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.

Book Review

Kevin Avery: Everything Is An Afterthought - The Life And Writings of Paul Nelson

by C. Michael Bailey
January 12, 2013

Everything Is An Afterthought: The Life And Writings of Paul NelsonKevin Avery497 PagesISBN: 978-1-60699-475-7Fantagraphics Books2011There was a golden age of music criticism ruled by names like Dave Marsh, Ben Fong-Torres, Robert Christgau, Jon Landau, Greil Marcus, Ralph Gleason, Lester Bangs...and Paul Nelson. Once the greatest advocate of the New York Dolls (whom he signed while at Mercury Records in 1973), Bob Dylan (from the beginning and through electricity ...

Album Review

Joe Morris: Graffiti In Two Parts

Read "Graffiti In Two Parts" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 12, 2013

One of the main talking points regarding Graffiti In Two Parts, and perhaps the reason this session from 1985 has finally seen the light of day, must be the participation of the erstwhile pianist Lowell Davidson. After studying biochemistry at Harvard University, he moved to New York and played with Ornette Coleman who urged the ESP Disk label to record him. If the pianist is known at all, it is for the obscure but acclaimed Lowell Davidson Trio (ESP Disk, ...

Book Review

Pete Townshend: Who I Am

by Doug Collette
January 12, 2013

Who I AmPete Townshend544 pagesISBN: 978-0062127242Harper2012Guitarist Pete Townshend's autobiography is an engrossing, memorable read, due to the rigorous discipline Townshend applies to his writing, comparable to that which he devoted to his greatest music.Nevertheless, anyone looking for the comprehensive story of this man's life is not going to get it. Not that its generally broadminded and clear-eyed recollections, particularly in the early portions, aren't enlightening and ...

Album Review

The O'Farrill Brothers Band: Sensing Flight

Read "Sensing Flight" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 12, 2013

The prodigious progeny of famed pianist/composer/bandleader Arturo O'Farrill rightfully turned a lot of heads with Giant Peach (Zoho Music, 2011), but that record is easily eclipsed by Sensing Flight. With this sophomore release, drummer Zack O'Farrill and still-in-his-teens trumpeter Adam O'Farrill have gone a step beyond, reaching a level of artistic confidence that eludes most musicians of any age. Sensing Flight sets its course around the trumpeter's music, with six of the nine tunes belonging to the ...

Album Review

Silencio: Silencio

Read "Silencio" reviewed by Jack Huntley

by Jack Huntley
January 12, 2013

Composer, guitarist and bandleader Kirk Salopek's Silencio is a concept project that draws its inspiration from the films of David Lynch and the accompanying scores of Angelo Badalamenti. Like Salopek's previous outing, Transitions (Glassville, 2011), with his Mandrake Project, Silencio's strength is its ability to create instant atmosphere and lush, layered arrangements.Salopek's tunes are melody driven, but leave enough open space for the accompanying members of his El Gran Silencio group to play off each others' solos and ...

Extended Analysis

Special Edition

by John Kelman
January 11, 2013

With drummer/keyboardist Jack DeJohnette entering his eighth decade on planet earth, he's managed to accomplish what few other drummers have. Recipient of the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters Award, there are few jazz drummer s alive today who can cite as many recordings as the Chicago-born DeJohnette can, nor are there many who have been on such a diverse stylistic cross-section. DeJohnette, now a legend himself, was picked up by a large number of then-high profile musicians in the early days ...

Album Review

Enrico Rava: Rava on the Dance Floor

Read "Rava on the Dance Floor" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
January 11, 2013

Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava doing a tribute to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson? Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava doing a tribute to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, on ECM? If either of these concepts seem somehow wrong, it's likely because, in forty-plus years, ECM has garnered (beyond its reputation as one of the most important labels in the history of music) its share of magical (and incorrect) thinking. Rava, it turns, out, hadn't paid much attention to ...

Live Review

Planet D Nonet Annual Do-Ra

by Steve Bryant
January 11, 2013

Planet D NonetPlanet D Nonet Do-RaDetroit Institute of ArtDetroit, MIDecember 28, 2012The Detroit music scene is well known for its firm groundings in blues R&B, rock and hard-bop, which includes a large community of musicians as well as a solid fan base. What isn't as well known is that there is a sizable following for avant-garde jazz, especially for the music and mystique of Sun Ra. This interest in the legendary bandleader and ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Quinn Lemley

by AAJ Staff
January 11, 2013

Meet Quinn Lemley:Quinn Lemley star of Burlesque to Broadway and The Heat Is On!, a life in concert celebrating Rita Hayworth, an avid jazz singer of standards.Quinn has been performing her shows around the US and Canada, in performing arts centers and casinos to “ovational roars."Quinn performs her jazz show, Sexy, Smokin' Standards, in New York City at BB King's Blues Club and is thrilled to be “the iconic face" of The Half Note ...

Album Review

Ivan Hussey: Moods, Broods & Interludes

Read "Moods, Broods & Interludes" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 11, 2013

Cellist Ivan Hussey's career has included membership in the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra and a long list of sessions with acts such as Duran Duran, Mick Jagger and Soul II Soul. He makes his instrument of choice plain enough in his alter ego as Celloman but for Moods, Broods and Interludes he's content to perform as plain old Ivan Hussey, letting the sound of his instrument speak for itself. From the get-go--solo, or in duets, trios or quartets--that sound comes across ...