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.

We Travel the Spaceways

You say you're beat? You don't know Jack

by Mark Corroto
November 30, 2012

..."the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..." Jack Kerouac, On the Road (Viking Press, 1957)Bill LaswellMethod Of DeliveranceInnerhythmic2012The very essence of music, ...

Album Review

The Peggy Lee Band: Invitation

Read "Invitation" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
November 30, 2012

Based in Vancouver, Canada since the early 1990s, Canadian cellist Peggy Lee has been steadily building an impressive discography. Invitation is the fifth album by her self-titled band, and the group's second release for Drip Audio. The record encompasses a broad stylistic range, revealing influences as disparate as folksy Americana and exotic Afro-pop--though Lee's harmonically sophisticated arrangements expertly balance composed and improvised elements, yielding a cohesive sum greater than its parts.The Peggy Lee Band features a young Canadian ...

Multiple Reviews

Finland: The Next Generation

by Chris Mosey
November 30, 2012

Two albums showcasing a new generation of Finnish jazz musicians. Legend has it that the music was brought to this small country on the northern fringes of Europe in 1926 by the band on the ocean liner M/S Andania. Shortly afterwards, the word jazz entered the nation's Uralic language to signify a modern, cosmopolitan way of life. The first generation of Finnish musicians playing jazz for a living emerged in the 1960s, the decade the city fathers ...

Live Review

Enjoy Jazz Festival 2012

by Adriana Carcu
November 30, 2012

2012 Enjoy Jazz FestivalHeidelberg/Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, GermanyOctober 19-November 10, 2012 Michel Godard and Günter Baby Sommer The humorous dialogue between tubaist Michel Godard's grave tones and legendary German drummer Günter Baby Sommer became the leading note of the evening in Karlstorbahnhof (Carol's Door), a well-attended Heidelberg club. The pairing of tuba and drums, as well as that of serpent with spectacular percussion (drumming with towels and cymbals played on the head) gave the performance an ...

Album Review

Erik Jekabson: Anti-Mass

Read "Anti-Mass" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 30, 2012

Trumpeter Erik Jekabson likes to stroll through San Francisco's DeYoung Museum and imagine what the visual works there would sound like. In league with his Sting-tet ensemble, he explores the textures and colors, the harmonies and melodies of these artworks, translating them into sounds on Anti-Mass. Teaming with violin, viola, saxophone, bass and drum, and with the occasional addition of vibes, he paints a vibrant variety of sounds that stretch from chamber jazz to third stream, from avant-garde to The ...

Album Review

Music for a While: Graces That Refrain

Read "Graces That Refrain" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 30, 2012

Five years have passed since Norwegian quintet Music for a While released its debut, Weill Variations (Grappa, 2007), a collection of fresh, outspoken versions of Kurt Weill songs. Now this dream team band--headed by cabaret diva Tora Augestad, with accordionist Stian Carstensen (leader of Farmers Market), trumpeter Mathias Eick (from Jaga Jazzist and a leader in his own right), tubaist Martin Taxt (from the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Koboku Senju) and drummer Pål Hausken (from In the Country)--delivers a magnificent ...

Album Review

Kyle Brenders Quartet: Offset

by Troy Collins
November 29, 2012

A former student of visionary composer Anthony Braxton, Canadian multi-instrumentalist Kyle Brenders subtly expands upon the idiomatic language of his former Wesleyan professor on Offset, the second album by his self-titled Quartet, following 2010's Karst. In addition to numerous other projects, Brenders engages his interest in the oeuvre of iconic soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy as a member of The Rent, a Lacy repertory band led by fellow Canadian trombonist Scott Thompson. Although influenced by Lacy's idiosyncratic sensibility and Braxton's esoteric ...

Catching Up With

Gilad Atzmon: Jazz as Music and Philosophy

by Marta Ramon
November 29, 2012

Multi-instrumentalist Gilad Atzmon-he plays sax, flute and clarinet- was born in Israel. One night he was listening to the radio and he heard something that impressed him: it was Charlie Parker. The day after, he went to the shop to find the alto saxophonist's records. He was already seventeen years old but, with around fourteen hours practicing per day, it wasn't long before he turned professional. And when he moved to London his career took off, especially since creating his ...

Live Review

Sidsel Endresen @ 60: Oslo, Norway, November 8-9, 2012

by John Kelman
November 29, 2012

Sidsel Endresen @ 60: A Special Birthday CelebrationNasjonal Jazzscene VictoriaOslo, NorwayNovember 8-9, 2012Turning 60 can mean different things to different people: for some, it's a time to think about slowing down, and for others, it's a time to kick into higher gear. In the case of jazz and improvising musicians, age seems to do nothing but accelerate their activities; just look at artists like guitarist Bill Frisell, saxophonist Evan Parker and pianist Chick Corea, three ...

Album Review

Gato Libre: Forever

Read "Forever" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
November 29, 2012

Innovative trumpeter Natsuki Tamura is a creative artist with a wide repertoire that draws as much from modern improvised music as it does jazz and world folk heritages. Often a key collaborator in wife/pianist Satoko Fujii' inimitable ensembles, he emerges as a leader of the unique quartet Gato Libre on its fifth release, Forever. Tamura's compositions have a strong Spanish flavor and brim with subtle yet robust creative spontaneity. On “Moor," the longing sound of Tamura's light ...