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

Mimi Fox: Standards, Old & New

Read "Standards, Old & New" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 30, 2013

Guitarist Mimi Fox's nearly 30-year career has produced several solo standards recitals. Standards, Old & New steps out of the box for some not-so-standard standards from the folk realm (pastoral arrangements of Woody Guthrie's “This Land is Your Land," The Beatles' “She's Leaving Home" and Bob Dylan's “Blowin' In The Wind") and more recent jazz (a marching rendition of pianist Chick Corea's “500 Miles High").Fox received kudos from guitarist Joe Pass before his death and it was certainly ...

Album Review

Joey Stuckey: Mixture

Read "Mixture" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
January 30, 2013

Offering a dynamic repertoire of rich melodic tunes from the light portion of the jazz spectrum, Mixture is a gem of smooth-styled jazz that sparkles all over. The first full-length jazz album from award-winning guitarist Joey Stuckey, an educator, radio and TV personality, among other things, the album presents a versatile set of primarily warm tunes with a touch of bop and pep. Stuckey's style has been compared to that of Jeff Beck, but with a slight southern approach.

Album Review

Teri Roiger: Dear Abbey: the Music of Abbey Lincoln

Read "Dear Abbey: the Music of Abbey Lincoln" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
January 30, 2013

With Dear Abbey, singer Teri Roiger does something remarkable. She interprets thirteen of vocalist Abbey Lincoln's compositions, maintaining the legendary singer's emotive articulation and dramatic delivery, yet marking each song with her own individuality. She thus pays the ultimate homage to an innovator who blazed her own unique artistic path. Roiger's warm contralto, like aged, fine whisky, is smooth but heady, as heard on her yearning interpretation of “Angel Face," a ballad colored with nocturnal shades. She ...

Album Review

Ryan Blotnick: Solo, Volume I

Read "Solo, Volume I" reviewed by Matt Marshall

by Matt Marshall
January 29, 2013

Solo, Volume I finds guitarist Ryan Blotnick returning to his roots. Not only has he scaled back to his bare, musical minimum--a man and his guitar--but he's also relocated from New York City to the Amherst/Northampton area of Massachusetts, all in an attempt to get closer to the life and music he knew growing up in Maine. The idea was simple: armed with his 1959 Martin 00-18, outfitted with a single coil pickup, he'd fashion a personal, acoustic/electric music not ...

Album Review

David El-Malek: Music from Source Vol. II

Read "Music from Source Vol. II" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
January 29, 2013

With distant musical worlds drawing closer via technological invention/access and displayed through exploration by innovative composers, it's no surprise that this effort from French-Israeli saxophonist David El-Malek offers highly intriguing music. The music and Israeli-Arab talents under El-Malek's leadership yield a fascinating brew of Middle Eastern-flavored selections mixed with a smattering of Western jazz improvisationIn contrast to El-Malek preceding Music from Source (Harmonia Mundi, 2008), where he fronted a smaller, brass-laden group, Music from Source Vol. II incorporates ...

Extended Analysis

Wayne Shorter Quartet: Without a Net

by John Kelman
January 29, 2013

Since convening a new quartet for the 2001 tour that resulted in Footprints Live! (Verve, 2002), soon-to-be-octogenarian saxophonist Wayne Shorter has found himself in the company of a group that's not just turned out to be, hands-down, his most exciting and exploratory acoustic ensemble in a career well into its sixth decade, but now, a dozen years later, his longest-running one as well. Weather Report, the fusion supergroup that Shorter co-founded with keyboardist Joe Zawinul, did, indeed, last longer, from ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Sofija Knezevic

by AAJ Staff
January 29, 2013

Meet Sofija Knezevic:“Recognized as one of jazz's preeminent vocalists, young Sofija Knezevic (only 22) is one of the most significant singers in jazz today. While her singing is steeped in tradition, her improvisational virtuosity and creativity are breathtaking."--CNNInstrument(s):Voice, piano.Teachers and/or influences?Greatly influenced by Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Carmen McRae, Ernestine Anderson, Kim Burrell, Donny Hathaway, Elliot Mason, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and others.I knew I wanted ...

Album Review

Masha Campagne: Like Water, Like Air

Read "Like Water, Like Air" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
January 29, 2013

Moscow-born/San Francisco-based vocalist Masha Campagne's highly anticipated Like Water, Like Air follows her exciting debut, Caminhos Cruzados--Crossroads (Self Produced, 2007), building on a strong foundation of gorgeous Brazilian music. A devotee of the genre, Campagne continues her longtime association with piano master Weber Iago--a guiding force of her first endeavor and co-producer of this date--in crafting another beautiful portrait of the Brazilian sound.While delivering new and outstanding renditions of such standards and classics like “It Could Happen To ...

Album Review

Negroni's Trio: On The Way

Read "On The Way" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
January 29, 2013

Pianist José Negroni and his son, drummer Nomar Negroni, showcase their cross-genre versatility on On The Way--its unifying theme, a mélange of European melodic motifs and Latin romanticism, giving cohesion to this, their seventh release. “Matices" opens with José Negroni's harp-like flowing lines, dramatically echoing in the silent pauses. It evolves into a tender ballad with western classical influences almost like a belle époque French mélodie. Negroni's passionate piano and master saxophonist Ed Calle's intense soprano weave, ...

Interview

Sara Serpa: A Musical Journey

by Hrayr Attarian
January 29, 2013

Vocalist and composer Sara Serpa is one of the most original and innovative musicians to emerge since the turn of the century. She has already made an indelible mark on the modern music scene in the span of a mere four years. Her unique style of vocalese allows her to utilize the full range of her exquisite and clear voice with the agility of an instrumentalist and stand out of the crowd as a sublime interpreter and a bold improviser. ...