elegiac air which pervades even the brightest tracks. That's not the fault of the cast, although trombonist Dick Griffin comes across as a somewhat downbeat soloist, nor the material though it includes a selection of old warhorses. Rather it is down to the unvarnished ...

Extended Analysis

The New Gary Burton Quartet: Guided Tour

by John Kelman
August 27, 2013

For some, retirement means winding down and enjoying what life has to offer, after a lifetime spent with the daily grind of making a living. With most musicians, however, while making a living has been a not insignificant challenge, making music can hardly be called a daily grind; it's work, to be sure, but it's also play. Still, for those who have-- either by choice, necessity or both--engaged in a career that's a mix of education, recording and gigging, retirement ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Gen Himmel

Read "Gen Himmel" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 27, 2013

Satoko Fujii's notoriety is based on her originality, energy, and an unmatchable sense of fearlessness and adventure in the creation of music. As a leader of numerous ensembles--duos, trios, quartets, and big bands--she is a gregarious and generous spirit. Her music ebbs and flows, a moment of captivating serenity followed by a burst of a clamorous, sometimes riotous action. A gentile and pretty interlude followed by a flailing riot, with each band member giving as good as he or she ...

Extended Analysis

Nenad Vasilic: Seven

by Nenad Georgievski
August 27, 2013

In the long, well-intended history of aligning the spontaneity of jazz with sounds, rhythms and harmonies of various folk musics, the predicament lies in finding the linkages between two disparate idioms without sacrificing mutual integrity. Bassist and composer Nenad Vasilić tackles this issue in a very distinct way as he successfully marries the festive folk sounds of his native Nish (southern Serbia) with the jazz music to which he has devoted his life.A resident of Vienna, Vasilić is ...

Album Review

Sao Paulo Underground: Beija Flors Velho E Sujo

Read "Beija Flors Velho E Sujo" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 27, 2013

Once again this trio sounds like a larger unit and its capricious implementations remain a constant. The band's makeup contains an assortment of keys, percussion, electronics effects and other tools of the trade. Yet Chicago progressive jazz trumpeter Rob Mazurek is the primary soloist, sporting a big brassy tone and imposing presence. The musicians unify the outside spectrum of jazz with conventional flavors. And they incorporate a comprehensive bag of tricks into these dynamically moving parts. Their boundless imaginative powers ...

Album Review

Dave Holland: Prism

by J Hunter
August 27, 2013

Although über-bassist Dave Holland made his bones with one of Miles Davis' early electric bands, the lion's share of the British native's own music has come from the acoustic side of the scale. As such, longtime Holland fans will receive a major shock with their first listen to Prism. Those fans will need open ears and patience; everyone else just needs a volume control that goes to 11. The opening Fender Rhodes vamp on Kevin Eubanks' “The ...

Album Review

Christian Wallumrod Ensemble: Outstairs

Read "Outstairs" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
August 26, 2013

After a four-year break following the biennial run of four recordings beginning with 2003's Sofienberg Variations and ending with 2009's Fabula Suite Lugano (all on ECM), Christian Wallumrød returns with Outstairs. Building on the strength of what came before, the pianist/composer continues to assert a clear identity with this slightly altered ensemble, not only capitalizing on its own intrinsic chemistry but that of two specific members--extant ensemble trumpeter Eivind Lønning and, replacing Baroque harpist Giovanna Pessi, tenor saxophonist Espen Reinertsen--whose ...

Interview

John Santos: Keeper of the Culture

by Steve Bryant
August 26, 2013

In a career spanning almost 40 years, percussionist John Santos has gained world-wide renown and acclaim as one of the great composers and bandleaders in the Afro-Cuban jazz idiom. The four-time Grammy nominee is one of the foremost proponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today, known for his innovative use of its traditional musical forms and instruments. Santos has performed, recorded and studied with acknowledged Afro-Latin and Jazz masters such as Cachao,Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Bebo Valdés, Armando Peraza, ...

Album Review

Mary Halvorson Septet: Illusionary Sea

Read "Illusionary Sea" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
August 26, 2013

Guitarist Mary Halvorson's Illusionary Sea is rich and intriguing filled with contrasting yet complementary motifs and patterns. Leading a septet of versatile and idiosyncratic musicians, Halvorson deftly entwines divergent musical threads into an elegant musical tapestry that bears her distinctive mark without overshadowing her band mates' individuality.The elaborately constructed pieces allow ample room for spontaneity. They are not, however, a mere showcase of the soloists' prowess, but rather the written melody and the impromptu musical constructs meld into ...

Bailey's Bundles

Pablo Records and My Introduction to Jazz

by C. Michael Bailey
August 26, 2013

Right on the heels of its celebration of Riverside Records' 60th Anniversary, Concord Music Group celebrates Pablo Records' 40th Anniversary with remasters from its deep and broad catalog. My first brush with jazz came from a Pablo release and I wanted to share some thoughts on the label, the friends that turned me onto jazz and, of course, the meaning of the blues. I was born in the 1950s, grew up in the '60s and '70s and, ...