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.

Year in Review

Dan Bilawsky's Best Releases of 2012

by Dan Bilawsky
December 23, 2012

Transcendent recordings don't come with a label identifying their magnificence, but they're easy to pick out. I had the honor and privilege of receiving, and listening to, more than 375 CDs for review consideration in 2012. I reviewed approximately 165 of them and these were the 15 that rose above the rest. Some are bold and others practice the art of quiet seduction, but every one of them won me over from the get go and remain close to my ...

Album Review

Jonathan Saraga: First Vision

Read "First Vision" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 23, 2012

Award-winning trumpeter Jonathan Saraga's First Vision, is a skillfully conceived and exquisitely realized debut that brings to mind the edgy, envelope-pushing hard bop of many a Blue Note record in the early 1960s. The modal melodies are artfully orchestrated, allowing each musician the full breadth of his spontaneous creativity without resorting to unfettered clamor. Not a single note is wasted. Whether on trumpet or flugelhorn, Saraga's clear, elegiac tone weaves intricate musical tales around the themes. “Guidance," ...

Year in Review

John Kelman's Best Live Shows of 2012

by John Kelman
December 23, 2012

Another tremendous year of travel, to find music in whatever nook and cranny it's hiding. From South Africa to Sweden, from Norway to the Netherlands, and from Germany to home base in Ottawa, Canada, it seemed as though there was an endless supply of great music to see--and even more that sadly had to be skipped. 2012 was a special year for All About Jazz, too: for the first time, we were invited to curate a series, in ...

Live Review

Scott Reeves Quintet with Duane Eubanks: Nyack, NY, November 30, 2012

by David A. Orthmann
December 23, 2012

Scott Reeves Quintet with Duane EubanksNyack Library Carnegie RoomNyack, NYNovember 30, 2012There are a number of reasons why tribute concerts, a staple of today's live performance landscape, go awry. When an MC emits an endless stream of hyperbole, or offers a history lesson reminiscent of the ones that put high school students to sleep, it's going to be a long night. The inclusion of an otherwise capable musician who is stylistically incompatible with the rest ...

Album Review

Quentin Angus Quintet: Retrieval Structure

Read "Retrieval Structure" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
December 23, 2012

Hailing from South Australia's elegant and cultural capital of Adelaide, Quentin Angus leads a vibrant and formidable US quintet with the modern fusion-like Retrieval Structure, the young guitarist's debut as leader, delivering a set of fresh, sophisticated compositions. Currently based in New York while he pursues a Master's degree from the State of New York Purchase College, Angus has toured internationally, appearing at various jazz festivals throughout Europe as well as performing at some of New York City's most popular ...

Album Review

The Paul Dunlea Group: bi-polAr

Read "bi-polAr" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
December 22, 2012

Ireland's jazz scene may not yet count for much on the international stage, but it's producing players and writers of undoubted talent. On the evidence of bi-polAr, trombonist Paul Dunlea can be added to that growing roster, especially for lovers of the funkier end of the jazz spectrum.Based in Cork, Dunlea formed the Paul Dunlea Group in 2011. bi-polAr is Dunlea's debut album as leader, but he's by no means a newcomer, having worked as a musician or ...

Album Review

Sherri Roberts: Lovely Days

Read "Lovely Days" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
December 22, 2012

Lovely Days is a “classical" piano-vocals recital. It is classical in the respect of that this spare pairing is time tested and well respected across musical genres. Bay-area vocalist Sherri Roberts downsizes from her previous three recordings to a duo setting with pianist Bliss Rodriguez. Robert's repertoire comes directly from the Great American Songbook, first half of the 20th Century, but not from the absolutely most dog-eared pages. All ballads, “What's New," “My funny Valentine" and “You'd Be So Nice ...

Extended Analysis

Porcupine Tree: Octane Twisted

by John Kelman
December 22, 2012

Like it or not, the near-term future of British progressive/psychedelic rock Porcupine Tree is in a place of relative uncertainty. When group founder/singer/primary writer Steven Wilson was interviewed for All About Jazz in support of his the live solo set Get All You Deserve (Kscope, 2012), he revealed that 2013 will be focused largely on The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories (Kscope, 2013)--the studio follow-up to his stellar sophomore studio date Grace for Drowning (Kscope, 2011)--and an ...

Live Review

Dianne Reeves Quartet: Philadelphia, PA, December 1, 2012

by Lewis J Whittington
December 22, 2012

Dianne Reeves QuartetAnnenberg CenterPhiladelphia, PADecember 1, 2012Even though jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves grew up in Denver, judging by the reception she gets in Philly it could easily be her adopted hometown crowd. Reeves was back for a single tour date in support of two new recordings, and warmly recalled her first date in Philly at the Chestnut Cabaret in the '80s, saying that she still remembered how crowded it was and the great time she ...

Album Review

Guy Sion: Away

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 22, 2012

The title of Israel-born, Oslo-based saxophonist Guy Sion's debut symbolizes his state of mind, having been away from home, moving from one place to another in the last decade--leaving Israel for music studies in Amsterdam, then moving to New York and finally settling in Oslo. Sion's original compositions reflect this long winding road-- modern American jazz with a taste of calm, Nordic lyricism that involves both American and Norwegian musicians. Sion tends to write well-crafted and linear ...