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

Leni Stern: Smoke, No Fire

Read "Smoke, No Fire" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
November 20, 2012

In March, 2012, a military coup overthrew the government in the western African nation of Mali, disrupting life for the civilian population--repetitively the victims in such situations of political turmoil. Guitarist Leni Stern was living in Mali at the time of the coup, and though she could have departed the country, she decided to stay and record Smoke, No Fire amidst chaotic circumstances in the capital city of Bamako.This record is the stark counterpart to her production of ...

Album Review

GoGo Penguin: Fanfares

Read "Fanfares" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
November 19, 2012

Jazz musicians are some of the most musically imaginative souls on the planet, but their imaginations often desert them when it's time to choose a band name. So thanks must go to whoever decided to name this group GoGo Penguin: it's a suitably imaginative name for a trio full of imaginative music. Three young men who met at the Royal Northern College Of Music in Manchester, with a sound that combines jazz, dance music, electronica and rock: that's Gogo Penguin. ...

Album Review

Joe Gilman: Relativity

Read "Relativity" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 19, 2012

M.C. Escher captured the imagination of the world with his perspective-altering artwork. Escher's mind's eye and eye's mind challenged people to see things differently, and pianist Joe Gilman has found inspiration in his brilliant work. Gilman, who previously delved into the music-inspired-by-art realm on Americanvas (Capri, 2010), uses Escher's creations as inspirational seeds and guiding forces for this music. He takes a good, hard look at eleven of Escher's pieces, with music written to capture what he saw.

Live Review

Johann Johannsson and Hildur Gudnadottir: Manchester, UK, November 2, 2012

by David McLean
November 19, 2012

Jóhann Jóhannsson and Hildur GuðnadóttirLive Soundtrack of Pandoras BoxRNCMManchester, EnglandNovember 2, 2012As soon as the title sequence erupted onto the cinema screen, so too did the quartet's music; all fire and brimstone, recalling composer Philip Glass' most imposing work on Koyaanisqatsi (1982). Piano chords were struck as cello and clarinet weaved dense, looped melodies that grew near-liturgical in grandeur, creating an incredibly taut and tense atmosphere. As the first flickers of onscreen action ...

Album Review

Sharp Radway: Hymns and Things (Introspection and Reflection)

Read "Hymns and Things (Introspection and Reflection)" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 19, 2012

A good dose of personal humility and devotion to a higher power can de-clutter the life and chosen form of artistic expression. In the case of pianist Sharp Radway, who comes to his gospel jazz from early musical endeavors in the church, a pure spirit of artistic expression is revealed on his debut, Hymns and Things (Introspection and Reflection).Radway mixes solo piano, piano trio and two-horn frontline quintet offerings--very adeptly sequenced--into an engaging and cohesive set of that ...

Album Review

PGA: Corrections

Read "Corrections" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 19, 2012

PGA--Norwegian bassist Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson and drummer Jan Martin Gismervik--has played together for many years as the rhythm section of Wolfram Trio, which released its self-titled debut earlier this year on the Va Fongool imprint, as well as the yet-to-record Shotgun trio (also called Gismervik Gruvedrift). On their debut as a duo, they decided to delve deeply into the basic elements of free improvisation, to explore and expand their instruments' vocabularies with varied and radical extended techniques. ...

Interview

Harris Eisenstadt: Full Steam Ahead

by James Pearse
November 19, 2012

As well as three current working (and touring) ensembles, a busy recording schedule and a flourishing teaching career, Toronto, Canada-born percussionist/composer Harris Eisenstadt is also a family man. Now settled in New York City, it's been a busy year, with four recordings-September Trio (Clean Feed, 2011), Canada Day III (Songlines, 2012), Canada Day II (Songlines, 2011), Canada Day Octet (482 Music, 2012)-all released within the last twelve months or so; a release schedule rivaled only by guitarist Bill Frisell and ...

Album Review

Duduka Da Fonseca Quintet: Jazz Samba-Samba Jazz

Read "Jazz Samba-Samba Jazz" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
November 18, 2012

Drummer Duduka Da Fonseca is the patron saint of Samba Jazz. He's been singing the virtues of this hybridized form for quite some time, establishing a rhythmic middle ground where both worlds can meet in mutual, musical splendor. In short, he's earned the cymbal halo that floats above his head on the cover of Samba Jazz--Jazz Samba. He makes It clear, through the word reversal in this album's title, that he doesn't put one style in front of the other ...

Extended Analysis

Ñaco Goñi: Blues con los Colegas

by Josep Pedro
November 18, 2012

Ñaco Goñi Blues con los Colegas Moco de Pavo Productions 2006 One of the best known harmonica players in Spain, Ñaco Goñi has been in the frontline of the blues scene in the country almost from its start, approximately 30 years ago. Grown out of the once celebrated musical neighborhood Prosperidad, his trajectory has been intimately linked to Madrid's particular history, where he started out when he was about fifteen playing with ...

Album Review

Konrad Wiszniewski / Euan Stevenson: New Focus

Read "New Focus" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
November 18, 2012

Saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski and pianist Euan Stevenson are at the forefront of an exciting new generation of musicians based in Scotland. Wiszniewski is probably best known for his work in Brass Jaw--a full-on quartet featuring three saxophones and a trumpet--and Stevenson for his classical playing, as well as his arrangements for ensembles such as the BBC Big Band and the Edinburgh Jazz Festival Orchestra. Together, they make a strong new compositional force.New Focus is part of what seems ...