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

Lucian Ban / Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Concert

Read "Transylvanian Concert" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
May 22, 2013

It's been six years since Mat Maneri last appeared on ECM, collaborating with singer Robin Williamson on the British traditionalist's exploratory The Iron Stone (2007); even longer since the violist shared a marquee for the German label, on 2004's Angles of Repose, with his now-deceased father, microtonal reed player Joe Maneri, and bassist Barre Phillips; even longer, still, since he last released an album as a full leader, with his solo recital Trinity (2001). All of which makes Maneri's return ...

Album Review

David Arnay: 8

by C. Michael Bailey
May 22, 2013

Los Angeles pianist/arranger/composer David Arnay releases his third recording as a leader in the theme-minded 8. Eight signifies both the number of selections on the disc as well as the sequential sum of instruments added to each performance, from solo to octet performance. So, the premise is Arnay adds one instrument to each piece as he ascends from one to eight. Arnay's thematic approach is both clever and educational. He opens the disc with a swinging solo ...

Album Review

Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette: Somewhere

Read "Somewhere" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
May 21, 2013

It's been four years since a recorded peep has been heard from pianist Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, despite continuing to perform a few select dates each year. But even its last few ECM releases--2009's Yesterdays, 2007's My Foolish Heart and 2004's The Out-of-Towners--were all culled from a clearly fruitful 2001, making it well over a decade since a new recorded note has been heard from Jarrett's longest-lasting group. Fine albums all, the dearth of anything since that time has nevertheless ...

Live From New York

Boris, Wang Li, Sexmob & Colin Stetson

by Martin Longley
May 21, 2013

Boris(le) Poisson RougeMay 6, 2013 It's hard to corral Boris into a metal-generic corner. Whilst this Tokyo trio's prime reputation revolves around a spiraling psychedelic ascension, it is just as likely to get grubby and direct, or even poppy and spangled. This Poisson show was the first of two nights, dedicated to a general 20-year career overview. The second evening was destined to reproduce a specific album, Flood (MIDI Creative, 2000), and to concentrate ...

Album Review

Lisa Young Quartet: The Eternal Pulse

Read "The Eternal Pulse" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
May 21, 2013

Melbourne jazz singer Lisa Young has been a mainstay of the Australian jazz scene for over two decades, whether leading quartets or as a member of Coco's Lunch, the award winning a cappella group she co-founded in the mid-1990s. The Eternal Pulse--her fourth album as leader--marries konnakol with Young's personal take on vocal improvisation in an all-acoustic setting, accompanied by some of Australia's top jazz musicians. Young is undoubtedly in fine voice on these original compositions, her silky vocals earning ...

Album Review

Larry Corban: The Circle Starts Here

Read "The Circle Starts Here" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 21, 2013

Guitarist Larry Corban keeps a picture of Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) on the wall of his practice room. The Belgium-born Gypsy guitarist/swing pioneer was a master of tripping from single note melodies to crisp chords--and keeping it all swinging in his collaborations with violinist Stephane Grappelli.Corban takes his Django inspiration well on the opener of The Circle Starts Here CD, his first recorded outing since 2003's Moving 4-Ward (Self Produced). Corban says that opener, “Sideswiped," is a nod to ...

Interview

Yuhan Su: Good Vibes

by Ian Patterson
May 21, 2013

Everybody loves the romance of a comeback: the phoenix-like rise from adversity, long-term exile, obscurity or defeat. Think of US President Abraham Lincoln's travails, boxer George Foreman's regaining the World Heavyweight title at the age of 45, actor Sean Connery's return as Bond, David Bowie's eternal reinvention or, indeed, the peculiar cycles of fashion that have brought back platform boots once more. In jazz terms, saxophonist Charles Lloyd's return from semi-retirement in the 1980s is mythologized, but it surely can't ...

Album Review

Christian McBride & Inside Straight: People Music

Read "People Music" reviewed by J Hunter

by J Hunter
May 20, 2013

Musicians create bands for many things: To gather like-minded artists together, or to achieve some grand artistic vision; Christian McBride created Inside Straight to get a gig. It seems Village Vanguard owner Lorraine Gordon loved McBride but wouldn't book him with his regular, fusion-heavy outfit--or, as Gordon put it, “that rock 'n' roll band." Necessity is the mother, as they say, so McBride built Inside Straight. The thing is, he might have overreacted a tad, because the group's first release ...

Album Review

Sudo Quartet: Live at Banlieue Bleue

Read "Live at Banlieue Bleue" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
May 20, 2013

Such is the strength and conviction with which the Sudo Quartet performs that thoughts immediately turn to how they developed such a cohesive group sound. With no liners and no information on the web, the genesis of the unit remains a mystery, though the same foursome feature on four tracks on bassist Joelle Leandre's At the Le Mans Jazz Festival (Leo, 2005). But when uniting four virtuoso stylists from the European free improvisation scene, it's a near certainty that their ...

Multiple Reviews

Babel Label: More Songs from the Tower of Sound

by Jakob Baekgaard
May 20, 2013

In a time of financial crisis in the world in general and in the music business in particular, the natural thing to do would be to cut down the number of releases and concentrate on safe and palatable productions that cater to a major audience with a predefined taste. However, Oliver Weindling's Babel Label has always swum against the stream, and Weindling believes in the music he puts out, even though it might not fit conveniently into generic boxes. As ...