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

Ron Miles: Quiver

Read "Quiver" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
October 2, 2012

Some musicians are recognized not only for their abilities but also their vociferous commentaries, holding true the phrase that “the squeaky wheel gets the most attention." Yet there are more subdued voices who let their music do the talking, as is the case for Ron Miles' Quiver, a project led by the Denver-based trumpeter and his talented cohorts, guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Brian Blade. These gentle masters are highly respected leaders with expansive discographies and projects that have covered ...

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

October 2012

by Mr. P.C.
October 2, 2012

Dear Mr. P.C.:Now that so many people have smart phones, there's no more conversation with my band mates on our breaks. Each guy just starts texting, or surfing the net, or playing his favorite app. It used to be that “the hang" was one of the best things about gigs, but now it doesn't exist, because there's no one to talk to. Everyone's in his own separate cyberworld, and it makes me really sad.

Album Review

Avishai Cohen - Trumpet: Triveni II

Read "Triveni II" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 2, 2012

Trumpeter Avishai Cohen had already reached the upper echelons of the jazz world when he put Triveni into motion, but this trio's debut--Introducing Triveni (Anzic Records, 2010)--still managed to mark a quantum leap in his artistry. The Israeli-born horn man first made stateside ripples when he placed third in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Trumpet Competition in 1997 and those ripples turned to waves as he became an established presence on the scene. A string of albums in his own name, ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Sam Newsome

by AAJ Staff
October 2, 2012

Meet Sam Newsome: One of the more important soprano saxophonists of his generation, Sam Newsome emerged onto the scene as a member of Terence Blanchard's quintet in the early 1990s, Newsome really hit his artistic stride when he began releasing a series of solo saxophone recordings expanding the sonic terrain of the soprano sax: Monk Abstractions (2007), Blue Soliloquy (2009), and The Art of the Soprano, Vol.1 (2012). Newsome is known for his extensive use of extended techniques ...

Album Review

Harris Eisenstadt: Canada Day Octet

Read "Canada Day Octet" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
October 2, 2012

Drummer/composer Harris Eisenstadt has developed into one of the most imaginative writers on the scene for larger ensembles. On Canada Day Octet, he presents the latest installment following on from such larger scale works as All Seeing Eye + Octets (Poo-bah, 2007), and the wonderful Woodblock Prints (No Business, 2010). But this time, the difference is that at the core of his eight-strong group are the members of his regular working band, Canada Day, familiar with both his materials and ...

Talkin' Blues

Talkin' Blues with Barbara Dennerlein

by Alan Bryson
October 2, 2012

If there were a Guinness World Records prize for jazz artist with the biggest organ, it could very well go to Barbara Dennerlein. No doubt, her Hammond B3 was a disc-crushing bane for countless roadies over the past three decades, but a B3 pales in comparison to what she's been playing lately. Imagine five organs with nearly 18,000 metal pipes, linked to one keyboard with over 200 registers--that's some seriously heavy metal. Welcome to the world of pipe organs.

Album Review

Jordan Young: Cymbal Melodies

Read "Cymbal Melodies" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 1, 2012

Drummer Jordan Young took the organ quartet outside of its stylistic comfort zone on his debut, Jordan Young Group (Self Produced, 2010), and continues to carve his own path within this format on this enjoyable follow-up. Young reconvenes the quartet from his first leader date, with Avi Rothbard taking the place of guitarist Yotam Silberstein, and puts together an appealing, covers-heavy program that speaks to his musical likes and varied interests. The standard, greasy blues numbers that ...

Album Review

Isamu McGregor: Isamu McGregor: Live at the Baked Potato!

Read "Isamu McGregor: Live at the Baked Potato!" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
October 1, 2012

Keyboardist Isamu McGregor has fairly raced out of the blocks, playing or recording with guitarist Wayne Krantz, saxophonist Chris Potter, drummer Ari Hoenig, bassist James Genus, pianist Jean- Michel Pilc, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and vocalist Jimmy Scott--to name but a few--while still just 22 years old. His debut as leader sees him lead his energetic quartet through territory that runs from funk to jam-band workout and from rock to jazz-fusion. All-original compositions bar one, the tracks vary between nine and ...

Record Label Profile

Ozella Music: Nordic Beauty and Beyond

by Jakob Baekgaard
October 1, 2012

It is always tempting to explain one story in the light of another, and in the case of guitarist and composer Dagobert Böhm's Ozella Music label, it is inevitable to be reminded of Windham Hill, the record company started by the guitarist William Ackerman in 1976. Like Windham Hill, Ozella started out as one-man project run by a guitarist and evolved into something more, and both have a focus on acoustic and lyrical music and the kind of atmospheric and ...

Album Review

Eve Risser / Benjamin Duboc / Edward Perraud: En Corps

Read "En Corps" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 1, 2012

This magnificent French trio is comprised of three promising and yet underrated young musicians-- experimental pianist Eve Risser, an explorer of paradoxical piano sounds and a member of the French-Swedish-German musicians collective Umlaut, the band The New Sounds and the duo Donkey Monkey; likeminded prolific bassist Benjamin Duboc, whose activity encompasses free improvisation, free jazz and music for dance and films; prolific drummer Edward Perraud, leader of a few outfits, member of Das Kapital and collaborator with free improvisers such ...