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

The Fat Babies: Chicago Hot

Read "Chicago Hot" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
March 4, 2013

What goes around comes around and time stands still in the future. The Fat Babies shows that, playing tunes from the '20s and '30s with exemplary flair. In this group, nostalgia turns out to be downright delicious.The septet is mellifluous as it unveils the heat and fervor of ragtime in a confluence that packs a great deal of punch. Its enthusiasm cannot be denied but it is its undoubted skill at parlaying the music into a living, breathing ...

Album Review

Jason Marsalis: In A World Of Mallets

Read "In A World Of Mallets" reviewed by Chuck Schultz

by Chuck Schultz
March 4, 2013

On a drum kit, Jason Marsalis often goes several directions (meters, not Meters) at once. On vibraphone, as he demonstrates on In A World Of Mallets, it's more a matter of smoothing out many segments into a continuous whole. Over the course of the album he invokes bells, chimes and the signature tunes of cozy wall clocks grown familiar from decades of old Hollywood, not to mention the Indonesian gamelan and, for good measure near the end, some whistling. The ...

Album Review

Hristo Vitchev Quartet: Familiar Fields

Read "Familiar Fields" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
March 4, 2013

The nine original compositions that make up Familiar Fields were conceived by composer/guitarist Hristo Vitchev between the releases of Song for Messambria (First Orbit Sounds, 2009) and his seven-movement Perperikon Suite (Self Produced, 2011). Vitchev wisely decided that these pieces deserved a home of their own, and that choice is more than validated here. Sharing instrumental leads with frequent collaborator, pianist Weber Iago, Familiar Fields once again demonstrates Vitchev's lyrical clarity and his ability to convey emotion.“Ballad for ...

Interview

David Fiuczynski: In the In Between

by Daniel Lehner
March 4, 2013

The most recent compositional premiere by guitarist David Fiucyznski has a title that almost manages to sum up his entire sphere of influence. “Flam! Pan-Asian Microjam for J Dilla and Olivier Messiaen" premiered at Berklee College of Music in 2012 and was inspired by a geographically and temporally enormous range of styles. Fiuczynski describes the piece as a trinity of inspirations with respect to rhythm, harmony and melody. “It's kind of a triangle between Pan-Asian music, Messiaen bird ...

Album Review

The Group: Live

by John Sharpe
March 3, 2013

What quirk of fate governs whether or not a band captures the public imagination? A star-studded lineup? A strong set of tunes? Or just the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time? For The Group--a stellar mid-'80s aggregation of New York City avant talent--all these preconditions seemed to be in place, yet still it was unable to garner the recording date which would have cemented its place in the jazz annals. Consequently, after a few ...

Live Review

Lakeland Jazz Festival 2013: Kirtland, Ohio, February 22-24

by Matt Marshall
March 3, 2013

41st Annual Lakeland Jazz FestivalKirtland, OhioFebruary 22-24, 2013 Scanning the list of guest artists who have appeared at the Lakeland Jazz Festival since its inception in 1973 reveals a history of acts with connections to the Northeast Ohio/Western Pennsylvania/Western New York area, with an internationally recognized name--Clark Terry, Donald Byrd, Kenny Burrell, Phil Woods--popping up every fifth year or so.Always the focus has been on fostering an educational environment, providing a venue for ...

Album Review

Thiefs: Thiefs

Read "Thiefs" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
March 3, 2013

What might seem like a grammatical gaffe in the self-titled debut of Thiefs is not an oversight. What's more striking is the music from the forward-thinking trio of Guillermo E Brown, bassist Keith Witty, and saxophonist Christophe Panzani; a group whose combined resumes include work with Carla Bley Big Band, French hip-hop outfit Hocus Pocus, Vijay Iyer and the late David S. Ware. The project was created by the sponsorship of a French American Jazz Exchange grant, ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Charley Rich

by AAJ Staff
March 3, 2013

Meet Charley Rich:Guitarist Charley Rich studied privately with notables Joe Monk and Harry Leahy. At Stony Brook, he focused on composition, studied with Richard Dyer-Bennet and then spent a year at Berklee College of Music. After college he played the club scene in NYC, performed for impresario Sid Bernstein, studied classical guitar with Jerry Willard and took a fascinating lesson with Ralph Towner.Charley has played with many bands and done solo gigs such as opening up ...

Album Review

Ernest Dawkins: Afro Straight

Read "Afro Straight" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
March 3, 2013

Ernest Dawkins is a multifaceted giant of the saxophone. He was part of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a groove into which he perfectly fit, blowing fresh winds of change into the comfort zone of improvisation. The sum of his parts included commissioned works for the Black Metropolis Research Consortium and the Banliues Bleues Festival. He moves into another compact area this time, playing eight standards and two originals, and once again invests his individualism into ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp: Greatest Hits

Read "Greatest Hits" reviewed by Harry S. Pariser

by Harry S. Pariser
March 3, 2013

"Greatest Hits" compilations are not releases normally associated with jazz musicians, and especially not with pianist as decidedly avant-garde as Matthew Shipp.Shipp explains that “My impetus for creating this CD was that I have a vast catalogue which I don't think the jazz world has started to absorb yet. I selected the tunes by which ones stood out in reviews of my CDs, which tunes had received the most airplay, or compositions I had received the most feedback ...