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

Lars Bech Pilgaards Slowburn: Mammut

Read "Mammut" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 29, 2012

Danish guitarist Lars Bech Pilgaard's musical philosophy denies the existence of any genre or convention. His musical range encompasses free improv, avant-garde, Kraut rock, punkish energy, odd cinematic soundscapes, noise, and even fifties classics. Mammut, Pilgaard's debut as a leader with The Slowburn trio, attempts to find a common thread among this colorful sonic universe. Experienced bassist Thommy Andersson solidifies Pilgaard's imaginative outbursts, while drummer Thomas Eiler, Pilgaard's collaborator in the Svin quartet, pushes him even further. ...

Live Review

Michael Hanna: Detroit, Michigan, November 9, 2012

by Steve Bryant
November 29, 2012

Michael Hanna & FriendsBaker's Keyboard LoungeDetroit, MichiganNovember 9, 2012In jazz circles, as within most artistic idioms, talent can be generational. The most apparent example of this is the Marsalis clan. Other notable father-son duos include John and Ravi Coltrane, Chico and Arturo O'Farrill, as well as Dewey and Joshua Redman. The latest to delve into the family business is singer Michael Hanna, who is the son of pianist Sir Roland Hanna. Instead of taking up ...

Album Review

The Greg Abate Quartet Featuring Phil Woods: The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods

Read "The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 29, 2012

Led by reed man, educator and Conn-Selmer clinician Greg Abate, The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods documents an electrifying set of bebop, straight-ahead and Latin styles featuring legendary alto saxophonist Phil Woods as its marquee player. The quintet burns through an exciting ten-piece repertoire of Abate originals complimented by contributions from both Woods and pianist John Patrick. Abate, like Woods, is known for his mastery of the alto, but on this date his superb talents on the baritone, soprano ...

Album Review

Jasmine Lovell-Smith's Towering Poppies: Fortune Songs

Read "Fortune Songs" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 28, 2012

Plenty of artists play soprano saxophone, either as their weapon of choice or as an auxiliary axe, yet the instrument's inherent gift for melody is still under-explored in jazz. John Coltrane used it to probe deep into the recesses of sound itself, Wayne Shorter takes it on stratospheric flights, darting and daring all the while, and Sam Newsome works it to its limits through the use of extended techniques. Branford Marsalis, perhaps the most notable practitioner on the soprano saxophone ...

Interview

Lou Cohen: Opening the Door

by Gordon Marshall
November 28, 2012

In his cushy, classy, elegant two-story home just outside of Central Square in Cambridge, MA, Lou Cohen introduces his Symphony 5: from a laptop, jammed together fragments of elegant new music unfold, spaced out so that breath can enter in the interstices... Then the sound of roiling, rolling violins getting impacted: all is mellow and peaceful again, the silence between gets stifling, but segues into eerie jubilation. Pathos enters darkness, and wind-almost the tornado ripping up Dorothy into Oz. Back ...

Live Review

Marilyn Crispell / Harrison Smith / Eddie Prevost: London, UK, November 7, 2012

by John Sharpe
November 28, 2012

Marilyn Crispell / Harrison Smith / Eddie PrévostCafé OtoLondon, UKNovember 7, 2012It was almost as if no-one wanted to break the perfection of the anticipatory hush at north London's Café Oto. Eventually, Harrison Smith ventured a quizzical phrase on tenor saxophone, which inaugurated an unostentatious exchange of ideas and viewpoints. Pianist Marilyn Crispell, hair draped forward shielding her face like a veil, imparted her pronouncements with gradually increasing density, while drummer Eddie Prévost's brushes danced ...

Album Review

Elisabeth Lohninger Quartet: Live

Read "Live" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
November 28, 2012

Austrian-American Renaissance woman Elisabeth Lohninger is many things. She is a singer, composer, producer, writer, teacher and studio owner. Over the past several years Lohninger has found time to record four collections with her quartet: Beneath Your Surface (Lofish, 2005), The Only Way Out is Up (Lofish, 2007), Songs of Love and Destruction (Lofish, 2010), and Christmas in July (Jazz Sick, 2011). All of these recordings were well conceived and received, and the fate of the present Live should be ...

Live Review

Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet + 1: London, England, November 9-10, 2012

by John Sharpe
November 28, 2012

Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet + 1Café OtoLondonNovember 9-10, 2012Reprising a legendary three-day residency at Dalston's Café Oto in April 2011, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet roared into town for two nights as part of the London Jazz Festival, the penultimate dates in a nine-day European tour. Incredibly, given the inclement economic climate and the busy schedules of a star-studded roster bursting with leaders in their own right, this band has hit the road relentlessly, several ...

Album Review

Petter Wettre Next Generation: The Social Media Tapes

Read "The Social Media Tapes" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 28, 2012

Norwegian saxophonist Petter Wettre is one of the more prominent musicians in Norway's fertile, contemporary jazz scene. He never associated himself with the ECM school of icy, lyrical jazz, and his musical output has always corresponded with American post-bop and free jazz. Wettre also stands in the forefront in pursuit of new means to deliver his art. In 2003, he founded his own label, Household Records. Now he takes it a step further, offering his new album ...

Album Review

Lotz / Kneer: U-EX(perimental)

Read "U-EX(perimental)" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 28, 2012

In 2009, Dutch flautist Mark Alban Lotz and bassist Meinrad Kneer initiated a monthly creative music series, titled U-EX(perimental), at Centraal Museum in Utrecht, presenting performances of spontaneous free improvisations. After about 120 concerts Lotz and Kneer decided to document some of these unique musical meetings in a tiny studio in Amsterdam--so tiny that there was no place for a drum set or piano. The recording features improvisation in different formats, from duets to sextet, with musicians ...