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.

Website News

Jazz Near You Needs You!

by Michael Ricci
September 28, 2012

With the launching of Jazz Near You in nearly 200 cities worldwide, Max, Anna and myself (a.k.a. the development team) are planning the next phase of the project to refine the website and develop new features.Jazz Near You functions beautifully and we are anxious to improve our service, but we realize that our service is only as reliable as the content entered.As a crowd-sourced website and with a modest staff to validate entered data, we rely ...

Album Review

John Yao Quintet: In The Now

Read "In The Now" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 27, 2012

Freedom and streamlined focus don't often get along on jazz recordings, but when they do, it can make for an inspired outing. Trombonist John Yao managed to merge these divergent pathways into a single direction on his debut album, creating a flavorful feast for the senses. Yao's music is teeming with danger and uncertainty, yet it all seems to go down much smoother than a lot of material made with a similar recipe. This is due, in large part, to ...

Album Review

Bradley Williams / Eric Hochberg / Jim Widlowski: 3

by Ian Patterson
September 27, 2012

Stalwarts of the Chicago music scene and veterans of an impressive array of collaborations with a who's who of jazz, pianist Bradley Williams, bassist Eric Hochberg--who together penned all the tunes-- and drummer Jim Widlowski make their debut trio recording with 3, an elegant, straight-ahead set of originals. Much of Williams' recorded output over the past twenty years has reflected his love of the music of Cole Porter, Jimmy Van Heusen, Frank Loesser and The Great American Songbook, so the ...

Album Review

Michel Sajrawy: Arabop

by James Nadal
September 27, 2012

Arabian music is distinguished by its historical documentation as far back as the seventh century. If performed and heard today, it is readily identifiable for its distinct configuration or format, based on maqamat (modes) and jins (sets of notes), which provide its unique ethnic sound. Enter into this equation guitarist Michel Sajrawy, who catapults Arabian-derived music into the stratosphere with Arabop. He has perfected his ability to perform exotic arrangements on his trusted Fender Stratocaster by bending and coercing his ...

Extended Analysis

William Parker: Centering - Unreleased Early Recordings 1976-1987

by John Sharpe
September 27, 2012

William ParkerCentering: Unreleased Early Recordings 1976-1987No Business Records2012Nobusiness Records has been building up to this monumental, six-disc cache of unreleased early recordings by bassist William Parker for some time. The Lithuanian label's unsurpassed documentation of the New York City loft jazz era has so far encompassed reissues and never before released material on saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc's Muntu Recordings (2010), Commitment's Complete Recordings 1980/1983 (2010), violinist Billy Bang's Survival Ensemble's Black Man's Blues/New ...

Website News

Jazz Near You: Top to Bottom

by Michael Ricci
September 27, 2012

Though Jazz Near You is modeled after All About Jazz and has an intuitive interface, we wanted to explain each section in detail to help you quickly ramp up. Top Section Once logged in, drag your mouse over “Hi, [Your Name]" for fast access to your member account information, your uploaded photos, your musician profile(s), your business listing(s), and your events. If you log in to Jazz Near You, you're automatically logged into All About Jazz ...

Contributor News

Jazz Near You and You and You!

by Michael Ricci
September 27, 2012

Three years of planning, one year of coding, and mission accomplished! Jazz Near You launched on Monday, October 24th. Please read on for the thrilling story... Jazz Near You in a Nutshell Jazz Near You is a network of 200 jazz websites and counting. We aggregate and deliver all kinds of content from events and venue listings to news, articles, photos... to what's hot in your area. It's also a tremendous advertising opportunity for a ...

Album Review

Marc Johnson / Eliane Elias: Swept Away

Read "Swept Away" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
September 26, 2012

It's a relatively rare occasion when Marc Johnson releases an album under his own name, but based on the bassist's track record--from Bass Desires (ECM, 1985) through to Shades of Jade (ECM, 2005)--it's always one to celebrate. As Johnson fast approaches 60, it seems like only yesterday that he emerged as the bassist in Bill Evans' final trio in the late 1970s, before the piano legend's passing in 1980. But if time has passed, one thing that has remained constant ...

Catching Up With

Lola Danza: Life of Luxury

by C. Michael Bailey
September 26, 2012

Singer/composer Lola Danza has a pan-cultural and artistic vision expanding well beyond the traditional singer's role as performer and interpreter, though these facets do exist large in her art. The singer began a personal trend on Vision Quest (Evolver, 2005) employing a rhythm section of only two bassists. This format, with an occasional splash added by brass or reeds, produced a free, three- dimensional space within which to sing. Danza's beyond the avant-garde Live Free (Evolver, 2009) ...

Album Review

Russ Nolan: Tell Me

by Dan Bilawsky
September 26, 2012

While saxophonist Russ Nolan's move from Chicago to New York in 2002 was an important turning point in his career, his subsequent immersion in the New York Salsa dancing world has had an even greater impact on his music. Nolan learned to free his body and his mind to the effects of the rhythms as they washed over his very being, and he's allowed this same mindset to seep into his music. Tell Me is all about ...