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.

Live Review

Donald Harrison & Quantum Leap: New York City, NY, September 20, 2012

by Ernest Barteldes
October 6, 2012

Donald Harrison & Quantum LeapThe Jazz StandardNew York City, New YorkSeptember 20, 2012New Orleans-based saxophonist Donald Harrison kicked off the evening's first set with a shuffle-based groove, immediately starting with an improvised solo. The quintet, rounded out by pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Max Moran, drummer Joe Dyson and electric guitarist Detroit Brooks, sounded very tight, even though Brooks was not very audible at first. As the band members took their own individual moments, Harrison took ...

Album Review

SAKA: Cementen

Read "Cementen" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 6, 2012

The second album from Norwegian power trio SAKA, after last year's Posh! (FMR Records), serves as another reminder of the fertile Norwegian music scene that keeps breeding such excellent bands. This trio has already managed to create its own independent, mature voice while still well-versed in past and current powerful trios legacies that marry free jazz with free improvisation, mainly European ones such as saxophonist Peter Brötzmann's various projects, Sweden/Norway's The Thing and Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad, in which SAKA ...

Album Review

Mahogany Frog: Senna

by Mark Redlefsen
October 6, 2012

Mahogany Frog's Senna is named after the late Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna da Silva, who was also the recent focus of the British 2010 documentary film, Senna. The racing engine on the cover of the CD may be best-reflected in the energy of the music within. On its sixth CD, this four-man group based in Winnipeg, Canada has managed to expand their boundaries even further than their last release DO5 (Moonjune, 2006).Mahogany Frog is not mired by ...

Live Review

The J. Geils Band: Westbury, NY, September 12, 2012

by Mike Perciaccante
October 6, 2012

The J. Geils Band North Fork Theatre at Westbury Westbury, New York September 12, 2012 To quote a phrase made famous by Peter Wolf and the members of the J. Geils Band, it was “nothing but a house party." The latest incarnation of the J. Geils Band rolled (literally--the band played in the round, meaning the stage spun, albeit slowly) into Westbury, Long Island and played an amazing set of blues-drenched rock 'n' roll ...

Album Review

Michael Formanek: Small Places

Read "Small Places" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
October 5, 2012

It's no secret that pathological fans view every artist discovered as a new branch on an endlessly growing musical tree. It should come as no surprise, then, that labels--at least, those run by folks as pathological as the fans they hope to attract--operate with the same eye to discovery and expansion. ECM has, in its forty-plus year career, been all about continuous growth and interrelationship. He may be its primary producer and label head, but Manfred Eicher is clearly also ...

Book Review

Is Jazz Dead? Or Is It Just Pining for the Fjords?

by Duncan Heining
October 5, 2012

Is Jazz Dead? (Or Has It Moved to a New Address?)Stuart Nicholson288 pages, softcoverISBN: 978-0415975834Routledge2005Stuart Nicholson's Is Jazz Dead? (Or Has It Moved To A New Address?) came out in 2005 and has proved a remarkably successful book for both author and his publisher. European publications like Norway's Jazznytt, Italy's Jazzit, Germany's Der Spiegel and London-based broadsheets The Independent and Observer all queued up to pour accolades upon ...

Album Review

Matteo Fraboni Quintet: This is My Music

Read "This is My Music" reviewed by Alex Franquelli

by Alex Franquelli
October 5, 2012

There is a fragile red line separating the concept of revolution from history. While the latter is strictly connected with time, the former is an exception to it: it is a nihilist diversion aimed at rebuilding our perspectives and ultimately our history. This is My Music is an intriguing challenge to the known canons of jazz. To be clear: this is no avant-garde music, but at the same time it is undeniable that the vibrancy of every single line of ...

Book Review

Carolyn Burke: No Regrets - The Life of Edith Piaf

by C. Michael Bailey
October 5, 2012

No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf Carolyn Burke 304 Pages ISBN: 0307268012 Alfred A. Knopf 2011In the 20th century, France produced two celebrities for which the New World has no equal: Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) was in international entertainment polymath who had his thumb in every media pie extant. He was a singer, songwriter, composer, poet, actor and director. His closest American equivalent is a combination of Tom ...

Album Review

Jeff Coffin And The Mu'tet: Into The Air

Read "Into The Air" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
October 5, 2012

Jeff Coffin has held down jobs with two of the highest-profile bands in contemporary American music, with Béla Fleck = 6 733 and The Flecktones from 1997 to 2010, and with the Dave Matthews Band since 2009. High profile bands have busy schedules, but the saxophonist has also found the time to run his Mu'tet since 2001. Into The Air is the band's sixth album: a funky, goodtime collection whose ready accessibility and danceable grooves sound so easy that they ...

Live Review

Mel Martin and His Tenor Conclave: Piermont, NY, September 14, 2012

by David A. Orthmann
October 4, 2012

Mel Martin and his Tenor ConclaveThe Turning Point CafePiermont, NYSeptember 14, 2012 Before the first note sounded in a seventy-five minute set by Mel Martin and his Tenor Conclave, there was a false start of sorts. Most of the band was assembled and ready to hit when they were asked to leave the stage pending the anticipated arrival of a substantial number of audience latecomers. It a was reminder of the all-too- familiar struggle ...