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

Johannes Richter: 13 Pieces

Read "13 Pieces" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 11, 2013

One man, one piano, and no score. That is the protocol for Danish musician Johannes Richter's 13 Pieces, a heartfelt and honest session of instantly composed music. Much like Craig Taborn's Avenging Angel (ECM, 2011), Richter constructs magic from thin air.His approach, like that of Keith Jarrett's early solo work, is scarcely recognizable as jazz. What it is, though, is unmistakably adroit improvisation. He opens the disc, a luscious vinyl pressing (with a digital download option), with the ...

Live Review

Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet: Copenhagen, Denmark, July 6, 2013

by Jakob Baekgaard
July 11, 2013

Tomasz Stańko New York QuartetCopenhagen JazzhouseCopenhagen, DenmarkJuly 6, 2013 In the 1960s, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stańko emerged as a major talent on the European jazz scene. His unique musical voice was recognized by his legendary countryman, pianist Krzysztof Komeda, who enlisted him to be part of his groundbreaking masterpiece Astigmatic (Muza, 1966). Later, Stańko paid homage to his mentor on Litania: The Music of Krzysztof Komeda (ECM, 1997), and even today Komeda's spirit looms ...

Album Review

Ben McDonnell: Aleph Trio

Read "Aleph Trio" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
July 11, 2013

Featuring the building blocks of free improvisation and an earthy rock music persuasion, London based guitarist Ben McDonnell presents his engaging Aleph Trio, a bold set that's both aesthetically pure and melodically pleasing. Its in-the-moment vibe feels like a live studio recording that highlights the trio's vigor, inventiveness, and cohesiveness. The set maintains its intimacy and rawness found in the opener “A Walk In The Rain" where McDonnell's deft facility of combining complex chord structures, exploring runs, ...

Album Review

Natalie Dietz: Believe In Love

Read "Believe In Love" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 11, 2013

A humid breeze blows through the four pieces, one standard and three originals on vocalist Natalie Dietz's EP, Believe In Love. Fronting an empathetic guitar-piano quintet specializing in the gentle percussion of the Caribbean, Dietz sings with a relaxed, languid quality that makes her singing easy and effortless, carefully cloaking a realized confidence that drives her music. A real challenge to performing and singing as Deitz does is the governor she puts on her effort. Restraint is a big part ...

Album Review

Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer and Helge Lien: Memnon

by Anthony Shaw
July 11, 2013

Helge Lien is a contemporary Norwegian pianist principally known for work on his own and with his trio, for which he has been awarded Norway's 2008 DnBNor Musicians Award. Despite extensive exposure to the more mainstream music created with his trio, however, Lien has long been associated with more experimental projects, like the HERO duo, from 2005-6, with saxophonist Rolf-Erik Nystrøm; with Tri O'Trang, where Lien plays alongside saxophone, trumpet and/or tuba; and his more recent solo piano outing, Kattenslager ...

Album Review

Daniel Rosenboom: Book of Omens

Read "Book of Omens" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
July 10, 2013

Los Angeles-based trumpet player Daniel Rosenboom is quickly becoming a ubiquitous presence in the West Coast's creative jazz scene. His credits include a variety of endeavors, from challenging sideman work with venerated scene leader Vinny Golia to membership in the radical young Balkan ensemble PLOTZ! His 2006 solo debut, Bloodier, Mean Son (Nine Winds) established Rosenboom as a singularly creative voice whose unique aesthetic encompasses an array of idiosyncratic influences, from efx-laden horn soliloquies to elaborate progressive metal-influenced full-band arrangements. ...

Profile

Martin Archer: Making A Difference, Doing Things Differently

by Duncan Heining
July 10, 2013

Martin Archer is a one-man music industry. Saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, band-leader and label owner--Archer has made a virtue of doing things differently. From early beginnings in music forty years ago, he has built his label Discus into a catalog that is as fine in quality as it is eclectic in taste and content. Based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire and far from London Jazz Central HQ, his career trajectory offers novel solutions to the problems facing the creative artist, from ...

Live Review

Spokfrevo Orquestra, London, UK, July 2, 2013

by Sammy Stein
July 10, 2013

Spokfrevo OrquestraRonnie Scott's Jazz ClubLondon, UKJuly 2, 2013Frevo is a hectic mix of Latin jazz with elaborate arrangements and intricacies. It evolved from several historical musical influences including military marching bands and polka. The composers of old are referred to as “maestros," to by the musicians. Refice, capital of the state of Pernambuco in northern Brazil, hosts a carnival for four days each summer and many of its compositions were born from the mix of ...

Album Review

Dann Zinn 4: Grace's Song

Read "Grace's Song" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
July 10, 2013

Saxophonist Dann Zinn's third release as a leader, Grace's Song, is an intriguing and charismatic album. Interestingly, however, the very feature that makes it consistently engaging also results in a lack of thematic unity. This unevenness can simultaneously delight and frustrate, depending on circumstances.Zinn is a virtuoso tenor saxophonist inspired by saxophone master Sonny Rollins' brassy and thick sound and sophisticated, recognizable style. Zinn's eloquent, passionate solo burst out of pianist Taylor Eigsti's percussive chords with darkly modal ...

Album Review

Sandor Szabo / Alf Wilhelm Lundberg / Balazs Major: Hidden Dimension

Read "Hidden Dimension" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
July 10, 2013

Some musical meetings do not need much preparation, even tough the musicians are located thousands of kilometers apart, surrounded by different sonic landscapes and musical traditions. The meeting itself can spark and enlighten new roads of expressions. That is what happened when Norwegian guitar artist Alf Wilhelm Lundberg, leader of the chamber jazz outfit Norchestra and player of the custom-built 8- string Brahms guitar, was invited to play with Hungarian guitarist Sandór Szabó, who plays custom-made 12-string guitars. Both share ...