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

Eyes of a Blue Dog: Rise

by John Kelman
May 14, 2013

As disproportionate as the amount of fine music being made in Norway is to its relatively small population of five million, so, too, is its surprisingly large cadre of outstanding drummers. A quick scan through the list of drummers who have made some kind of name for themselves, both at home and abroad, include--amongst many, many others--Audun Kleive (Terje Rypdal, Nils Petter Molvær), Per Oddvar Johansen (The Source, Christian Wallumrød Ensemble), Erland Dahlen (Molvær, Eivind Aarset Sonic Codex Orchestra), Torstein ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Armen Nalbandian

by AAJ Staff
May 14, 2013

Meet Armen Nalbandian:Armen Nalbandian (b.1978 in Manchester, England) is a jazz pianist, composer and humanitarian.In addition to the piano, he has been known to perform on the prepared Fender Rhodes mechanical piano, and contributes to produce jazz, improvised and experimental music in California. Nalbandian is the composer of over 1200 works in addition to having led more than 20 different ensembles in the past decade. Nalbandian's compositions have included music for his trio, string quartets, orchestral ...

Album Review

Satoko Fujii New Trio: Spring Storm

Read "Spring Storm" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 14, 2013

Some of jazz's finest, most innovative and adventurous music can be found in the piano trio format. The list of artists pushing the boundaries is a long one: Vijay Iyer; Hal Galper; Craig Taborn; Brad Mehldau and a good dozen more, conservatively. A name rarely mentioned in that group--in part, because she leads so many groups with different configurations (23, at last count), yet hasn't offered up a piano trio set since 2008--is Japanese-born pianist/bandleader Satoko Fujii.In addition ...

Album Review

Geof Bradfield: Melba!

Read "Melba!" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
May 14, 2013

Chicago based saxophonist Geof Bradfield's Melba! is a much needed tribute to the criminally underexposed trombonist and arranger Melba Liston. Liston debuted with trumpeter, bandleader Gerald Wilson, was one of the stars of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's bebop big band and devoted herself to arranging after she met pianist Randy Weston with whom she had a long and fruitful career.Commissioned by Chamber Music America's 2011 New Jazz Works program and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation this ambitious ...

Album Review

Miguel Zenon & The Rhythm Collective: Oye!!! Live In Puerto Rico

Read "Oye!!! Live In Puerto Rico" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 13, 2013

Puerto Rican pride oozes from every album under alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón's name. Most recently, he explored plena music in a jazz context on the winning Esta Plena (Marsalis Music, 2009), and put a new spin on songs from the Puerto Rican Songbook with Alma Adentro (Marsalis Music, 2011). While those projects differ greatly, with rough-and-tumble antics on the former and an air of refinement on the latter, they're both built on sturdy conceptual platforms that are supported by Puerto ...

Extended Analysis

Moster!: Edvard Lygre Moster

by John Kelman
May 13, 2013

He may be flying somewhat beneath the radar internationally, but in Norway, saxophonist Kjetil Møster has a vibrant career that ranges from the acoustic post-John Coltrane group The Core--whose Office Essentials (Jazzland, 2008) made clear that the American tradition is a touchstone, at least to some, in the country's distinctive jazz scene--to ongoing work with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra on albums including the renowned ensemble's collaboration with pianist Chick Corea, Live in Molde (MNJ, 2005). What neither of these acoustic ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Simon Spang-Hanssen

by AAJ Staff
May 13, 2013

Meet Simon Spang-Hanssen:First concerts in 1976 with John Tchicai and Strange Brothers, later also with Ben Besiakov, Jesper Lundgaard, Alex Riel, New Jungle Orchestra, Jan Kaspersen, Mozar Terra, Doug Raney.In Paris, from 1985-98: Orchestra National de Jazz, Denis Badault, Andy Emler, Nguyên Lê, Quintet Moutin, Ramuntcho Matta, Edouard Ferlet.Since 1998, mainly leader of my own ensembles with, amongst others, Kristian Joergensen, Bob Rockwell, Marilyn Mazur,Linley Marthe, Dawda Jobarteh, Thomas Fonnesbech, Mariane Bitran, Xavier Desandre, ...

Album Review

Jan Bang / Erik Honore / Gaute Storaas / Arve Henriksen: Knut Hamsun's Victoria

Read "Knut Hamsun's Victoria" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
May 13, 2013

Given the cinematic nature of albums like ...and poppies from Kandahar (SamadhiSound, 2011), Uncommon Deities (SamadhiSound, 2012) and Cartography (ECM, 2008), it should come as no surprise to find trumpeter/vocalist Arve Henriksen and electronic sound sculptors/Punkt Festival Artistic Directors Jan Bang and Erik Honoré collaborating on a film soundtrack, in this case Norwegian director, playwright and novelist Torun Lian's screen adaptation of fellow Norwegian and Nobel Prize laureate Knut Hamsun's 1898 novel, Victoria. Just released in March, 2013, the film ...

Album Review

Molly Holm: Permission

Read "Permission" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
May 13, 2013

Vocalist Molly Holm has had a potent progressive ("Avant-garde") presence in the Bay Area for three decades, having been an original member of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra and was a featured singer with Terry Riley and Zakir Hussain. Creatively, Holm never grew up into the proper, standard-singing chanteuse that many of her contemporaries did, rather she has remained on the cutting edge of jazz vocals--exactly where she belongs. Permission is an eclectic collection of vocal jazz standards -- ...

Album Review

Youn Sun Nah: Lento

by Ian Patterson
May 13, 2013

Youn Sun Nah's rejection of a multi-record deal with French outfit Label Bleu to preserve her artistic freedom indicated that a change was in the air, following five recordings with her French 5tet band. Signed up by German label ACT, Nah released two critically and commercially successful albums, Voyage (2009) and Same Girl (2010), with the same core group of guitarist Ulf Wakenius, bassist Lars Danielsson and percussionist Xavier Desandre-Navarre. Both albums borrowed from the language of jazz, folk and ...