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

Various Artists: Home - Gift Of Music: Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief

Read "Home - Gift Of Music: Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
September 21, 2012

Tragedy on a grand scale tends to attract philanthropic and righteous individuals looking to do the right thing and help in some way, but short memories and attention spans often plague these same generous souls. People are quick to open their hearts and wallets when the worst is in front of them, but time passes and people move on; the devastation, however, rarely ends with a swift resolution. The triptych of horror--earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster--that struck ...

Album Review

Phil Grenadier / Bruno Raberg Duo: Plunge

by Ian Patterson
September 21, 2012

Maybe only a pirate radio station would be uninhibited enough to play duo improvisations such as these served up by trumpeter {Phil Grenadier and acoustic bassist Bruno Råberg. However, such mainstream disinterest should be considered a backhanded compliment and is perhaps reason enough to check it out. Plunge is an apt title for music inspired by the panoply of emotions suggested to Råberg by saxophonist Ornette Coleman's “Lonely Woman." This intimate dialogue explores extensive emotional terrain, with Råberg's sound design ...

Album Review

Colin Cannon: Glenville

Read "Glenville" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
September 20, 2012

Though still in his twenties, guitarist Colin Cannon has been performing in New York and along the East Coast for a decade. His debut as leader, In Summary (Self Produced, 2009) revealed a young composer with ideas aplenty, and a guitarist with a broad musical palette. If that album was slightly Pat Metheny-influenced--Cannon and Metheny were both tutored by Mick Goodrick at Boston's Berklee College of Music--on Glenville, Cannon establishes a more personal identity, without sacrificing the melodic and lyrical ...

Album Review

Jon Hamar: Hymn

Read "Hymn" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 20, 2012

Origin Arts bassist Jon Hamar effects an intimate trio with alto saxophonist Todd DelGiudice and pianist Geoffrey Keezer on Hymn. Heard most recently, prior to this date, on Richard Cole's Inner Mission (Origin Records, 2007), Hamar's Hymn is heavy on introspective yet muscular originals, as Hamar also chooses some sturdy standards upon which to improvise. Hamar closes is disc with a swinging reading of Lew Brown's “Comes Love." Keezer rolls his fingers just right in the introduction, ...

Bailey's Bundles

Art Pepper: Unreleased Art Pepper, Vol. VII and Neon Art

by C. Michael Bailey
September 20, 2012

Art Pepper (1929 -1982) is the story, but an important subtext is his widow, Laurie Pepper, who, since 2006, has been expanding the saxophonist's discography with unreleased live recordings from the 1980s. At the time, Art Pepper was enjoying his comeback, which began in 1975 with the release of Living Legend (Contemporary), hitting its stride in 1977 with his appearance at New York City's Village Vanguard (The Complete Village Vanguard Sessions (Contemporary, 1977)). The period between 1977 and the saxophonist's ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Josh Maxey

by AAJ Staff
September 20, 2012

Meet Josh Maxey: Making a series of six albums in twelve months. Doing it without Impulse!, Blue Note, Verve, money or without playing the Village Vanguard. Eating a lot of pizza. One through five-and-a-half available: Incarnate, Approach, The Language of Sound and Spirit, Argument for the Blues, Light Cycles and Blues in the Kitchen EP.Instrument(s): Guitar.Teachers and/or influences? Rodney Jones, John Coltrane, Nathan Page, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Grant Green, ...

Album Review

Fred Hersch Trio: Alive At The Vanguard

Read "Alive At The Vanguard" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
September 20, 2012

Tradition is served well on this Fred Hersch Trio live recording from New York's Village Vanguard. The pianist's covers of the American songbook, like Cole Porter's “From This Moment On" and jazz classics such as Miles Davis' “Nardis" and Thelonious Monk's “Played Twice," animate and energize every moment of this club date.Hersch, whose touring and output has been rejuvenated since he survived a two-month coma caused by complications of HIV, released two previous discs--Whirl (Palmetto, 2010) (a trio ...

Interview

Kevin Brandon: Brandino Is In The House

by Scott Mitchell
September 20, 2012

Kevin Brandon is a Los Angeles-based bassist, producer, teacher and song writer who has been on the scene and laying it down for a long time. Known to his friends and colleagues as “Brandino," this musical dynamo has earned seven Grammy Awards and has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, including the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Robbie Krieger of The Doors, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder and Outkast, and toured with Aretha Franklinfor over ...

Album Review

Quarterpounder: becoming

Read "becoming" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
September 19, 2012

Bassist/writer Mathias Wedeken founded Quarterpounder in 2011. Based in Copenhagen, one of Europe's leading jazz centers, with an impressive range of studios and sound engineers, the band is notable for its front line of trombone and tenor saxophone, a combination that leads to some delightful harmonic partnerships underpinned by tight, tough, bass and drums. becoming is Quarterpounder's debut release and features eight tunes written by Wedeken.The bassist's fellow musicians form a hard-hitting and high-energy trio, well-suited to the ...

Live Review

Punkt 2012: Kristiansand, Norway, September 6-8, 2012

by John Kelman
September 19, 2012

Punkt Festival Kilden Performing Arts Centre Kristiansand, Norway September 6-8, 2012Another year, another Punkt. If that sounds flippant or dismissive, that's not the intention; instead, it's a reflection that a year simply isn't complete without visiting Kristiansand, Norway, for the Live Remix festival that continues to expand its network and garner attention from people around the world.And it's not just fans of co-Artistic Directors Jan Bang and Erik Honoré, and the vision they had when ...