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.

Book Excerpts

Beyond A Love Supreme

by Tony Whyton
August 26, 2013

The following is an excerpt from “Composition/Improvisation" chapter of Beyond A Love Supreme by Tony Whyton (Oxford Univ. Press, 2013). Composition/Improvisation A good example of the way in which binaries shift according to context can be seen when A Love Supreme is described either as a composition or an improvisation. Conventionally, jazz is foregrounded as a live improvised art that is the product of spontaneous creation and inspired performers. When great jazz compositions are created, ...

Album Review

Leslie Lewis: Leslie Lewis & Gerard Hagen in New York

Read "Leslie Lewis & Gerard Hagen in New York" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
August 26, 2013

Vocalist Leslie Lewis' previous recording, Midnight Sun (Self Produced, 2012), revealed a a thoughtful and well-managed talent able to imbue her music with a dark pathos. Not dark in any negative sense of the word, but rich and romantic. Her followup, Leslie Lewis & Gerard Hagen in New York, made with her husband/pianist, distills Lewis' talent to the intimate duet level, concentrating the music to a point where much is revealed. “Like Someone In Love" is introduced ...

Album Review

E. Normus Trio: Love and Barbiturates

Read "Love and Barbiturates" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 26, 2013

These Asheville, NC musicians started collaborating in 2007, leading to this debut release that skirts the boundaries of jazz-rock, free-jazz and progressive metal-jazz. The jazz and improvisational elements accentuate most of these works, fueled by adrenaline rushes amid the trio's broad arsenal.Excitable but largely cohesive, lead soloist and clarinetist Steve Alsford bridges torrid breakdowns with wily phrasings and wistfully melodic sentiment. Meanwhile, Jay Sanders uses a N/S Stick, an 8-string multipurpose instrument that affords him the ability to ...

Album Review

Trudy Kerr and Geoff Gascoyne: The Rhythm of Life; Ted And Gladys

Read "The Rhythm of Life; Ted And Gladys" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
August 25, 2013

Great male and female jazz vocal duos are rare as hen's teeth. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé? Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan? Now there's a pair of new kids on the block--Ted and Gladys. Or is there? Check the sleeve of The Rhythm Of Life: Ted & Gladys and all is not quite as it seems. The dodgy photos of the musicians in their younger days--especially Gladys and guitarist Chris Allard--are a tad puzzling and the lady and gentleman on ...

Book Review

Beyond A Love Supreme: John Coltrane And The Legacy Of An Album

by Ian Patterson
August 25, 2013

Beyond A Love Supreme:John Coltrane And The Legacy of An Album Tony Whyton Pages: 176 ISBN: 978-0-19-973323-1 Oxford University Press 2013 Few jazz icons have cast such a long shadow as saxophonist John Coltrane. Since his death at the age of 40 in 1967, his sound has influenced legions of saxophonists and his legend has only grown. And arguably, with the exception of trumpeter Miles Davis, no other ...

Album Review

Janek Gwizdala: Theatre By The Sea

Read "Theatre By The Sea" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
August 25, 2013

Inside a decade, English musician Janek Gwizdala has positioned himself as one of the top electric bassists in New York, boasting a technique and a melodic ear that places him alongside bassists Gary Willis and Matthew Garrison. His acclaimed debut, Mystery to Me (Self Produced, 2005) featured rising stars such as saxophonist Mark Turner, guitarist Tim Miller, singer Gretchen Parlato, drummer Jojo Mayer, harmonica player Gregoire Maret and trombonist/bass trumpeter Elliot Mason. Here was an exciting young talent who chose ...

New York Beat

Maucha Adnet and Helio Alves at 54 Below

by Nick Catalano
August 25, 2013

One of Gotham's newest music rooms 54 Below has decided to feature Brazilian music this summer and two veteran Brasileros--Maucha Adnet and Helio Alves--recently added their contributions. Performing music from Milagre (ZOHO, 2013), the duo invited clarinetist Anat Cohen and percussionist Cyro Baptista for the date. Brazilian vocalists have been populating the jazz rooms lately (I wrote about Leny Andrade a few columns back), resulting in a deeper exploration of the nuances present in the melodic innovations ...

Live Review

Clifford Brown-Max Roach Project at the Piedmont Piano Company

by Harry S. Pariser
August 25, 2013

Clifford Brown-Max Roach ProjectPiedmont Piano CompanyOakland, CAAugust 10, 2013“[Clifford Brown's] technique was, for him, to use the facility and bring up the quality of a trumpet player in relation to having his trumpet expressed as a voice. He not only had the technique, he had the love. The sound he would get was something we used to talk about as if it were a flower." align=right>--Don Cherry

It was June 25, 1956, a ...

Album Review

Mark Dresser Quintet: Nourishments

Read "Nourishments" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 25, 2013

Influential master bassist Mark Dresser leads his first quintet outing in nearly two decades. His complex compositions span an abundance of odd-metered time signatures, whether the song forms are buoyant, temperate or soul-searching. It's a very involved storyline that yields fruitful rewards. Indeed, the program is a kaleidoscopic ride that includes brash or probing solos by saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and trombonist Michael Dressen. But it's Dresser himself who maintains command and control by steering the band through these progressive and ...

Album Review

Mark Dresser Quintet: Nourishments

Read "Nourishments" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
August 25, 2013

Master double bassist Mark Dresser's first quintet recording since Force Green (Soul Note, 1995) works in several courses. Its compositions are centered around Dresser's personal approach to the jazz tradition and the song form, emphasizing the charismatic playing of all the quintet members, the importance of the beauty of the melody, and cyclical forms. At the same time these compositions integrate innovative compositional elements from new music and embody explorations from his solo bass playing in recent years, including extended ...