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

Naked Truth: Ouroboros

Read "Ouroboros" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
January 9, 2013

With apologies to the late guitarist Pete Cosey (who led a band by the name), the members of Naked Truth are bona fide “children of Agharta." That is, the group--led by bassist-guitarist Lorenzo Feliciati--has absorbed and adapted the lessons of trumpeter Miles Davis's exhausting, tectonic live recording Agharta (Columbia, 1975) so well that Davis' disc can be revisited with fresh ears and new appreciation.What does it mean to be children of Agharta? The brooding Ouroboros would not be ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Arturo Stable

by AAJ Staff
January 9, 2013

Meet Arturo Stable:The winds of change are blowing through the Latin jazz world. Increasingly, they are as fresh as they are strong, signaling the emergence of new stylistic directions for the venerable genre and the arrival of the idiom's next generation of innovators and leaders. In the vanguard of the movement's most talented young exponents is Arturo Stable, an energetic, resourceful and innovative free spirit whose broad range of talents defies easy categorization.Stable has gained invaluable ...

Album Review

Phantom Orchard Orchestra: Trouble In Paradise

Read "Trouble In Paradise" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
January 9, 2013

Phantom Orchard began as an experimental duo comprised of two innovative figures from the experimental New York downtown scene: Ikue Mori, who exchanged the drummer position in the No Wave band DNA for a unique exploration of electronic sounds; and Zeena Parkins, who has expanded the vocabulary of the harp in acoustic and electric contexts. The duo released its self-titled Mego debut in 2004 and, four years later, hosted other like-minded sonic explorers on their sophomore Orra (Tzadik, 2008).

Album Review

KyungGu Lee: New Song

Read "New Song" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 8, 2013

Jazz is all about artistic growth and an individual's willingness to move outside of his/her comfort zone to make it happen. Tenor saxophonist KyungGu Lee has firsthand knowledge of this fact; the Korean-born Lee had settled into a comfortable musical life in his native land, playing the clubs, teaching, and working the theater and television sides of the music business, but realized that he needed to push beyond what he already knew in order grow. So, he packed up his ...

Interview

Erik Honore: Small Sonic Postcards

by Nenad Georgievski
January 8, 2013

Compared to the rest of Europe, Norway's thriving music scene--be it jazz, pop, electronic or in-between genres--seems to be the most varied. Since1996/97, with the release of a number of seminal recordings including trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær's Khmer (ECM, 1997), keyboardist Bugge Wesseltoft's New Conception of Jazz (Jazzland, 1996) and noise improv quartet Supersilent's triple-disc debut, 1-3 (Rune Grammofon, 1997), different strands from that scene joined forces and a new kind of music emerged, one that has not shied away ...

Album Review

Alberto Mizrahi: Matzah to Menorah: A Holiday Jazz Celebration

Read "Matzah to Menorah: A Holiday Jazz Celebration" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
January 8, 2013

There is a well-established legacy of fusing the sacred with the secular in jazz. Pianist Duke Ellington's Concert of Sacred Music (RCA, 1966) is, perhaps, the most ceremonial example of this but there is a myriad of other recordings. Guitarist Grant Green's gospel-inspired Feelin' the Spirit (Blue Note, 1962), pianist/harpist Alice Coltrane's exploration of Hinduism and beyond on Universal Consciousness (Impulse!, 1972) and saxophonist Pharoah Sanders' nod to Islam with the classic Summun Bukmun Umyun (Impulse!, 1970), are a few ...

Record Label Profile

More Fresh Sounds From Fresh Sound

by Bruce Klauber
January 8, 2013

The Fresh Sound record label has released another superb batch of late 1950s and early 1960s recordings by jazz legends, greats, near-greats and now obscure artists who, then and now, deserve wider recognition. As detailed in previous pieces, Fresh Sound is the only organization out there issuing these essential works, which otherwise would remain lost. Without doubt, in the legendary category are the 1956 and 1957 quintet and sextet sessions led by vibraphonist Milt Jackson and featuring the ...

Album Review

Dennis Haklar: Lizard's Tale

Read "Lizard's Tale" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 8, 2013

There's always been an implicit connection between progressive rock and jazz fusion. Years of Internet-based collaborations with fabled prog-rock vocalist Jon Anderson (Yes) led to his appearance on several tracks for New Jersey-based studio engineer and session guitarist Dennis Haklar's debut solo effort. The guitarist also employs former instructor, jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell, along with the imposing rhythm section of bassist Mark Egan (Pat Metheny Group) and drummer Thierry Arpino (Jean-Luc Ponty). Without even listening to the album, it ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Bob Wijnen

by AAJ Staff
January 8, 2013

Meet Bob Wijnen:Bob Wijnen is a pianist of great sensitivity and depth. Much in demand as an accompanist, he is known for having some of the best ears around, as well as being an elegant and adventurous soloist who has absorbed a great deal of the history of jazz piano.He has toured Indonesia (Java Jazz Festival), Michigan USA, and Iceland, and can be heard on CDs by Maygus (Double Moon Records), Sanna van Vliet 's Insight ...

Album Review

Manami Morita: When Skies Are Grey

Read "When Skies Are Grey" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
January 7, 2013

Japanese pianist Manami Morita has made a name for herself in Boston since arriving in 2006 to study at Berklee College of Music. Whether solo, in guitarist Colin Cannon's quartet or leading her own trio, Morita's impressive technique harnesses energy and finesse in equal measure, qualities to the fore on her fourth release as leader. Morita doesn't sacrifice melody for virtuosity either, though there are plenty of fireworks in these vibrant arrangements. Morita, moreover, seems to embrace greater use of ...