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

Claudio Scolari: Synthesis

Read "Synthesis" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 6, 2012

When the personnel credits on an album list more than four times as many instruments as players, it's almost certain that said recording will be an interesting ride; it's also likely be met with pre-listening scepticism by those who question the wisdom, cohesiveness and musicality inherent in we-play-everything outings. The “everything but the kitchen sink" path is fraught with peril, but drummer/percussionist/conceptualist Claudio Scolari has figured out how to make it work, survive and thrive. Scolari and ...

Live Review

2012 Tampere Jazz Happening: Tampere, Finland, November 1-4, 2012

by Martin Longley
December 6, 2012

Tampere Jazz Happening Tampere, Finland November 1-4, 2012 Here's another veteran jazz festival, and one which has been gaining increasing international recognition during recent years. This is a Happening with a personality. A distinct orientation to its programming, and a taste for the more adventurous aspects of jazz. The Finnish city of Tampere has traditionally been likened to Manchester in England, but perhaps Birmingham would be a closer comparison, with its deeply ingrained industrial ...

Album Review

Perelman - Morris - Cleaver: Living Jelly

Read "Living Jelly" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 6, 2012

It may take some stamina to keep up with Brazilian avant-garde tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, as he often releases several albums in unison. Living Jelly, featuring guitarist Joe Morris and drummer Gerald Cleaver, marks one of three concurrent albums produced for Leo Records. Offering ensemble and stylistic contrasts, Perelman garners the support of pianist Matthew Shipp and drummer Whit Dickey on The Clairvoyant (Leo, 2012), and realigns with Shipp and bassist Michael Bisio on The Gift (Leo, 2012). Three outings ...

Album Review

Ligeia Mare: 1

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 6, 2012

Ligeia Mare is a loose, intuitive aggregation of musicians within the Boulder/Denver, Colorado area, headed by multi-instrumentalists Farrell Lowe and Dave Wiley. Farrell and Wiley formed this outfit after collaborating successfully in a modern dance production. The five musicians (plus a few guests) in this versatile outfit, named after a lake in the north polar region of the Saturnian moon, Titan, play several instruments--mostly percussive, prepared or modified, including overtone voices and electronics. The original, spontaneously improvised ...

Album Review

Hannes Riepler: The Brave

Read "The Brave" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
December 5, 2012

The British music scene produces more than its share of homegrown talent these days, young players who for the most part emerge from the country's music colleges into the professional scene and then, not content with waiting for the phone to ring, go out and create many of their own gigging and recording opportunities. It's a scene that, perhaps because of this can-do attitude, attracts many additional players from around the globe. One such performer is the Austrian guitarist Hannes ...

Catching Up With

Trilok Gurtu: Where East Meets West

by Adriana Carcu
December 5, 2012

Percussionist Trilok Gurtu belongs to that elevated group of musicians who, along their careers, have not only acquired a uniqueness of sound, but have also contributed to the widening of the notion of contemporary music. By crossing genre boundaries, and by mingling styles and ethnic influences, Gurtu has created and performed within the generous sound space he today defines as world music. Throughout his career, Gurtu has played with some of the most remarkable jazz musicians in the world, enhancing ...

Live Review

Tony Malaby's Tamarindo: San Francisco, CA, October 27, 2012

by Harry S. Pariser
December 5, 2012

Tony Malaby's TamarindoSwedish American HallSan Francisco, CAOctober 27, 2012Long a staple of the New York City jazz scene, Arizona native saxophonist Tony Malaby has appeared with such artists as pianist Fred Hersch and with ensembles such as bassist Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. Malaby made his last Bay Area with LMO at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, but otherwise rarely appears in the city.Fortuitously for his fans, the San Francisco Jazz Festival brought ...

Album Review

Eivind Aarset: Dream Logic

Read "Dream Logic" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
December 5, 2012

With the exception of trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær and singer Sidsel Endresen--who each left the label after contributing two fine albums as leaders--there seems to be an increasing number of Norwegian artists who, after establishing themselves on smaller labels, are gaining greater international exposure by moving to the venerable ECM label. Trumpeter Arve Henriksen and Cartography (2008) is one; Food, featuring percussionist Thomas Strønen, is another, with Quiet Inlet (2010); and The Source's eponymous 2006 release, yet another.Now ...

Album Review

Rob Mazurek Pulsar Quartet: Stellar Pulsations

Read "Stellar Pulsations" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza

by Jerry D'Souza
December 5, 2012

Cornetist Rob Mazurek creates a liquid and volatile flow of time and space in his configuration of the planets, after which he names the compositions on this CD. Each has an attribute described by the arc of his imagination, bringing in distinctive structures and moulds. The band, drawn from the larger context of his Exploding Star Orchestra, gives the music a raw and resplendent energy.The quartet jumps into “Primitive Jupiter," with Mazurek and drummer John Herndon setting up ...

Extended Analysis

Various Artists: Wandelweiser Und So Weiter

by John Eyles
December 5, 2012

Various ArtistsWanderweiser Und So WeiterAnother Timbre2012This ambitious six-disc boxed set will surely come to be seen as a landmark release from Another Timbre. Whereas the label has previously issued four or five separate CDs at a time, linked by some overarching theme--for instance, “Duos with brass" or “The guitar series"--this time around, it has put together six connected discs as a set. The connection is contained in the title of the set: ...