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.

Scumbles

Jazz in a Changing World

by Sammy Stein
December 25, 2012

Jazz has influenced many other genres of music and, likewise, many other genres have influenced jazz from its very beginning. What is really exciting about the scene at the moment is just how much enrichment it is getting from the rest of the world. It works both ways, of course; jazz musicians from countries which have, until recently, had very small scenes are benefitting from warm receptions in established venues. Audiences are benefitting from having an increasingly diverse range of ...

Album Review

Jonathan Saraga Quintet: First Vision

Read "First Vision" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 25, 2012

Trumpeter Jonathan Saraga opens his debut, First Vision with the eleven-and-a-half-minute original, “Guidance," a probing rumination that flares up during his solo. The tune as a whole is a slow burn, but it bursts into high flames as it comes to its conclusion.The leader has assembled a fine quintet of standard configuration--two horns, a chording instrument (here, guitar), bass and drums. The music, all Saraga-penned, has an uncommon freshness coming from a 24 year-old artist who is well ...

Album Review

Food: Mercurial Balm

Read "Mercurial Balm" reviewed by David McLean

by David McLean
December 25, 2012

Food's seventh studio album and second for the ECM label is easily the most cohesive offering from its varied discography. A combination of live and studio recordings, British saxophonist Iain Ballamy and Norwegian beat technician Thomas Strønen travel through a rich plateau of effervescent electronics, propulsive yet angular rhythms and near twilight jazz phrasings, which combine to create a heady, ethno-centric mix. As on Quiet Inlet (ECM, 2010), the duo continues to bring in similarly disciplined experimenters to add to ...

Album Review

Mort Weiss: I'll Be Seeing You

Read "I'll Be Seeing You" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
December 24, 2012

Clarinetist Mort Weiss is a character. That much is readily evident by reading his All About Jazz column, The Mort Report. He is opinionated and passionate, both driving forces that easily season his playing in such a way that when Weiss plays, he's readily recognizable. Since returning to recording in 2001 after nearly 30 years away, Weiss has recorded a number of well-received CDs bringing him to what he considers his most fully realized release, I'll Be Seeing You.

Interview

Mort Weiss: Mort to Come

by Sammy Stein
December 24, 2012

Mort Weiss is a clarinetist with attitude. He has also achieved what few would dare--taking a break from music for almost 40 years and then making a successful comeback. Every man is a sum of his parts, his life story put together like pieces of a jigsaw. For some, the puzzle is simple, pieces slot together easily with all the clichés: steady home, school, college, first instrument, the break, career, marriage, kids, life, more or less in that order. For ...

Year in Review

Troy Collins' Best Releases of 2012

by Troy Collins
December 24, 2012

Considering the quantity of recordings released in a year's time, attempting to compile an end of the year list mentioning every first-rate session would be difficult at best. The ten titles included below are among the most exceptional new jazz albums I've heard in 2012. Jason Robinson Tiresian Symmetry Cuneiform Records Multi-instrumentalist Jason Robinson's second Cuneiform release is once again inspired by Greek mythology. Despite the esoteric foundations of Robinson's sophisticated writing, his nonet's ...

Album Review

Tom Hewson: Slightly Peculiar

Read "Slightly Peculiar" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
December 24, 2012

Pianist Tom Hewson didn't set out to make a solo piano album; it's just the way the nine original compositions which grace Slightly Peculiar turned out. At least that's the way he tells it. The story suggests that Hewson is a rather self-effacing chap--he could just as readily have spun a tale of grand schemes and master plans. The music tends to support this perception. There's no showboating, no outpouring of virtuosity for its own sake, nothing to frighten the ...

Album Review

Andreas Ulvo + Slagr: Softspeaker

Read "Softspeaker" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 24, 2012

The music of Norwegian pianist Andreas Ulvo--a member of the Eple Trio and Karl Seglem's acoustic quartet--commutes naturally between the worlds of modern jazz, contemporary classical music, Norwegian folk music and even pop songs. All these musical universes are melted organically to his collaboration with Norwegian contemporary folk music ensemble Slagr. The aptly titled Softspeaker describes beautifully this collaborative effort. Ulvo's calm, highly melodic and reserved piano playing has much in common with the warm, trance-like ambiances ...

Live Review

All That Jazz Month: Phoenix, AZ, November 9-30, 2012

by Patricia Myers
December 24, 2012

All That Jazz MonthMusical Instrument MuseumPhoenix, AZNovember 9-30, 2012All That Jazz Month, in November 2012 at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), featured a star-studded concert series that included the saxophonist Branford Marsalis Quartet, vocalese masters Manhattan Transfer, DIVA Jazz Trio with saxophonist Grace Kelly, and a Django Reinhardt Tribute, all staged to introduce a newly expanded jazz history exhibit.The month was launched Nov. 9-11 with an All That Jazz weekend that included concerts, ...

Album Review

Scott Henderson / Jeff Berlin / Dennis Chambers: HBC

by Glenn Astarita
December 23, 2012

Not simply a super-group, but more like a jazz-fusion superpower as this formidable trio melds classic fusion works amid a few originals on its debut release, although the artists have crossed paths over the years. Bios and resumes would transcend the limitations of a review or analysis. So, it's the in-your-face attitude, creative impetus, and the respective musicians' gargantuan chops that account for a passionate exposition. Guitarist Scott Henderson's enviable technique as a monumental blues-rock soloist shines on ...