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

Analog Players Society: Hurricane Season in Brooklyn

Read "Hurricane Season in Brooklyn" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
July 18, 2013

Hurricane Season in Brooklyn marks the debut of the Analog Players Society (APS), an extension of the lifelong pursuit of the groove by the percussionist, engineer and producer known as Amon, who first discovered Turkish, West African and Middle Eastern music in college--and then dropped out to tour with a circus multi-instrumentalist.“I eventually moved to Chicago and studied African percussion intensely for four years and traveled to Guinea, West Africa, to study," he recalls. “I eventually ...

Album Review

Dan Lehner's Memory Field: Spoken Migration

Read "Spoken Migration" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 17, 2013

Spoken Migration--the debut EP from trombonist Dan Lehner's Memory Field--is as auspicious as they come. It's true that comments like that are typically reserved for the end of music reviews, but it's hard not to gush from the get-go with this one; Lehner, after all, doesn't waste any time in delivering the musical goods with this piano-less foursome, so why withhold the positive commentary for later on? Everything that's good and right about this music can be ...

Album Review

Infinita: A Cross-European Venture

Read "A Cross-European Venture" reviewed by Anthony Shaw

by Anthony Shaw
July 17, 2013

The opening 30 seconds of this exploration of the Time Continuum belies the power of the music that follows. A Cross-European Venture is a selection of pieces, mainly from the pen of pianist Sid Hille, more than ably assisted by a thoroughly competent Italo-Finnish gang of four. Hille's credentials have been accumulated over a 30-year career that has taken him all around the shores of northern Europe and beyond. Graduating in 1993 in Holland, Hille took up ...

Extended Analysis

UNI Jazz Band: The Hard Way

by Jack Bowers
July 17, 2013

UNI stands for the University of Northern Iowa whose tradition of producing first-rate big-band recordings spans more than two decades, first under director Bob Washut and more recently under his successor, Chris Merz (The Hard Way is the twentieth album by the university's Jazz Band One in my library). This is a “semi-live" date on which three of the ten numbers were recorded in concert, the others in a studio. In either setting, the band is stout as a rampart, ...

Album Review

Abigail Riccards: Every Little Star

Read "Every Little Star" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 17, 2013

Abigail Riccards may not be known yet but Jane Monheit is, and on Riccard's Every Little Star, the famous jazz chanteur is both a mentor and co-producer. The Chicago-based Riccards began appearing in New York City in the early 2000s, garnering a good deal of critical attention from her live performances and her debut recording, When The Night Was New (Jazz Excursion, 2008). Always supported by the best musicians, Riccards is backed up here by a piano-guitar ...

Album Review

Days Between Stations: In Extremis

Read "In Extremis" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
July 17, 2013

The band moniker, Days Between Stations is named after Steve Erikson's 1985 novel and perhaps intimates an ongoing musical transition set forth by Southern California-based multi-instrumentalists, Oscar Fuentes Bills and Sepand Samzadeh. In Extremis is the duo's second release following its self-titled 2007 album. Here, the artists employ fabled progressive-rockers--keyboardist Rick Wakeman, bassist Tony Levin, XTC vocalist Colin Moulding and the Angel City Orchestra among others. This production also features some of guitar virtuoso Peter Banks' (Yes, Flash) final recordings ...

Genius Guide to Jazz

Jazz Lovers Series: Clint Eastwood

by Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius
July 17, 2013

It goes without saying that those who appreciate Jazz are a special lot. You will rarely find lovers of Our Music who have not managed to distinguish themselves in their chosen vocations, be it in the arts, business, the humanities, or the kid at Subway who earned Employee of the Month honors while listening to The Bad Plus and making my Cold Cut Combo exactly the way I like it.Clint Eastwood is a shining example of this fact, ...

Album Review

Chris Kelsey & What I Say: The Electric Miles Project

Read "The Electric Miles Project" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 16, 2013

It takes no shortage of fortitude for contemporary artists to take on the electric Miles Davis. Banking off of his seminal Bitches' Brew (Columbia, 1970), the trumpeter headed for looser, louder and funkier fare, culminating in the twin two-disc releases, Agartha (Columbia, 1975) and Pangea (Columbia, 1976), two shows performed in the afternoon and evening of February 1, 1975 at Japan's Osaka Festival Hall. Laden with electric guitar, seditious percussion and an assortment of effects, Davis spins noisy magic off ...

Live Review

Jeff Ballard Fairgrounds: Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, July 10, 2013

by Ian Patterson
July 16, 2013

Jeff Ballard FairgroundsPavilion TheatreDun Laoghaire, IrelandJuly 10, 2013Fairgrounds is as good a name as any for drummer Jeff Ballard's new band. The best fairgrounds are places that take you away from everyday humdrum and transport you temporarily to an alternative world where fun, the curious and outlandish, and adrenalin rushes are all part of the continuum. Not all the rides and stalls will appeal universally, but on balance who doesn't have a good time at ...

Album Review

Ralph Peterson: ALIVE at Firehouse12 Vol. 1 - The Unity Project

Read "ALIVE at Firehouse12 Vol. 1 - The Unity Project" reviewed by Steve Bryant

by Steve Bryant
July 16, 2013

Drummer/composer/bandleader Ralph Peterson has got to be one of the hardest working men in jazz today. He seems to drop a new CD every few months, and the kicker is that the theme and product are markedly different than his previous efforts. In addition, he changes lineups like guys change socks. The band on ALIVE At Firehouse 12 Vol. 1--The Unity Project is not the same one on his previous outing, 2012's The Duality Perspective (Onyx). As a matter of ...