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

Lenny White: Lenny White Live from '97

Read "Lenny White Live from '97" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
July 21, 2013

Lenny White played powerful funky drums on some of the best records in jazz and jazz fusion history, including Freddie Hubbard's triumphant Red Clay with Creed Taylor (CTI, 1970), Miles Davis' (in)famous Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970), Romantic Warrior (Columbia, 1975) from his tenure in the Return to Forever rhythm section, and more.Lenny White Live from '97 captures the drummer leading a first-call cast of electric and fusion jazz players through a thoroughly magical night during White's Japanese tour ...

Album Review

Roger Beaujolais Quartet: Mind The Gap

Read "Mind The Gap" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 20, 2013

The quintet has usually been the format of choice for British vibraphone ace Roger Beaujolais, but he changes it up on Mind The Gap; this is the eighteenth album from the veteran mallet man, but the first to really focus on a foursome. Beaujolais, a self taught vibraphonist who started a bit late--in his mid-twenties--has more than made up for lost time over the years. In the '80s he made a splash with The Chevalier Brothers, an ...

We Travel the Spaceways

Taking stock, a year half over

by Mark Corroto
July 20, 2013

This month, at the halfway point in the year of music, we are taking stock, and there have been so many great discs released. Here is my list (in no particular order) of the best albums so far. I predict many of these will make final top ten 2013 lists. Sorry, I couldn't keep my list to ten.The Ex & Brass Unbound--Enormous Door (Ex Records) Federico Ughi--Federico Ughi Quartet (FMR) Rachel Musson/Mark Sanders/Steve Noble--Tatterdemalion (Babel) Matt Parker--Worlds Put ...

Album Review

Iro Haarla Sextet: Kolibri

Read "Kolibri" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
July 20, 2013

Finnish pianist Iro Haarla has expanded her customary quintet approach--trumpet, saxophone and rhythm section--with the addition of a third horn, Jari Hongisto's trombone, on Kolibri. The sextet is composed of some of Finland's most dynamic improvisors, and Haarla has given these vibrant artists the space to move the music in their own individual directions within the framework she has laid down.From the first notes of the opener, “Nightjar," the music--spacious, minimalist in Haarlas' piano part, and initially featuring ...

Extended Analysis

Denny Zeitlin: Both/And

by Dan McClenaghan
July 20, 2013

Pianist Denny Zeitlin has the distinction--among many others--of having written one of the loveliest of love songs: “Love Theme From Invasion of the Bodysnatchers." The tune can be heard in its unadorned beauty on Zeitlin's Precipice (Sunnyside Records, 2010), the recording of an extraordinarily beautiful and adventurous solo concert. The original version of the tune, from the soundtrack of the 1978 movie, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978)--a masterful remake of the classic 1954 science fiction film--was Zeitlin's lone effort at ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Jacques Lesure

by AAJ Staff
July 20, 2013

Meet Jacques Lesure:Jacques Lesure is a Detroit native who has graduated from Berklee College Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Since his days at Berklee, he has performed alongside Oscar Brown Jr., George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Freddy Cole, Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentine, Mark Murphy, Oliver Lake, Chico Freeman, Javon Jackson, Les McCann, Linda Hopkins, Carmen Lundy, Jon Hendricks, Eric Reed, Wessell Anderson, Wynton Marsalis, George Bohanon, and many others. He has collaborated and performed on a variety of stage plays, ...

Album Review

Fabrizio Sotti: Right Now

Read "Right Now" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
July 20, 2013

Right Now consolidates the many different threads that Italian songwriter, guitarist and producer Fabrizio Sotti has explored in his career and weaves them all into a singular, beautiful tapestry. Serving as arranger and producer, he divides Right Now into an even mix of jazzy, reflective originals and soft jazz reflections of songs by Bob Marley, U2 and Jimi Hendrix sung by an international vocal cast. Sotti's supple nylon, classical, acoustic and electric guitars are expertly caressed by bassist Tony Grey ...

Album Review

Helio Alves and Duduka Da Fonseca (HD2): Songs from the Last Century

Read "Songs from the Last Century" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
July 20, 2013

One of the many delights of writing for All About Jazz is stumbling upon a great CD from the past, and being able to bring it to an audience that might have missed its debut. It's clear that Songs from the Last Century is one of these rare gems--even before a single note is heard, the list of players and songs suggests that something very special is going on.For one thing, the leaders are the superb pianist Helio ...

Live Review

Valby Summer Jazz: Copenhagen, Denmark, July 6-13, 2013

by Jakob Baekgaard
July 19, 2013

Valby Summer JazzPrøvehallen in Valby and The Betty Nansen TheatreCopenhagen, DenmarkJuly 6-13, 2013 In a time of financial crisis, the solution to many festivals seems to be to cut down on the experimental budget and ambitions and focus on familiar names that are sure to attract a sizeable audience. While Valby Summer Jazz, which takes place in Copenhagen and the suburb of Valby, certainly is able to list some of the finest names in modern ...

Album Review

David Ake: Bridges

by Dan Bilawsky
July 19, 2013

Experimentalist composer Gavin Bryars once proclaimed that “music history has flowed under the bridges for many years." That particular quote adorns the inside flap of pianist David Ake's Bridges which, like Bryars' statement itself, contains many a mystery about music, bridges and history. The pieces that Ake presents herein are modernistic, wide-ranging and wholly original. Melodic stability and consonance come in unlikely form and cacophony liberally colors the water that Ake swims in, yet the water feels just right. While ...