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.

Multiple Reviews

2012 Yuletide Offerings

by Dan Bilawsky
November 24, 2012

While thoughts of Christmas don't enter many a consumer's mind until Black Friday comes, musicians turn their eyes toward the last page of the calendar a bit earlier. Artists and labels need to conceive of, put together, record, release and market their holiday-themed albums early, so they can make their way into eager listener's stockings before Santa comes for his annual, late December visit. The changing winds of taste may make the music business fairly unpredictable, but ...

Album Review

Klare / Platz / Kneer / Elgart: Modern Primitive

Read "Modern Primitive" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
November 24, 2012

Steeped in various aspects of jazz tradition as much as it is on the cutting edge, the sonic territory covered by Modern Primitive is vast, to say the least. The music here, all freely improvised, has a warmth and immediacy that comes from intense, shared listening. Though there are no tunes or changes per se, that each player has an extensive background in modern jazz and other non- improvised music is quite evident. Historically, this is something that a lot ...

Live Review

Amanda Ruzza Band: New York, NY, November 8, 2012

by Ernest Barteldes
November 24, 2012

Amanda Ruzza BandZinc BarNew York, NYNovember 8, 2012Brazilian-born bassist Amanda Ruzza took the stage at Greenwich Village's Zinc Bar, backed by a solid band--drummer Mauricio Zotarelli, electric guitarist Alex Nolan, pianist Mamiko Watanabe, trombonist Chris Stover and tenor/soprano saxophonist Ben Flocks--about which the bandleader jokingly referred as “a nice band with three boys and three girls." The set opened with a trombone-led samba, with a funk edge that allowed for lots of improvisation from the ...

Album Review

Brad Russell: Let's Hear It!

Read "Let's Hear It!" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
November 24, 2012

Badass bassist Brad Russell takes care of business with cyclonic fretwork that might be expected from a whirling-dervish on steroids. Even though the digital-only release clocks in a little under 30 minutes, this debut solo endeavor contains largely memorable works, featuring guitar hero Joe Satriani and others on select tracks. Russell's busy session work covers a widespread array of genres and notable pop, rock and jazz acts. His guerilla tactics span hyper-mode slapping lines, over-the-top phased-out distortion techniques ...

Album Review

Steve Lipman: Ridin' the Beat

Read "Ridin' the Beat" reviewed by Geannine Reid

by Geannine Reid
November 24, 2012

Steve Lipman, known for his Frank Sinatra-ish voice and double life as a dentist, has brought the crooner persona to life with classy arrangements, slick playing and a voice befitting some well-known selections. Ridin' The Beat is Lipman's follow-up to There's a Song in My Heart (Self Produced, 2011).One might say that Lipman found a “cavity" in the molar of modern life and it had to be filled with song. The filling is comprised of many of the ...

Album Review

Hammer Klavier Trio: Rocket In The Pocket

Read "Rocket In The Pocket" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 23, 2012

Power piano trios willing to plug-in are not the norm in jazz, but Hamburg's Hammer Klavier Trio, thankfully, never received that message. The music that they present completely erases the dividing lines between traditional piano trios, hard hitting threesomes like The Bad Plus, and genre-blending Euro-stars like the late Esbjörn Svensson Trio. This band has all of that in their aural make-up, but they don't fit neatly into any of those categories. Rocket In The Pocket contains ...

Extended Analysis

Texas Eastside Kings: Texas Eastside Kings

by Josep Pedro
November 23, 2012

Texas Eastside KingsTexas Eastside KingsDialtone2012 Texas Eastside Kings features a fine constellation of blues and jazz musicians from different generations, that offer an accomplished, heartfelt sound collage of East Austin's cultural legacy. The collective character of the record is double; on one hand, the music is played out as some sort of jam session where musicians come in and out naturally, with no interruptions, producing a compact yet flexible sound that illustrates ...

Album Review

Shauli Einav: Opus One

by Dave Wayne
November 23, 2012

Given the sheer number, stylistic variety and extraordinary quality of jazz recordings coming out of Israel these days, it's safe to say that improvised music is alive and well in that embattled country. Even among the rarefied company of Israel's finest young jazz musicians, saxophonist Shauli Einav stands out as a uniquely accomplished and mature talent. So does his debut recording, Opus One. A protégé of the late Arnie Lawrence, Einav has something of Lawrence's keening alto sound and sheer ...

Extended Analysis

Doug Webb: Swing Shift

by David A. Orthmann
November 23, 2012

Doug WebbSwing ShiftPosi-Tone Records2012 An essential part of jazz fandom is participating in the endless debate about the pros and cons of recordings versus live performances. Despite the obstacles in the pursuit of the holy grail of recorded perfection, such as budget limitations, artistic differences between producers and performers, and the stifling effect of herding musicians into separate cubicles, records give us the opportunity to savor the essence of a performance; after ...

Album Review

Mahogany Frog: Senna

by Glenn Astarita
November 23, 2012

With its sixth album and second release for Moonjune Records, this Canadian outfit once again imparts a steadfast approach to the modern rock idiom. Drawing influences from a boundless array of genres such as psychedelia, '70s progressive rock, space rock and offbeat inferences to pop-rock, the unit at times demonstrates an unrelenting wall of sound. Featuring juiced-up crunch chords and hyper-pulses, the band fuses Sonic Youth-style noise guitar with tricky time signatures and delectably cheesy, '60s-style organ grooves. A few ...