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

1982 + BJ Cole: 1982 + BJ Cole

Read "1982 + BJ Cole" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
December 17, 2012

With musical cross-pollination the norm, it's not just about pan-cultural blending; it's just as much about finding ways to blend the contemporary and the antiquated. Since inception, 1982 has combined instruments from across the centuries--harmonium, hardanger fiddle and drum set--wonderfully blending Norwegian traditionalism, millennium-spanning classicism and modernistic free improvisation on its self-titled, 2010 NORCD debut. If Pintera (Hubro, 2011) demonstrated further growth and consolidation of 1982's chemistry, 1982 + BJ Cole further broadens the trio's purview by inviting pedal steel ...

Interview

Marius Neset: Norwegian Woods

by Ian Patterson
December 17, 2012

Marius Neset has become one of today's most talked-about saxophonists since the release of Golden Xplosion (Edition Records, 2011). The album, which also features pianist/keyboardist Django Bates, bassist Jasper Hoiby and drummer Anton Eger, has received widespread five-star reviews, and countless superlatives have been used to heap praise on the 26-year-old from Bergen. Neset has been described as the most important Norwegian saxophonist since Jan Garbarek and has been compared to tenor great Michael Brecker, which may be high praise ...

Live Review

Barcelona Voll-Damm Jazz Festival: Barcelona, Spain, November 24-30, 2012

by Bruce Lindsay
December 17, 2012

Barcelona Voll-Damm International Jazz FestivalBarcelona, SpainNovember 24-30, 2012Sometimes picking a few festival highlights is easy. A big name turns on the charm, one or two young Turks announce their arrival on the scene, someone famous steps up at a jam session--the rest is okay, just nothing special. The Barcelona Voll-Damm Internacional Jazz Festival makes the process frustratingly difficult--it's a festival full of highlights, surprises and memorable moments, and the 2012 incarnation--the 44--proved to be no exception. Big ...

Album Review

RJ And The Assignment: Deceiving Eyes

Read "Deceiving Eyes" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 17, 2012

Chicago-born/Las Vegas-based pianist RJ channels a soulful adroitness on Deceiving Eyes. Aided by a rotating cast of musicians called The Assignment, RJ creates intricate and shimmering musical patterns on each of the eleven pieces that comprise his debut. On Herbie Hancock's “Dolphin Dance," RJ's sublimely stylish piano lines embellish the theme while bassist Scott Teeple's elegant solo wraps itself around the melody, giving it a bold flavor. Another bassist, Mariko Kitada, opens Cedar Walton's ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith & Louis Moholo-Moholo: Ancestors

Read "Ancestors" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
December 17, 2012

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo are grand old men in the annals of adventurous jazz, having played in a dizzying variety of settings through more than five decades. More to the point, both have amply shown a capacity for nuanced playing in demanding, interactive improvisational formats. An intimate duet performance by the pair, featured on Ancestors--sensitively recorded by Suikki Jääskä in Finland in February 2011--is thus a sure thing. The question is whether the result will exceed ...

Album Review

Chris Barber: Memories of My Trip

Read "Memories of My Trip" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
December 17, 2012

You will find very few jazz retrospectives more thoroughly, warmly inviting than Memories of My Trip, which celebrates six decades of recording and performing by one of Britain's most enduring traditional jazz musicians--trombonist, bassist and bandleader Chris Barber. Presented across two CDs (one subtitled Blues, Jazz & Gospel and the other subtitled Blues & Jazz), Barber's precious Memories are highlighted by admirers such as Muddy Waters, Keith Emerson, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and others from outside the traditional jazz realm.

Year in Review

Chris May's Best Jazz Books of 2012

by Chris May
December 16, 2012

Are the best books always about the past rather than the present, or is it simply easier to write about events on which the dust has settled? Whatever. These three books are all about the past and each is outstanding.Matthew RuddickFunny Valentine: The Story Of Chet BakerGrippingly written and meticulously researched, Matthew Ruddick's 828-page opus is the definitive biography of trumpeter and singer Chet Baker. More than that, it is a vivid account of ...

Album Review

Nutty: Jetsetter Jazz

Read "Jetsetter Jazz" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
December 16, 2012

The outsourcing of cover material in jazz has become relatively common practice. The vast Great American Songbook, with diversity ranging from popular standards to show tunes and beyond, has provided a goldmine for improvisation, as has gospel, blues and soul music. So the question arises: what about rock? Why hasn't this genre contributed more to the jazz repertoire? Is it that many jazz musicians don't want to admit that they came up--as many have--listening to rock, and still have an ...

From the Inside Out

From Britain to Boogaloo

by Chris M. Slawecki
December 16, 2012

Chris BarberMemories of My TripProper American Records2011 You will find very few jazz retrospectives more thoroughly, warmly inviting than Memories of My Trip, which celebrates six decades of recording and performing by one of Britain's most enduring traditional jazz musicians--trombonist, bassist and bandleader Chris Barber. Presented across two CDs (one subtitled Blues, Jazz & Gospel and the other subtitled Blues & Jazz), Barber's precious Memories are highlighted by admirers ...

Album Review

Donny McCaslin: Casting For Gravity

Read "Casting For Gravity" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
December 16, 2012

Tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin has bravely developed a uniquely personal sound that proudly claims its heritage in the long mainstream of jazz, yet sounds freshly innovative. He has released eleven albums under his leadership, among which Recommended Tools (Greenleaf, 2008), with its punishing, revealing trio format, was a high-water mark. McCaslin deploys sheets-of-sound density inherited from saxophonist John Coltrane, together with an inventive approach to rhythm and the placement of notes. This latter characteristic can sometimes resemble the playing of ...