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

Bobby McFerrin: spirityouall

Read "spirityouall" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
July 16, 2013

A 10-time Grammy winner, Bobby McFerrin's undeniable gifted voice has not only inspired audiences with its unique qualities but also imbued his spiritual roots as found in songs throughout his discography such as the colorful Garden of Eden expression, “The Garden" from 2010's VOCAbuLarieS (EmArcy) or the unique scriptural vocal rendition of “The 23rd Psalm" from his 1990 release Medicine Music (EMI). Inspired by the music of his upbringing and his father Robert McFerrin Sr.--an operatic baritone ...

Album Review

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra: In the Spirit of Duke

Read "In the Spirit of Duke" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
July 16, 2013

Another tribute to bandleader/composer/pianist Duke Ellington? Is this necessary? Pulling from the archive a few recent nods to one of America's musical icons reveals 1997's elegant Count Plays Duke (Mama Records), by the Count Basie Orchestra; Don Sebesky's unabashedly gorgeous Joyful Noise (RCA Victor, 1999); and pianist Ted Howe's excellent trio affair, Ellington (Summit Records, 2005). Each album explores Ellington deeply, while offering its own idiosyncratic twists to the music.The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra--and let's put it up ...

Interview

WorldService Project: Articulate Arsonists

by John Kelman
July 15, 2013

It's a very different time to be a musician than it was even 20 years ago, when major record labels still existed, providing tour support and money to make recordings. It's also a very different time because, with the upsurge of DIY recordings, there's more music being released every month than ever before. Add to that the mix of media--CD, digital (low and high res) and the resurgence of vinyl--and music fans now have more choices than ever before, at ...

Album Review

WorldService Project: Fire in a Pet Shop

Read "Fire in a Pet Shop" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
July 15, 2013

With its debut album, Relentless (Brooke Records, 2011) WorldService Project announced itself as a band to watch. Since that release, the five-piece--led by keyboardist and principal composer Dave Morecroft--has consolidated its reputation as a cooking live band, in particular in its Match & Fuse live collaborations with like-minded bands from across Europe. Now, its second album, Fire in a Pet Shop, is radically different to Relentless; different enough that fans of the earlier record may wish to ...

Live Review

Rigas Ritmi Festival: Riga, Latvia, July 3-6 2013

by Bruce Lindsay
July 15, 2013

Rigas RitmiRigaLatviaJuly 2-6, 2013Latvia's Rigas Ritmi 2013 was the 13th edition of this compact but always intriguing celebration of music--or, more precisely as the title indicates, a celebration of rhythms. The distinction is important for although jazz is at the heart of the festival it shares the spotlight with other styles. The 2013 program starred performers inspired by the Great American Songbook, musicians who worked across jazz and hip-hop and, in the person of Laima ...

Album Review

Frank Wess: Magic 101

Read "Magic 101" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 15, 2013

The “magic" here lies not only in the radiant music created by this stellar quartet of world-class musicians but also in the fact that its leader, Frank Wess, was a youthful eighty-nine years old when this splendid album was recorded in June 2011. Wess was once a star soloist (on tenor sax and flute) with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra, but that was back in the '50s and early '60s, when the big bands were riding high. While he has ...

Album Review

Olivia Foschi: Perennial Dreamer

Read "Perennial Dreamer" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
July 15, 2013

San Francisco native and Rome-educated Olivia Foschi is a sophisticated, urbane singer whose debut album Perennial Dreamer is a testament to her mature and worldly outlook. Surrounded by an energetic group of individualistic and trailblazing instrumentalists, Foschi presents a heady mix of original compositions, Italian ballads and jazz standards. Thanks primarily to her rich, smoky voice and sublime, expressive phrasing, this variety remains engaging without sacrificing thematic unity.Much like legendary vocalist Billie Holiday, Foschi personalizes the interpretation of ...

Album Review

Oscar Brown Jr.: We're Live

Read "We're Live" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
July 15, 2013

Today's musicians--and anyone with an interest in things jazz and the pre-Hip-Hop/Rap African-American musical and cultural experience--might want to examine the life, times, music and impact of Oscar Brown, Jr. Brown distinguished himself brilliantly in multiple worlds--musical, literary, political, theatrical and television. And he did it all, weaving a passion for life, America's art form and civil rights throughout each entertainment dimension.We're Live, recorded in 2001 at Chicago's HotHouse for International Performance, captures Brown, his vocalist daughters Maggie ...

Extended Analysis

Pop-Culture Blues

by Jack Bowers
July 14, 2013

The blues, as it turns out, has many shades; an enduring art form that has been an integral part of the language of jazz since its beginning (if not before). Some aspects of the blues are readily perceived, others not so much. “The common thread," Michael Treni writes in his astute liner notes to Pop-Culture Blues, the fifth album as leader of his own big band, “is that the blues is most frequently found as a 12-bar form made up ...

Album Review

Doug Sertl: Beautiful Friendship

Read "Beautiful Friendship" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 14, 2013

Here's an interesting concept: an organ trio with trombone (or vice versa), led by Canadian trombonist Doug Sertl with Rick Montalbano at the Hammond B3, Peter Bernstein on guitar and another Canadian, Terry Clarke, in the drum chair. The album was recorded before the millennium and marked time on a shelf until it was released in 2013, an occasion that was, in Sertl's words, “long overdue." Surely, Beautiful Friendship has as much or more to offer than quite a few ...