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

Duke Ellington Orchestra: Big Bands Live

Read "Big Bands Live" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 30, 2012

By 1967, the heyday of the big band was over. Rock and Roll ruled as the popular music of the day, and the financial challenges of keeping a large ensemble together for recording--and especially touring--were huge. But Duke Ellington--one of American's finest bandleaders, pianists, and composers--was more than just a genius in the field of music. He also succeeded as a business man, keeping his orchestra not only busy on the road, but also creating his finest art--what he called ...

Year in Review

R.J. DeLuke's Best Releases of 2012

by R.J. DeLuke
December 30, 2012

A ton of fine music came out in 2012, like most years, making these year-end lists very difficult. A lot we don't get to hear, so that limits some. For example, I've not yet heard the 2012 disks of drummer Jack DeJohnette, trumpeter Christian Scott or guitarist John McLaughlin and the Fourth Dimension. Having seen each of them live in 2012, it's easy to know their disks must be superb. Their concerts were fabulous. Also, Top 10? Not happening. It's ...

Album Review

Donny McCaslin: Casting For Gravity

Read "Casting For Gravity" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 30, 2012

Incorporating electronic instrumentation into his palette, tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin dishes out a thrusting program that could, to some extent, be nestled within the jazz-fusion genre, but not in the traditional sense. The hard-hitting saxophonist and his band integrate fusion mechanics and spacey treatments to underscore many of the popping grooves, thundering pulses, knotty time signatures and progressive-jazz type soloing exchanges with keyboardist Jason Lindner. But McCaslin doesn't engage technical gymnastics or complexities simply for the sake of it.

Extended Analysis

Lee Konitz: Four Classic Albums

by David Rickert
December 29, 2012

Besides being one of the few altoists that emerged in the 1950s that doesn't sound like Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz was a true musical adventurer whose explorations in free jazz, electronic instruments, and just all around anything goes sessions resulted in some of the most exciting music that came out of the fifties and beyond. His playing, which is marked by a detachment and intellectualism that can sound rehearsed, isn't for everyone, but there's no doubt that Konitz has, and ...

Album Review

Myriad3: Tell

by Bruce Lindsay
December 29, 2012

Tell is the debut of Myriad3, a young, Toronto, Canada-based trio formed in 2011 after its members met on local gigs. Recording the album over just two days the following year, the trio's interplay and sense of togetherness belie both its members' youth and the relatively recent establishment of Myriad3 as a unit. There's a very democratic feel to the trio's work with no obvious leader, no obvious follower, and each player taking the role that best suits the music ...

Album Review

Christian Spering: Inside Bach

Read "Inside Bach" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 29, 2012

The arrangement of violin sonatas and partitas, and the cello suites of Johan Sebastian Bach for solo double bass is a tasking and rare challenge, especially for improvising bassists. Classically trained bassist like Edgar Meyer have transposed Bach's cello suites to double bass on the critically acclaimed Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites Performed on Double Bass (Sony, 2000), but it is still an exceptional achievement. Now, Swedish bass master Christian Spering offers a different insight into the composer's timeless music.

Extended Analysis

Ljubojna Brass Fantasy

by Nenad Georgievski
December 29, 2012

With Ljubojna Brass Fantasy, Ljubojna exceeds the exceptionally high standards it has set for itself. For this occasion, that band leader/ bassist Oliver Josifovski has completely changed the concept of the band by using a huge brass orchestra instead of the regular band for a collection of traditional Macedonian songs, only this time coming exclusively from the region of Aegean Macedonia (today's Northern Greece). Experimentation or taking chances with arrangements is not something new for this group or its bandleader. ...

Album Review

The Doors: Live At The Bowl '68

Read "Live At The Bowl '68" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
December 29, 2012

The Doors' Live at The Bowl '68 is a remarkable piece of work, as much for the technical wizardry of the recording it comprises as for the pointed restraint on the part of the iconic band as it performs.Arguably at the height of its popularity at the time of this July 5, 1968 performance at the famed Los Angeles venue, The Doors was about to peak in commercial terms, at which point its music suffered as much as ...

Live Review

London Jazz Festival: November 9-18, 2012

by Duncan Heining
December 29, 2012

London Jazz FestivalLondon, England November, 9-18, 2012Now in its 20th year, the London Jazz Festival is a vast, all-encompassing affair. One of the great cities of the world, London's history saw it swallow village upon village and hamlet after hamlet and this can make it all seem dispersed and disconnected. It's an issue that poses all manner of logistical problems for the festival's producer, Serious. Yet, year on year, a better and better balance between club ...

Album Review

Ingebrigt Haker Flaten New York Quartet: Now IS

by Mark Corroto
December 28, 2012

The term “texture" is often used when referring to an artist's work. The surfaces of German painter Gerhard Richter or American Jackson Pollock's paintings are rich with tactile feel, but the trained viewer can also appreciate the art below the cosmetic. The same applies to the quartet of improvisers organized by Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.Best known for his work in the bands Atomic, The Thing, Paul Giallorenzo Trio, and Free Fall, since moving to Texas Flaten has ...