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

Coreto: Aljamia

by Dan Bilawsky
January 7, 2013

The full power of Coreto's music is felt in the combinatorial possibilities that exist with eleven individualists pulling their weight. This particular project is the first of what promises to be many from the Porto-Jazz Association, a collective of strong, modern jazz personalities based in Oporto, Portugal. Though still at an early stage as a cooperative unit, this album is a good indication that the association has the potential to do for its scene what the Brooklyn Jazz Collective has ...

Extended Analysis

Eberhard Weber: Resume

by John Kelman
January 7, 2013

You've got to admire German-born, France-resident bassist Eberhard Weber. Suffering a major stroke while on tour with Jan Garbarek in 2007--an association that went back more than 30 years, the two first collaborating on American guitarist/pianist Ralph Towner's Solstice (ECM, 1975) and Weber becoming the Norwegian saxophonist's bassist of choice beginning with Photo With Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows And A Red Roof (ECM, 1978)--to this day Weber's left side remains too weak for him to play his unique, ...

Album Review

Suzzette Ortiz: Renacer

by Steve Bryant
January 7, 2013

There are a lot of jazz players out there who for gotten tired of waiting for some label to record them and take decided to do it themselves. Philadelphia's Suzzette Ortiz, who has been laboring in the trenches for the past two decades, took it upon herself to record her own music. The Puerto Rican-born pianist came to Philly to study music, and racked up some heavy duty credentials along the way. She studied choral conducting at Julliard and Temple, ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Dmitri Matheny

by AAJ Staff
January 7, 2013

Meet Dmitri Matheny: Celebrated for his warm tone, soaring lyricism and masterful technique, Dmitri Matheny has been lauded as “the first breakthrough flugelhornist since Chuck Mangione" (San Jose Mercury News). An honors graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and Berklee College of Music, Matheny was first introduced to jazz audiences in the 1990s as the protégé of Art Farmer, and has since matured into “one of the jazz world's most talented horn players" (SF Chronicle). Matheny tours internationally, performing material from ...

Interview

John McLaughlin: Risk, Magic And Mystery

by Ian Patterson
January 7, 2013

Shortly after completing a successful European tour with the 4th Dimension, guitarist John McLaughlin has some time to put his well-traveled feet up at his home in Monaco and reflect on the evolution of this band, its second CD, Now Here This (Abstract Logix, 2012), and the mysteries of live performance. Yet, just two days before this phone interview took place, the great Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar passed away at the age of 92, and it seems more than ...

Album Review

Dave Manington's Riff Raff: Hullabaloo

Read "Hullabaloo" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
January 6, 2013

A band called Riff Raff, an album titled Hullabaloo; it's a fair bet that a rowdy collection of delinquents is about to create a raucous musical racket. The bet would be lost, however, as both band name and album title misdirect. Hullabaloo is a collection of free-flowing, often meditative tunes written by bassist/bandleader Dave Manington and performed by a sextet that harnesses its creative energies in the service of these compositions.Manington is a founder member of London's Loop ...

From Far and Wide

Guitarist Tomas Janzon Basks in Bassists

by Fradley Garner
January 6, 2013

Guitarist Tomas Janzon Basks in BassistsPlayers who lead trios and duos featuring a bassist tend to stick with one. Tomas Janzon is happy with Essiet Essiet, 56, drummer Art Blakey's last bassist.Yet, “There are so many extraordinary bassists in New York," the Big Apple-based Swedish guitarist tells me, “that I am happy to work with lots of them. They're all so different, and I always make it a conversation. Sometimes you interrupt, sometimes you just listen ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Paul Van Ross

by AAJ Staff
January 6, 2013

Meet Paul Van Ross:Based in Melbourne, Australia, Paul has been a musical performer for over 20 years. He has performed all over the world in various musical ensembles. He is frequently in demand as a leader and sideman for his versatility.Instrument(s):Saxophone, flute, clarinet.Teachers and/or influences?George Garzone; Rob Schepps; Andrew Stermann; Keith Underwood; John Coltrane; Joe Henderson; Michael Brecker; Kenny Garrett.Road story: Your best or worst experience:Once ...

Album Review

Cremaster & Angharad Davies: Pluie Fine

Read "Pluie Fine" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
January 6, 2013

Cremaster is the well-established electro-acoustic duo of Alfredo Costa Monteiro and Ferran Fages, both from the Barcelona experimental music scene. While using electro-acoustic devices, they commendably claim to avoid effects, loops or prerecorded material--which certainly distinguishes them from many others active in a similar area. As a duo, their releases notably include Live at Audiograft (Consumer Waste, 2012) and Igneo (Cathnor, 2010). Pluie Fine is distinctly different, as it integrates the duo with the London-based Welsh violinist: Angharad ...

Album Review

David Kilminster: Scarlet - The Director's Cut

Read "Scarlet - The Director's Cut" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 6, 2013

UK guitar ace David Kilminster boasts an impressive résumé that includes stints with progressive rock icons such as, keyboardist Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) and bassist John Wetton (Asia, King Crimson), amid his support for rock legend Roger Waters during the ex-Pink Floyd bassist's 2006 tour. A revered session artist, Kilminster's debut solo outing highlights his tasteful and multi-textured chord voicings, spanning progressive pop, progressive metal and a few ballads, featuring strings accompaniment and ethereal background vocals. He doesn't ...