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

John Moriarty: Echoes

by Ian Patterson
August 7, 2013

Adopting a traditional, straight-ahead approach to the quartet, Irish guitarist John Moriarty gathered three established New York-based musicians for one day in the Bunker Studios, Brooklyn. The title suggests homage, and there is a hint of classic Blue Note in the leader's clean lines--evocative of guitarist Jim Hall--and in half of the songs that delve into jazz's past for inspiration. But that's only half the story, for Moriarty's original compositions have a slightly more modern feel. However, the success of ...

Interview

Thollem McDonas: The Beauty of Never Going Back Home

by Dave Wayne
August 7, 2013

What is often forgotten about improvised music is that it can come from anywhere. Though its history is inextricably intertwined with jazz, improvisation is part and parcel of a myriad of musical cultures. Pianist and composer Thollem McDonas is not just aware of this fact, it is part of his daily existence. About 10 years ago, McDonas burst on to the improvised music scene; fully formed and with a sound all his own--one that owes surprisingly little to jazz-piano- as-we-know-it. ...

Live Review

Newport Jazz Festival 2013

by Timothy J. O'Keefe
August 7, 2013

Newport Jazz Festival Presented by Natixis Global Asset ManagementFort Adams State ParkNewport, RIAugust 4, 2013“What do you want to hear?" Roy Haynes' booming voice asked the audience. Wearing white satin pants and a tangerine shirt, he strolled across the stage and made his way toward the drum kit. Amid varied yells for song titles, he bashed a drum and the band tore into a fast- moving version of “James."“How ya'll feel out there?" ...

Album Review

Ricardo Silveira & Roberto Taufic: Atlanticos

Read "Atlanticos" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 7, 2013

What do you get when two top-flight studio guitarists grab their acoustic axes and get together to bask in the glow of Brazilian music? The answer is the resplendent Atlanticos. Ricardo Silveira is a Brazilian-born-and-based, Berklee-trained guitarist who's recorded hundreds of sessions, backing everybody from flautist Herbie Mann to Brazilian icons like Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento. His partner on this record is Honduran-born Roberto Taufic, who at the age of five made his way to Brazil, ...

Album Review

Rob Hart Trio: 3000 Realms of 10 Worlds

Read "3000 Realms of 10 Worlds" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
August 7, 2013

Drummers come in as many different flavors as ice cream and each and every one brings something different to the party: some are technicians; some are powerhouses; some are timekeepers; some are virtuosos; and some are innovators.Then there are drummers like Rob Hart, who is comfortable in multiple categories and adds the title of “explorer" on 3000 Realms of 10 Worlds, with a strong interest in trying several different things at once. This makes for an album that ...

Album Review

Gene Ess: Fractal Attraction

Read "Fractal Attraction" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
August 7, 2013

Using the voice as a melodic and harmonic instrument above and beyond scat singing or vocalese is increasing in popularity, as evidenced in recordings like Beata Pater's Red (B&B Records, 2013) and Lola Danza's The Island (Evolver, 2012). Vocalist Thana Alexa joins guitarist Gene Ess for an expansion of Ess' genre-breaking jazz philosophy, using the human voice as instrument, thus broadening its palette of applications in jazz. On the whole, Ess' compositions are angular, with sharp corners ...

Extended Analysis

Inspiration Information / Wings of Love

by Chris M. Slawecki
August 7, 2013

Singer, songwriter and multi- instrumentalist Shuggie Otis might not have been born holding a guitar but he probably picked his first one up soon thereafter. He did grow up playing guitar in bands led by his dad Johnny Otis, who introduced such artists as Charles Brown and Esther Phillips to R&B and soul audiences. He debuted in 1970 on Kooper Session: Al Kooper with Shuggie Otis (Columbia); when he recorded those tracks, he was just 15. His solo debut, Here ...

Interview

Buster Williams: Take No Prisoners

by George Colligan
August 6, 2013

[ Editor's Note: The following interview is reprinted from George Colligan's blog, Jazztruth]I first heard bassist Buster Williams on a Herbie Hancock recording called VSOP Live (Columbia, 1976). I remember thinking that their version of Hancock's “Toys" was pretty wild stuff. In addition to hearing him on some other recordings like Hancock's Sextant (Columbia, 1973)," the group Sphere's Four in One(Elektra/Musician, 1982), or Sarah Vaughan's Sassy Swings The Tivoli (Mercury, 1963), my friend David Ephross and I used ...

Album Review

Thelonious Monk: Newport '59

Read "Newport '59" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
August 6, 2013

Only with hindsight can it be ascertained that 1959 marked the pinnacle of jazz music as a cultural force in the United States. In 1959, the Mount Rushmore presidents of jazz were recording their definitive statements: John Coltrane's Giant Steps (Atlantic, 1960), Dave Brubeck's Time Out (Columbia, 1959), Charles Mingus' Ah Um (Columbia, 1959), Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue (Columbia, 1959) and Ornette Coleman's The Shape Of Jazz To Come (Atlantic, 1959).That year also signaled the upcoming split ...

Album Review

Maciek Pysz Trio: Insight

Read "Insight" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
August 6, 2013

Insight, the debut recording from guitarist Maciek Pysz and his trio, is a jazz album from Britain. Well, it's released on a British label, funded with the support of Arts Council England and Jazz Services, and performed by British-based musicians. However, Pysz is from Poland, bassist Yuri Goloubev is Russian, and drummer Asaf Sirkis (who plays much of the time on a collection of hand drums) hails from Israel; the album was recorded at the famed Artesuono studios in Italy ...