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

Chris Greco Quartet: Trane Of Thought

Read "Trane Of Thought" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 31, 2013

This record isn't an out-and-out tribute to saxophonist John Coltrane. The title--and title track--may suggest that it's all about that legendary figure, and the album-ending “Soul Eyes" serves as a secondary nod of affirmation, but saxophonist/multi-reedist Chris Greco doesn't just plant his flag on Coltrane's domain and call it a day. Sure, he delivers probing and edgy swing, hints of mysticism, and rapid runs that recall Coltrane's work, but he doesn't pattern his every move after the man.

Extended Analysis

Marbin: Last Chapter of Dreaming

by Dave Wayne
May 31, 2013

Back in the 1970s, fusion used to mean one thing; the melding of jazz improvisation and chord structures with the stylistic eclecticism and pure energy of progressive rock. As a recognizable formula emerged, it became common to hear the exotic strains of various ethnic musics in a jazz-rock fusion context. By the late '70s, its emphasis shifted again towards more accessible pop and R&B-derived sounds driven by the economic demands of the time, leaving us with smooth jazz. The 21st ...

Album Review

Carol Duboc: Smile

Read "Smile" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
May 31, 2013

Is there a listening market for adult contemporary music. For lack of a better categorization, that is what Carol Duboc provides on her seventh release, the all-original Smile which she co-produces with Keyboardist Jeff Lober--and produce they do.Smile is sonically, a perfectly quaffed and lushly presented collection of ten hook-filled, expertly sculpted songs that take as much from late Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker and Sade as it does Miles Davis and fellow Kansas City-ians Charlie Parker and Count ...

Bailey's Bundles

John O'Gallagher and Jeff Williams: In a Whirlwind

by C. Michael Bailey
May 30, 2013

Here's to avant-garde jazz. Unruly and ill-behaved, the seeds planted by saxophonists Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, and carried forward by reed multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton and melded with trumpeter Miles Davis' post bop, gave rise to a brand of jazz that, while not the complete chaos of free jazz, nevertheless possessed such an inventive spirit that begged the listener to hear “what comes next." Layer this spirit with a cogent theme and an entirely new dimension to the music is ...

Album Review

Sam Kulik: Escape From Society

Read "Escape From Society" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
May 30, 2013

The basic premise of Sam Kulik's Escape From Society was to make a modern-day song poem recording using Craigslist to attract would-be lyricists, instead of a cheesy printed advertisement. Those not immediately familiar with the whole song-poem concept may well recognize the little ads--often seen on the back pages of comic books, men's magazines, and tabloid newspapers--promising to produce hit songs from anyone's poetry submissions for a fee. The results were often an embarrassing mish-mash of banal lyrics accompanied by ...

Album Review

Bonerama: Shake It Baby

Read "Shake It Baby" reviewed by Wade Luquet

by Wade Luquet
May 30, 2013

Bonerama is fun. Bonerama is powerful. And in their first full-length studio CD, they have made a switch from their previous live recordings of brass-infused funk to brass infused-rock. Along with the ever present trio of trombones, the bands guitarist, Bert Cotton, has stepped up to the front line to become a major player with his robust rock licks. Backed by some talented friends who have joined the party on this album, including Dr John, Dave Malone, and George Porter, ...

Multiple Reviews

Introducing Sweden's Havtorn Records

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 30, 2013

The new Swedish label, Havtorn Records, was founded in 2011 by three musicians-- drummer Måns Wikenmo, bassist Donovan von Martens and pianist Oscar Johansson. The three longed to create a label that would also be a platform for a community of a new generation of musicians, most of them residing in the cities of Malmö and Gothenburg in southern Sweden. Wikenmo explains that the label founders decided not “to lock it into a specific genre or style...we ...

Album Review

The Dixie Ticklers: Standing Pat

Read "Standing Pat" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
May 30, 2013

The revival of traditional jazz in Britain in the 1950s began in a blaze of idealism. In the following decade, it degenerated into an undignified scramble for commercial success. The Dixie Ticklers, a London-based sextet, want nothing to do with Trad. Their principal influences might be Louis Armstrong's Hot Five, Jelly Roll Morton and Bix Beiderbecke, but a whole lot of other things have gone into their music. They've been influenced by the Crescent City's many rhythm ...

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Film Review

A Great Day in Harlem: The Spirit Lives - 50 Years On

by Ian Patterson
May 30, 2013

This encore presentation from January 2009 celebrates Jean Bach, director of A Great Day in Harlem. Ms. Bach died on May 27th at her home in Manhattan. She was 94.It is probably the most celebrated ensemble jazz portrait of all time. Fifty-seven of the greatest jazz musicians gathered together on the steps of a Harlem brownstone early one morning in August 1958--a living family tree of the history of jazz.And yet, the absentees from photographer Art ...

Album Review

Bill Cunliffe Trio: River Edge, New Jersey

Read "River Edge, New Jersey" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 29, 2013

River Edge, New Jersey is like a trip down memory lane for pianist Bill Cunliffe. The California-based ivory tickler looks back to his days as an East Coast resident, teaming up with two highly capable, once-upon-a-time colleagues--bassist Martin Wind and drummer Tim Horner--who call New Jersey home. He further taps into the nostalgia well by visiting songs from his youth (Harry Nilsson's “One") and material expressly written in honor of those who have had a strong impact on him over ...