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.

Extended Analysis

Courtney Pine: House of Legends

by Ian Patterson
January 23, 2013

Though multi-reedist Courtney Pine has been playing soprano for almost 30 years, this is the first occasion he's recorded an entire album with the instrument. Following his bass clarinet adventures on the European roots album Europa (Destin-E, 2011) it's clear that the modern British jazz legend doesn't tire of setting himself new challenges. Taking as his inspiration the roots of the British Afro-Caribbean community, Pine visits calypso, soca, zouk, reggae and South African rhythms in a joyous dance party that's ...

Album Review

Toots Thielemans European Quartet: 90 Years

Read "90 Years" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
January 23, 2013

NEA Jazz Master and harmonica playing legend Toots Thielemans turned 90 in April 2012, and the milestone has been marked by an exhibition, a street-naming in his honor and a couple of releases. The double-CD Yesterdays and Todays (Dreyfus, 2012) contained 37 previously unreleased recordings spanning a remarkable 65 years, from 1946 to 2011. Then in September, the Lincoln Center paid tribute to Thielemans in a concert where the maestro was joined by pianists Herbie Hancock and Kenny Werner, bassist ...

Year in Review

Doug Collette's Best Releases of 2012

by Doug Collette
January 23, 2013

It's great to be able to pick and choose from an overflowing roster of great titles, then relive the pleasure of discovery from the past twelve months. The Brad Mehldau TrioOdeNonesuch RecordsThe pianist's trio offers its perspective on the world around us by filtering it through its original music, the playing of which is equally intense from all three players. The Brad Mehldau TrioWhere Do We Start

Album Review

Jose James: No Begining No End

Read "No Begining No End" reviewed by Franz A. Matzner

by Franz A. Matzner
January 23, 2013

Smoother than cognac and just as refined, No Beginning No End drips with an unabashed sensuality both subtly delivered and painfully personal. With his Blue Note debut, Jose James employs the terrifying capacity of his voice to penetrate the heart of deeper, more hidden spaces and lay bare the emotional contours of urban existence.To accomplish this feat, James wraps the distinct timber of his voice in a contemporary cloak that weaves together jazz, R&B, electronica, pop, funk, and ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Gokul Salvadi

by AAJ Staff
January 23, 2013

Meet Gokul Salvadi: Gokul Salvadi, from India, is a composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist, but the one he plays professionally is his larynx. He started as a Carnatic Vocalist (Traditional South Indian Classical Music) and later, as a composer, he developed his passion for exploring the wondrous world of music. “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent" (Victor Hugo). Music is universal and there is no territory in ...

Album Review

Madeline Eastman + Randy Porter: A Quiet Thing: A Collection of Ballads

Read "A Quiet Thing: A Collection of Ballads" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
January 23, 2013

The beauty of vocalist Madeline Eastman is that she is an undaunted improviser who remains conservative in her improvising. In this context, the word conservative harbors no negative connotations. Eastman has an abiding respect for the melody that is reflected in her thoughtful interpretations of the fourteen ballads making up A Quiet Thing. The piano-voice format also reflects this careful conservative approach to the material. The repertoire for this recording is what is truly provocative. Reading the ...

Album Review

Carles Benavent: Un, Dos, Tres...

Read "Un, Dos, Tres..." reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 22, 2013

In a 40-year career that has encompassed jazz, rock, fusion and the establishment of the electric bass guitar in flamenco music, Barcelona musician Carles Benavent has constantly evolved his approach to his chosen instrument. His most notable collaborations, with guitarist Paco De Lucia and pianist Chick Corea, are part of a musical story which also includes a series of albums as leader. Un, Dos, Tres... is the seventh of this impressive series and finds Benavent in top form as a ...

Live From New York

Barry Altschul, William Hooker, Bobby Previte & Andrew Cyrille

by Martin Longley
January 22, 2013

Barry Altschul Roulette January 8, 2013 Another 70th birthday to celebrate, another musician who commands the appearance and vitality of a much younger player. New York drummer Barry Altschul actually hit 70 two days before this celebratory gig at Roulette. The long-established experimental music venue is now settling in at its newer Brooklyn space very well. There's a sense that the joint has stabilized and refined itself as a performing space, in terms ...

Album Review

Rudresh Mahanthappa: Gamak

by Mark Corroto
January 22, 2013

Did saxophonist John Coltrane have any idea of the consequence of dipping his toes into the music of India in the 1960s? Not only did he introduce jazz to new harmonic structures, but he marshaled the forces of jazz, perhaps, to ingurgitate world music. While the repercussions of Coltrane's spiritual journey are still being felt, what of the ricochet from Indian culture?Answer: Rudresh Mahanthappa.The saxophonist (a second-generation Indian-American) speaks a form of pidgin Indo-jazz that is ...

Album Review

Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Slippery Rock

Read "Slippery Rock" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
January 22, 2013

Mostly Other Peopele Do the Killing is back! And with it the rightly slandered genre of smooth jazz. This quintet's fifth studio album was penned by MOPDtK bassist Moppa Elliot after a lengthy immersion in the smooth jazz recordings of the late 1970s and '80s. Elliott extracted certain idiomatic phrases, harmonies and embellishments from this superficial and commercial style, incorporated into his own compositions and used all the quartet members' encyclopedic knowledge to shed new light on this often maligned ...