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.

Interview

Marvin Sewell: Stepping Up to the Plate

by George Colligan
August 15, 2013

[ Editor's Note: The following interview is reprinted from George Colligan's blog, Jazztruth]Marvin Sewell might be the greatest guitarist you've never heard of. I first met Sewell at a recording session in 1995. (Sewell, saxophonist Gary Thomas, and I improvised over hip-hop tracks for two days; these sessions were edited into what become Thomas' Overkill: Murder In The Worst Degree, an album that we promoted in Europe on tours in 1995 and 1996.) I was struck immediately by ...

Album Review

Arturo O'Farrill and the Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra: Final Night at Birdland

Read "Final Night at Birdland" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 15, 2013

On June 26, 2011, Arturo O'Farrill and the Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra ended a fifteen-year run at New York City's Birdland, and--to our good fortune--had the foresight to record that very special event for everyone to hear and appreciate. The orchestra's scion, the great Chico O'Farrill, was still living when the ensemble made its debut at Birdland 1997. When he passed away four years later, son Arturo took the reins, guiding the orchestra for more than thirteen years ...

Live Review

Sun Ra Arkestra at the Victoria Theater

by Harry S. Pariser
August 15, 2013

Sun Ra Arkestra Victoria TheaterSan Francisco, CAAugust 3, 2013A line of jazz fans snaked around the block from the front of the iconic Victoria Theater, centrally located on 16th Street in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District, halfway down Capp Street. The crowd spanned age, gender and race; the buzz remained palpable despite the fact that the parents the majority of ticket holders would not have even met all those decades ago when the ...

Album Review

Nate Wooley Sextet: (Sit In) The Throne Of Friendship

Read "(Sit In) The Throne Of Friendship" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
August 15, 2013

Like today's NFL quarterbacks, trumpeters are required to be multidimensional. Modern players (in football) are required to pass, run, block and call audibles. Likewise, the jazz horn player can't just take a high glissando solo, bow, and collect a paycheck; he/she has to be able to shift between the jazz tradition, improvisation, classical music and outside free, all while carrying a suitcase packed with extended techniques.The new breed of trumpeters that boast all of these qualities includes Peter ...

Live Review

Black Motor with Verneri Pohjola at the 2013 Flow Festival

by Anthony Shaw
August 15, 2013

Black Motor with Verneri PohjolaFlow Festival, The Balloon StageHelsinki, FinlandAugust 11, 2013On the last day of the summer holidays, and under what's typical seasonally unpredictable weather, a large crowd gathered in downtown Helsinki for Scandinavia's urban music event, Flow Festival. Black Motor Trio began its set with a tunes featuring its usual bravado and panache, ably abetted by Finland's decorated trumpeter, Verneri Pohjola. This was the same lineup as on its recent release Rubidium (TUM ...

Album Review

Mark Dresser Quintet: Nourishments

Read "Nourishments" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 15, 2013

There's evidence of bassist Mark Dresser's audacity and originality in his sideman work with Satoko Fujii, opening the title tune of the Japanese pianist's Trace a River (Libra Records, 2008) with a ghostly arco whine that sounds as if it drifted in out of the twilight zone, before the ever-mercurial Fujii shifts the tune into a mini-riot between piano, drummer Jim Black and Dresser--a fight that the bassist seems to have (temporarily) won, via the emergence from the maelstrom of ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii New Trio: Spring Storm

Read "Spring Storm" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
August 14, 2013

Back at the start of her career, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii's reputation was considerably enhanced by her stellar trio with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black. Together they waxed seven discs, with the last Trace A River (Libra) in 2008. Since then, the traditional piano trio hasn't appeared in her prodigious output, until the New Trio debuted here on Spring Storm. While perhaps not as virtuosic as their predecessors, bassist Todd Nicholson and drummer Takashi Itani bring open minds ...

Interview

Mara Rosenbloom, Darius Jones, Brian Drye: Brooklyn Artist Snapshot

by Seton Hawkins
August 14, 2013

To even the casual observer, Brooklyn has incubated an extraordinary new generation of talented jazz artists. While the Borough is certainly renowned for a vibrant jazz community, and indeed has been since the mid-twentieth century, this latest cohort of artists is nevertheless worthy of a particular spotlight, not only for being a gathering of tremendous performers and composers, but also in many cases for emerging as entrepreneurs who have successfully challenged the difficult economics of jazz with creative solutions.

Live Review

Nous N’Irons Pas a New York 2013

by Patricia Myers
August 14, 2013

Nous N'Irons Pas a New York 2013Duc des LombardsParis, FranceJuly 23-30, 2013 Four American jazz stars performed as part of a two-month-long tribute to New York-style jazz at Duc des Lombards for its annual Nous N'Irons Pas a New York ("We're not going to New York") theme, indicating that New York/American musicians were appearing at the club. Pianist Cedar Walton, 79, was walking with a cane, but he performed at top level from ...

Album Review

Philippe Duchemin Trio: Swing & Strings

Read "Swing & Strings" reviewed by Patricia Myers

by Patricia Myers
August 14, 2013

French pianist Philippe Duchemin's entry into the jazz-with-strings repertoire merges his classical roots with a love of modern jazz, blues and soul. His dual talents of composing and playing make this a strongly swinging album, with the string quartet adding a lovely luster.Duchemin's crisp keyboard progressions contrast with the soaring and sizzling strings of the Atlantic String Quartet (Le Quatuor Atlantique, musicians from the Monte Carlo Orchestra). His longtime colleagues, twin brothers Christophe Le Van on bass and ...