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.

Live Review

ECM: A Cultural Archeology

by John Kelman
January 2, 2013

ECM: A Cultural ArcheologyHaus der KunstMünchen, GermanyNovember 23, 2012-February 10, 2013A trip to München (Munich) is a bit like a pilgrimage for fans of Germany's ECM label, especially right now, with the city's Haus der Kunst hosting a three-month exhibition, ECM: A Cultural Archeology, celebrating the music of this nearly 44 year-old label on the cusp of founder and primary producer Manfred Eicher's 70th birthday in 2013. The exhibition, curated by Okwui Enwezor and Markus ...

Year in Review

Ian Patterson's Best Releases of 2012

by Ian Patterson
January 2, 2013

With more and more music being produced independently, it's harder each year to find the time to listen to a lot of it, never mind review it. The following baker's dozen represents some, though not all of my favorite music of 2012. Jenny Scheinman Mischief and Mayhem Self Produced 2012 The title of violinist Jenny Scheinman's sixth album as leader tells much of, but not the whole story. Playful and ...

Album Review

Paul Lytton & Nate Wooley + Ikue Mori & Ken Vandermark: The Nows

Read "The Nows" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 2, 2013

Ultra-progressive jazz and avant-garde expressionism are trumpeter Nate Wooley's toy stores, so to speak. He's well-established in the modern era's radical music scene and teams here with venerable Euro-jazz percussionist Paul Lytton, equating to a vivid snapshot of the duo's 2011 US tour. Brilliant minds think alike, and the proof resides in the multifarious modes of delivery conjured up by these artists. It's not only about stirring improvisational encounters, because the musicians also sculpture a seemingly endless array of sounds, ...

Year in Review

Bruce Lindsay's Best Releases of 2012

by Bruce Lindsay
January 2, 2013

The year of 2012 proved once again that jazz remains a wonderfully diverse and diverting art form. Here are ten of my favorite albums, in no particular order.Christine TobinSailing To Byzantium(Trail Belle)A joy from first note to last, this is a majestic and beautiful work. Ian ShawA Ghost In Every Bar(Splash Point Records)Just voice and piano--and some of the finest song lyrics in the ...

Album Review

Jon Raskin and Clara Harryman: Open Box

Read "Open Box" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
January 2, 2013

Among the varied collaborations between poets and musicians, or the adaptation of poetry to music, the setting of Carla Harryman's genre-busting poetry to improvised music by ROVA Saxophone Quartet's Jon Raskin is outstanding. Not only because of Harryman's avant-garde poetic language--often focusing on the language itself, its contradictions and shortcomings--subverting its attempts to capture the fleeting thoughts of the poet or contemplating on its contribution to common complicity to power; rather, mainly due to its success at creating an original ...

Album Review

Karriem Riggins: Alone Together

Read "Alone Together" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
January 1, 2013

Drummer Karriem Riggins has performed with or arranged for vocalist Betty Carter, pianist Oscar Peterson and bassist Ray Brown; he sat in the drummer's chair on pianist Mulgrew Miller's excellent Live at Yoshi's, Volume One (MAXJAZZ, 2004) and Two (MAXJAZZ, 2005). Hell, he even plays on ex-Beatle bassist-vocalist Paul McCartney's Kisses on the Bottom (Hear Music, 2012). These are pretty high-level mainstream credentials.But Riggins is a Jekyll-and-Hyde; he's an equally productive hip hop producer, having overseen releases by ...

Album Review

Scott Healy-Glenn Alexander Quartet: Northern Light

Read "Northern Light" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 1, 2013

In today's fast-paced world, there's a tendency to try to write, record and release music in quick succession, but that's not always the best method. Sometimes, recorded music sounds best when it's had the chance to marinate and soak up the diverse flavors of time. Such is the case with the unintentional decades-long gap between the recording and release of this album. Pianist Scott Healy and guitarist Glenn Alexander recorded Northern Light in 1991, when they were ...

Album Review

Noertker's Moxie: Little Bluedevil (Blue Rider Suite, Vol. 2)

Read "Little Bluedevil (Blue Rider Suite, Vol. 2)" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 1, 2013

In the liners to Little Bluedevil (Blue Rider Suite, Vol. 2), bassist Bill Noertker provides insight into his penchant for gleaning inspiration from visual artists and extending the Germany-based Blue Rider Movement that was formed in 1911 by artists, armed with disparate creative ideologies. Noertker's compositions derive inferences from nouveau classical concepts, dance, minimalism, mainstream jazz, bop and often propose theatrical attributes. As a bassist, he becomes deeply involved in the mechanics, coming from nearly all conceivable angles.

Take Five With...

Take Five With Tyler Mitchell

by AAJ Staff
January 1, 2013

Meet Tyler Mitchell: Chicago born Tyler Mitchell studied the bass with Don Rafael Garrett (John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Rahsaan Roland Kirk) and Malachi Favors (Art Ensemble of Chicago). He played with Von Freeman before moving to New York in 1984. In 1985/86, he joined the Sun Ra Arkestra, with whom he played and toured Europe and Japan and recorded two albums. He was part of the Steve Grossman Trio, with Art Taylor, touring Europe in 1987 and recording. ...

Catching Up With

Melissa Aldana: Living a Second Cycle

by Marta Ramon
January 1, 2013

Melissa Aldana may still be in her early twenties, but the tenor saxophonist already knows what it is like to play with big jazz names like saxophonists George Coleman, Benny Golson and George Garzone. In a short time, Aldana has found her own place in the difficult New York jazz scene because she has developed a new voice that has commanded the attention of both the public and her peers. An obvious talent, one which made Greg Osby ...