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.

Extended Analysis

Fourplay: Esprit De Four

by Jeff Winbush
October 26, 2012

FourplayEsprit De FourHeads Up International2012Bands don't last over two decades with minimal turnover in personnel and continued success if they're composed of egotists, prima donnas, drama queens or people that just don't play nice together. Fourplay has endured and thrived because it is an egalitarian coalition of seasoned professionals who set aside private agendas to serve the group dynamic.When a new guitarist joins Fourplay it typically takes their sophomore recording ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Mathias Wedeken

by AAJ Staff
October 26, 2012

Meet Mathias Wedeken: Mathias Wedeken started playing bass at age 14, studied in Groningen (The Netherlands) and Copenhagen (Denmark). Active as sideman in Germany, with concerts and tours in Germany, Russia and Netherlands until moved to Copenhagen for good in 2009. Started his own Quartet, Quarterpounder in 2011. Released one album with Quarterpounder as leader, has played on a handful small-scale releases in Germany as sideman or co-leader. Instrument(s): Double bass.Teachers and/or ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith & Louis Moholo-Moholo: Ancestors

Read "Ancestors" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
October 26, 2012

The Theology of the Body is an integrated vision of the human person as body, soul, and spirit. Attending the church of jazz, this amalgamation can be best illustrated+ with improvisation and, if so, this duo of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo is a sacred meeting.Following the previous releases of Smith's duos with drummers Günter Baby" Sommer on Wisdom In Time (Intakt, 2007), Adam Rudolph on Compassion (Meta/Kabell, 2006), Jack DeJohnette with America (Tzadik, 2007) ...

Album Review

Christian Pruvost: Ipteravox

Read "Ipteravox" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 26, 2012

Within the small cult of trumpeters who reinvent the sonic range of the trumpet-beginning with the late Bill Dixon, continuing with Americans Nate Wooley and Peter Evans, Europeans Franz Hautzinger and Birgit Uhler and Lebanese Mazen Kerbaj-underrated French trumpeter Christian Pruvost (a member of the Muzzix musicians collective based in Lille)) is still a rare bird. His commanding technique-of breaths, circular breaths, tongue-flutters and blows-enables him to deconstruct the basic blowing process into an orchestrated series of atomized acts, turning ...

Album Review

Michael Formanek: Small Places

Read "Small Places" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
October 26, 2012

Bassist Michael Formanek's second release on ECM, Small Places, is an impassioned and gratifying album. Working with the same quartet as his first, The Rub and Spare Change (ECM, 2010), the music here has crystallized and matured further as the familiarity and camaraderie among the artists has grown. Although The Rub was freer and hence more challenging, Small Places is a bit more accessible without losing its edge. The centerpiece of the disc, “Parting Ways," is a ...

Album Review

John Yao: In The Now

Read "In The Now" reviewed by Franz A. Matzner

by Franz A. Matzner
October 25, 2012

Trombonist John Yao's debut as a leader In the Now successfully fuses contemporary flavors and more traditional jazz idioms to produce a solid, hip collection of tunes bounding with vitality and fun.A protégé of Luis Bonilla, Yao reflects that trombonist's thoughtful compositional style, crafting an album of intelligently constructed pieces that give his powerful quintet plenty of room to display its skills. While the majority of tunes strike an astute balance between traditional structures and modern styles, occasionally ...

Live Review

European Saxophone Ensemble: Helsinki, Finland, October 9, 2012

by Anthony Shaw
October 25, 2012

European Saxophone EnsembleKoko Jazz ClubHelsinki, FinlandOctober 9, 2012For want of a better explanation, some great gigs really do just happen--the place, the people, the acoustics, even the weather conspiring to make the program truly fantastic as well as fitting. And on Wednesday night, October 9, down at the Koko Jazz Club, tucked away behind an Adventist church on the edge of downtown Helsinki, was just such a conspiracy.Stumbling on the European Saxophone Ensemble ...

Album Review

Pharez Whitted: For The People

Read "For The People" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 25, 2012

Indianapolis-born trumpeter Pharez Whitted has kept a low profile in the new millennium. He's busied himself with teaching, attending to his duties as Director of Jazz Studies at Chicago State University, performing live and appearing as a sideman on a scant number of under-the-radar albums, but none of this has helped to boost his reputation beyond his Midwestern home base. His fourteen year silence between Mysterious Cargo (Motown, 1996) and Transient Journey (Owl, 2010) didn't help matters in the visibility ...

Live Review

European Jazz Network General Assembly: Bari, Italy, September 27-30, 2012

by Henning Bolte
October 25, 2012

European Jazz Network General AssemblyBari/ItalySeptember 27-30, 2012The European Jazz Network (EJN)-an association of presenters, producers of venues, festivals and of facilitating national jazz organizations from various European countries-celebrated its 25th anniversary during its General Assembly, which took place September 27-30, 2012 at the Puglian capital, Bari, in South Italy.From the very beginning in the second half of the 1980s, when Filippo Bianchi-longtime Artistic Director of Ravenna Jazz and Reggio Emilia Jazz-took the initiative and recruited ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Dr. Tuxedo (Scott Sims)

by AAJ Staff
October 25, 2012

Meet Dr. Tuxedo (Scott Sims): Dr. Tuxedo is a smooth blend of jazz, blues, and funk. His musical sketches are sophisticated instrumentals that evoke a sense of style and flare. These soundtracks give listeners a theme song to the movies of the imagination.Instrument(s): Guitar, bass, drums and percussion.Teachers and/or influences? My influences mainly come from rock 'n' roll. I love the jazz that comes through in The Doors' recordings. John ...