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

Andy Milne & Dapp Theory: New York, NY, August 26, 2012

by Ernest Barteldes
September 8, 2012

Andy Milne & Dapp Theory Charlie Parker Jazz FestivalTompkins Square Park New York, NYAugust 26, 2012 Perfect weather and mild temperatures were the setting for an afternoon of jazz music at New York's Tompkins Square Park on occasion of the 20th edition of the Charlie Park Jazz Festival. Pianist Andy Milne's contemporary jazz project Dapp Theory was part of the lineup for the day, a quintet rounded out by reed player Aaron Kruziki, ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Richard Evans

by AAJ Staff
September 8, 2012

Meet Richard Evans: I am a 52 year-old who took up drumming seven years ago and wished that I had done it when I was much, much younger. I love hip-hop as well as jazz, and my influences have really opened my mind to what is possible with hard work, dedication and a love of all music.Instrument(s): Drums, MPC 2500, percussion.Teachers and/or influences? Chris Daddy Dave, ?uestlove, Mark Colenburg, Keith ...

Album Review

Hasse Froberg & Musical Companion: Powerplay

Read "Powerplay" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 8, 2012

Hasse Froberg is the distinctive voice for Swedish progressive rock icon, The Flower Kings. In 2008 he formed Musical Companion and seemingly enjoys an observable comfort zone amid the artists' synergistic chemistry. Indeed, a conspicuous attribute that cannot be understated. With memorable material providing an added plus to the musicians' prominent technical abilities, the quintet sculpts driving pulses, synth-laced balladry, and classic prog rock into a dynamic set that holds its own on subsequent listens. “Venice CA" is ...

Live Review

Jazz Middelheim: Antwerp, Belgium, August 16-19, 2012

by Martin Longley
September 7, 2012

Jazz Middelheim 2012 Park Den Brandt Antwerp Belgium August 16-19, 2012 The Jazz Middelheim festival is a weekender that hasn't relinquished its fondness for adventure over the last four decades. Nuzzling up against stellar bookings are acts, Belgian and otherwise, who seek to jolt the expectations of many audience members. The entertaining middle way is subverted by the sideways thrust of jazz extremities. This too can often be entertaining. 2012 ...

Album Review

Jerry Johansson Quartet: House Of Hope

Read "House Of Hope" reviewed by James Pearse

by James Pearse
September 7, 2012

The seventh leader (or co-leader) recording, House Of Hope (Kning Disk, 2012), is another bold step forward in an already varied musical journey for Swedish guitarist Jerry Johansson. After exploring rock fusion, Indian ragas and Swedish folk, Johansson evokes the spirit of West Coast jazz from the 1970s on House of Hope.Motivated early on in his career by George Harrison's foray into Indian composition and rhythms on late-period Beatles albums, Johansson began studying classical Indian music and the ...

Live Review

Voices of the Wetlands All-Stars: Schwenksville, PA, August 19, 2012

by Wade Luquet
September 7, 2012

The Voices of the Wetlands All-StarsPhiladelphia Folk FestivalSchwenksville, PAAugust 19, 2012The farmland northwest of Philadelphia is a long way from the swamps of Louisiana, but the two came together for a good cause at the 51st annual Philadelphia Folk Festival in Schwenksville, PA. Closing out the Saturday evening set at the three-day festival that also featured an all-star lineup including John Hiatt, Lucinda Williams, Wanda Jackson, Little Feat, Trombone Shorty and scores more, the Voices ...

Album Review

Forgas Band Phenomena: Acte V

Read "Acte V" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 7, 2012

Drawing comparisons to a pro football team, this band would most assuredly make the playoffs every year. Highly acclaimed, the French unit led by drummer Patrick Forgas looms as a proven commodity within the upper echelon of progressive rock. The album presents a potpourri of fusion and jazz-rock that translucently incorporates the blitzkrieg improvisational segments of familiar persuasions, yet the artists' bring much more to the table. One of the trademark components of the septet's sound is attributed ...

Live Review

Dwight Trible: Pasadena, CA, August 11, 2012

by Chuck Koton
September 7, 2012

Dwight TribleBoston Court TheaterPasadena, CAAugust 11, 2012Unique: from the Latin unicus, denotes “one of a kind; being without equal." Its connotation, a bit less restrictive, expands the definition to include: rare and uncommon. Even with the significantly more liberal definitional range, “unique" remains one of the more egregiously abused words in modern American popular discourse. Everyone and everything these days seems to be “unique." Baz Luhrman has a “unique" cinematic vision (yeah, as in bloated ...

Album Review

Kevin Coelho: Funkengruven: The Joy of Driving a B3

Read "Funkengruven: The Joy of Driving a B3" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
September 7, 2012

Kevin Coelho's debut, Funkengruven: The Joy of Driving a B3, is a tight trio affair that showcases the young organist's versatility as he successfully cooks his way through originals, R&B songs and fusion and bop standards. Coelho brings a religious celebratory feel to teacher Randy Master's “Take A Stand," as his Hammond B3 lets forth spiritual and sophisticated harmonies. This contrasts well with the unabashedly sensual groove of Dr Lonnie Smith's “Play it Back." Harking back to ...

Live Review

Fete Quaqua: London, UK, August 19-21, 2012

by John Eyles
September 6, 2012

Fete QuaquaThe VortexLondonAugust 19-21, 2012Fete Quaqua is the annual three-day festival of improvised music organized by guitarist John Russell as an offshoot of his monthly Mopomoso evenings at The Vortex. “Quaqua" is a Latin word which translates as “wherever," and encapsulates Russell's declared intention that the festival should “provide a fertile ground for free improvisation." In 2012, Mopomoso has been celebrating its twenty-first anniversary, making it London's longest-running regular improv club. The year was also ...