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.

Interview

Steven Wilson: Luck's What You Make It

by John Kelman
October 1, 2012

There was a time when progressive rock really meant what its name suggested: progressive music, music that pushed the boundaries of what rock music was, often by integrating elements of classical music and jazz into the mix. Milestone groups ranging from better-knowns like Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant and Van der Graaf Generator all provided the opportunity for musicians to apply their diverse musical upbringings to create something that Chuck Berry and Bill Haley couldn't possibly have ...

Film Review

Steven Wilson: Get All You Deserve (Limited Deluxe Edition)

by John Kelman
October 1, 2012

Steven Wilson Get All You Deserve (Limited Deluxe Edition) Kscope 2012 When Steven Wilson decided to go solo after fronting the popular progressive/psychedelic group Porcupine Tree for 20 years, it was an opportunity to stretch beyond the confines that he'd ultimately created for himself in a group that also began as a solo project, albeit not under his own name. PT may have ultimately been his band but, as he said in a 2012 All ...

Live Review

Little Feat: Little Rock, AR, September 10, 2012

by C. Michael Bailey
September 30, 2012

Little FeatRevolution RoomLittle Rock, ARSeptember 12, 2012 Mother Nature finally exhaled, and the brutal Southern Summer of 2012 came to a curious end, producing what passed for an electric blue Monday evening. The temperature and humidity were both blessedly low and sitting on the sidewalk of Little Rock's River Market District was enjoyable, if not complete bliss. A 40-year old urban renewal promise, the River Market District is one of the things the city ...

Album Review

Nicky Schrire: Freedom Flight

Read "Freedom Flight" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
September 30, 2012

Freedom Flight is the debut from vocalist Nicky Schrire, a young singer who was born in London, raised in Cape Town and now resides in New York. It's a distinctive debut, heralding the welcome arrival to the scene of a fine vocalist with an eclectic range of source material--a mix of Latin, pop, folk, and American Songbook songs, plus a couple of Schrire originals.Schrire's voice is lovely--pure and clear, a mix of naïve innocence and sensuality. She's blessed ...

Album Review

Connie Evingson: Sweet Happy Life

Read "Sweet Happy Life" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 30, 2012

Norman Gimbel's name may not register with a lot of educated jazz fans, yet he's linked to some of the most important songs and artists in the music. Gimbel wrote the lyrics attached to harmonica ace Toots Thielemans' best known number, “Bluesette," captured Michel Legrand's musical moods in words on “I Will Wait For You" and “Watch What Happens," and opened up English-language ears to the world of bossa nova. His lyrics for many of Antonio Carlos Jobim's songs are ...

Opinion

On the Banks of the Jabbok With Chet Baker

by C. Michael Bailey
September 30, 2012

When Yale professor Harold Bloom was interviewed by NPR shortly after publication of Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine (Riverhead, 2005), he was quite candid about his relationship with his own Judaism and Yahweh: Bloom: ... I may, as I say, lack trust in the covenant, but though I keep asking Yahweh to go away, I say so many times in this book, he won't go away. He haunts me. NPR: You really want Yahweh to ...

Album Review

Ich bin N!ntendo & Mats Gustafsson: Ich bin N!ntendo & Mats Gustafsson

Read "Ich bin N!ntendo & Mats Gustafsson" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
September 30, 2012

Young Norwegian power trio Ich bin N!ntendo is a sonic heir to European power outfits such as the Swedish-Norwegian trio The Thing, Italian punk-jazz trio Zu, and Dutch quartet The Ex. Its affinity with Swedish sax titan Mats Gustafsson of The Thing, who guests on this live recording, is obvious. Both enjoy exploring and pushing the physical aspects of their instruments into utter intensity. This debut album was recorded live in Oslo, later “mixed, mastered and destroyed" ...

Live Review

Hugh Laurie & The Copper Bottom Band: New York, NY, September 10, 2012

by Mike Perciaccante
September 30, 2012

Hugh Laurie & The Copper Bottom Band The Grand Ballroom At Manhattan Center New York, New York September 10, 2012 There was a palpable feeling of excited anticipation in the air as the audience filed into New York City's Manhattan Center--Hugh Laurie, known to many as the irrepressible Dr. Gregory House from the hit television series House, was about to perform songs from his debut CD, Let Them Talk (Warner Brothers, 2011). The anticipation, ...

Album Review

Various Artists: 13 Miniatures for Albert Ayler

Read "13 Miniatures for Albert Ayler" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
September 29, 2012

Tributes come in many forms. Most blatant is the repertory regurgitation of charts associated with the dedicatee or modern takes on that program. Then comes homage, influenced by the historical figure in question, with works in a contemporaneous style. Finally, there appears art inspired by the spirit of the honoree. It is into this last division that this disc falls, with 13 pieces titled after the names of the musicians, created by between one and five participants drawn from a ...

Scumbles

Block and Roll and All That Jazz

by Sammy Stein
September 29, 2012

There are just a few bands that can fill a jazz venue as easily as they fill one more used to contemporary pop music, and it seems right to acknowledge one of the best jazz-influenced, long-lived and popular groups from the late '70s to the present day, The Blockheads. This band filled Ronnie Scott's and The 100 Club in 2011 and will also play at the Jazz Café, London in December, as well as many other venues around Britain.