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

Paris Jazz Diary 2012

by Patricia Myers
December 31, 2012

Paris is the New York City of the European jazz world. Any night of the week, live jazz is played somewhere in this multicultural metropolis where America's global gift is valued, venerated and celebrated. There are more than 30 live jazz venues, as well as sporadic and spontaneous performances on street corners and bridges, in Metro stations and parks, and at a large series of annual festivals.Live jazz is available in clubs every night, from swing to Latin to ...

Album Review

Dice Factory: Dice Factory

Read "Dice Factory" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
December 31, 2012

London-based quartet Dice Factory gets its name at least in part from Luke Rhinehart's 1971 novel The Dice Man, a work which seems to have found new fans among the current generation of emerging musicians, writers and artists. Dice Factory contains four such emerging players, each a member of at least one other major UK group--saxophonist Tom Challenger (Ma, Outhouse), pianist George Fogel (Ma, Andre Canniere Group), bassist Tom Farmer (Empirical) and drummer Jon Scott (Kairos 4tet).Just how ...

Album Review

Joachim Badenhorst: The Jungle He Told Me

Read "The Jungle He Told Me" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 31, 2012

Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst has been busy in the last five years. He is a member of the forward-thinking outfits of Dutch drummer Han Bennink, American saxophonist Tony Malaby, German trumpeter Thomas Heberer, and many other working bands. His first solo album, a limited edition vinyl, reveals Badenhorst as a versatile musician well-versed in the history of modern jazz, free jazz and free improvisation, with his own personal sound--searching and thoughtful yet warm and emotional. Badenhorst ...

Live Review

Jonathan Batiste: New York, NY, December 12, 2012

by Bob Kenselaar
December 31, 2012

Jonathan Batiste and the Stay Human Band National Jazz Museum in Harlem Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church New York, NY December 12, 2012Go to any of the major New York City jazz venues and you'll sometimes get the feeling you're in church. The crowds are polite and attentive; some people might even have their hands folded on the tables. So, if you're hoping for something along these lines from Jon Batiste ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Dezron Douglas

by AAJ Staff
December 31, 2012

Meet Dezron Douglas: On Dezron Douglas: Live at Smalls, the bass prodigy is presented with a band of his peers: the highly original Stacy Dillard, the fiery Josh Evans, pianist David Bryant and the veteran drummer Willie Jones III.Hailing from Hartford, CT, Douglas is a product of the Jackie McLean institute. Quickly establishing himself as a dominant voice on the jazz scene of New York City, Dezron began to work with such giants as Louis Hayes, Pharoah Sanders, ...

Album Review

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet: Into the Air

Read "Into the Air" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 31, 2012

It's albums like Into the Air that accentuate the refreshing aggregation of ideologies and styles of Nashville, TN., where disparate genres align into nicely flavored outputs. Indeed, Coffin's sixth album leading the Mu'Tet, is a colorific offering that integrates funk, soul, and ballsy blues with electro-organic jazz phrasings, jazz-fusion and other cohesively interwoven stylizations.Bassist Felix Pastorius once again demonstrates a genetic extraction of sorts from his father Jaco, and sets the table for a new wave of bass ...

Interview

Davey Payne: Ready To Play

by Sammy Stein
December 31, 2012

Davey Payne is known best for the time when he was saxophonist with British group, The Blockheads. His solo on the 1978 number 1 hit, “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" was the first time a double sax solo had appeared on a hit record. Before he joined forces with Dury, who fronted The Blockheads from 1978 until his death in 2000, Payne was already working round Europe in free playing ensembles with musicians like reed player Terry ...

Live Review

Duduka Da Fonseca & Helio Alves: New York, NY, December 22, 2012

by Dan Bilawsky
December 30, 2012

Duduka Da Fonseca and Helio AlvesDizzy's Club Coca-ColaNew York, New YorkDecember 22, 2012The air in New York's Central Park carried a chill on the Saturday night before Christmas, 2012, but a balmy Brazilian atmosphere was keeping folks warm a stone's throw away, inside Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. Drummer Duduka Da Fonseca and pianist Helio Alves convened a collection of their friends and frequent associates for a stroll through the best of Brazil and beyond, and they ...

Album Review

Jaiman Crunk: Encounters

Read "Encounters" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
December 30, 2012

Seattle-based guitarist Jaiman Crunk hasn't taken half measures on Encounters, his debut as leader. In addition to marshalling over 20 top jazz musicians--cherry picked for specific roles--Crunk employs fourteen brass, woodwind and string musicians from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra on half the compositions. These four numbers in particular underline Crunk's notable compositional and arranging skills and he succeeds, as few do, in marrying the classical and jazz idioms. Crunk's guitar playing is an added bonus, but it's the strength in ...

Multiple Reviews

Phish: 12/6/97 The Palace of Auburn Hills and Star Lake '98

by Doug Collette
December 30, 2012

As with other Phish archive titles such as Chicago '94 (Jemp, 2012), The Palace of Auburn Hills December 6,1997 and Star Lake '98 offer more than mere comparison and contrast of musicianship: the download/two-CD set and DVD alternately accentuate and complement the band's current activities. And while both titles boast eye-catching graphics (the former eschews generic bootleg style for downright dazzling stage photos), neither title includes historical content to put the music within into some historical perspective for those outside ...