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.

Take Five With...

Take Five with Landry

by AAJ Staff
July 4, 2013

Meet Landry: Landry moved to northern California in 2013 and recorded his first album, The Bayou--a musical marriage between American Jazz and African Soul. The album is a collection of songs that explore themes of triumph and sorrow. The vocal delivery is vulnerable and emotional. The emotion was inspired by years of inner struggles living in the closet as a gay man. Landry chose The Bayou experience as a gateway to finally be authentic with himself and the rest ...

Album Review

Allan Holdsworth: FLATTire: Music For a Non-Existent Movie

Read "FLATTire: Music For a Non-Existent Movie" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
July 3, 2013

FLATTire was released in 2001 and highlights Allan Holdsworth's use of the MIDI-controller, guitar-like Synthaxe, and is based on a soundtrack for a non-existent movie, marking a period of reflection in the artist's life. However, the album did not receive much attention amid a sparse print run. Here, the guitarist integrates the broad tonal aspects of the synthaxe with his time-honored guitar prowess. He casts impassioned sentiment, and explores the dominion of a film soundtrack, used as a basis for ...

Live Review

Suoni Per Il Popolo, Montreal, Canada, June 5-22, 2013

by Mike Chamberlain
July 3, 2013

Suoni per Il PopoloCasa del Popolo/Sala Rossa Montreal, CanadaJune 5-22, 2013The Casa del Popolo and Sala Rossa mini-empire that Mauro Pezzente and Kiva Stimac started on upper St-Laurent Boulevard in September, 1990 boasts a high-level eclectic program throughout the year, but the annual Suoni per Il Popolo festival concentrates special events and visits by “star" performers during the two-and-a-half weeks of the festival, the 2013 edition beginning on June 5 and running until June 22.

Album Review

Phil Broadhurst Quartet: Flaubert's Dance

Read "Flaubert's Dance" reviewed by Florence Wetzel

by Florence Wetzel
July 3, 2013

The nineteenth century author Gustave Flaubert was famous for his phrase le mot juste, meaning “the right word." Flaubert believed in exactitude of expression, and his work is a testament to the harmony that results from precision. It's therefore not surprising that New Zealand pianist Phil Broadhurst has invoked the author on his superb Flaubert's Dance. A master of subtle emotions, Broadhurst paints with a fine brush that captures a range of feelings, creating deeply nuanced music supported by wide ...

Live Review

Hugh Masekela and Larry Willis: Phoenix, AZ, June 18, 2013

by Patricia Myers
July 3, 2013

Hugh Masekela and Larry WillisMusical Instrument MuseumPhoenix, AZJune 18, 2013A duo concert by flugelhorn master Hugh Masekela and pianist Larry Willis was billed as a salute to The Great American Songbook, but the performance offered as much storytelling as music. Masekela's endearing persona emerged as he related jazz history and his own life path, eliciting gentle laughter from the audience, many of whom may have known of him only from his 1960s pop-jazz hits “Up, ...

Album Review

Corey Christiansen: Lone Prairie

Read "Lone Prairie" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 3, 2013

Guitarist Corey Christiansen has released two previous recordings on the Origin label in Roll With It (2008) and Outlaw Tractor (2010). Both were well received and featured Christiansen's ethereal playing, characterized by a deep reverb beneath a slightly overdriven tone. These recordings are uniformly fine, but generally lacked a thematic center (not that one was required). Having said that, Christiansen provides here a disc with a central theme of music of the American West on Lone Prairie--but, ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Wolf Nilson

by AAJ Staff
July 3, 2013

Meet Wolf Nilson:I studied bass guitar at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam from 1999 to 2002, and at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule fur Musik from 2002 to 2003. Ever since, I've been playing in Berlin. I formed my own trio in 2009, and last year we started playing at the Quasimodo once or twice per month as the Quasimodo Jam Band, inviting guests, too. We are hoping now, to make a nice concert movie at the end of the ...

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

July 2013

by Mr. P.C.
July 2, 2013

Dear Mr. P.C.:Why does it seem like the better the music is on a gig, the less it pays? - Aiden

Dear Aiden:Well, obviously, better music is more “fun," and therefore less work. The less work you're doing, the less you should get paid.What part of that don't you “get"? All I can think of is that maybe better music somehow isn't more fun for you; you prefer music that's artless and ...

Album Review

Leo Blanco: Pianoforte

Read "Pianoforte" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
July 2, 2013

The title of Leo Blanco's third album, Pianoforte, makes it clear: this is just one man and one piano. But it's an exceptional instrument, played by an exceptional musician.Blanco's 2009 album Africa Latina (Ayva Musica) and 2004's self-produced Roots & Effect featured international ensembles including guitarist Lionel Loueke, bassist Peter Slavov, saxophonist Dave Liebman and drummer Antonio Sanchez. Alone on stage, bereft of the support of these talented artists, Blanco shows no sign of hesitancy or lack of ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Thomas Winther Andersen

by AAJ Staff
July 2, 2013

Meet Thomas Winther Andersen:Originally from Norway, Thomas Winther Andersen now lives in Amsterdam. At 13, he began playing electric bass, and after a few years his love for jazz became so strong that he decided to switch instruments and learn to play upright bass. Thomas studied music at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1988 to 1993 and then added a Master's degree a year later from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. In 1995, he received a grant from ...