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

Theo Saunders and Intergeneration: When The Saints Go Out

Read "When The Saints Go Out" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
August 26, 2012

Southern California pianist Theo Saunders is a veteran musician/composer with an extensive resume as bandleader, sideman and musical director. The sparkling sophomore effort, When The Saints Go Out, documents the robust sounds of his Intergeneration group on this Arabesque label debut, a follow-up to Intergeneration (CDBaby, 2011). Originally from The Big Apple, Saunders has lived and performed in both New York and the west coast, where he has carved out a successful professional career. As leader of the Intergeneration sextet, ...

The Moment's Energy

Wadada Leo Smith: More Than Moments in Time

by Nic Jones
August 26, 2012

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith has been pursuing his muse for decades now; that pursuit has yielded music as singular as anything out there, as his now abundant discography testifies. The release of Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012) earlier this year amounts to something monumental, however, and not merely because the music pans out across four discs. Smith's music has never had about it the air of culmination, and accordingly no release of his amounts to anything other than a facet ...

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Profile

Byard Lancaster: From A Love Supreme to The Sex Machine

by Clifford Allen
August 25, 2012

[ Editor's Note: This 2005 article was reprinted in memory of Byard Lancaster who died on August 23, 2012. ] “From A Love Supreme to The Sex Machine" is reedman Byard Lancaster's personal aesthetic mantra, something that recalls the theme of the Charles Moffett tune “Avant-garde Got Soul Too." Free jazz and creative improvisation historically have not often been viewed as the music of the people, but the idea behind the term 'avant-garde' is ...

Album Review

David S. Ware / Planetary Unknown: Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011

Read "Live at Jazzfestival Saalfelden 2011" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
August 25, 2012

For its second release, cooperative super group Planetary Unknown offers three collectively birthed cuts recorded live at the Austrian Saalfelden Jazz Festival in 2011. Even though given equal billing, saxophonist David S. Ware gets the biggest font size metaphorically in the concert introduction and features most prominently in the mix. In fact, it is Ware who provides most of the narrative thrust in the quartet's enthralling arc of creativity.Ware has moved away from the compositions that were the ...

Multiple Reviews

Los Lobos: Kiko @ 20 (x3)

by John Kelman
August 25, 2012

With a career now well into its fourth decade, and with a discography heavy on hits and light on misses, there are still sure to be certain recordings that stand out amidst a growing catalog. Yet, when Los Lobos released Kiko (Warner Bros.) in 1992, it had an album that not only stood out--if for no other reason than completely reinventing what the group was capable of and raising the bar for every album that followed, right up to its ...

Album Review

Jerry Bergonzi: Shifting Gears

Read "Shifting Gears" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 25, 2012

Gifted tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi has proven to be among the best in the business, spanning a hefty solo career amid numerous guest spots and session duties for others. With this quintet release, the leader hearkens back to the modern jazz ingenuity and reverence of 1960s-era outings for the likes of the Blue Note and Prestige record labels. However, the musicians' respective styles impart a distinct group-centric sound, streaked with a contemporary vibe. Bergonzi and trumpeter Phil Grenadier's ...

Album Review

Andy Hague: Cross My Palm

Read "Cross My Palm" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
August 25, 2012

England's West Country isn't quite as glamorous as America's West Coast, but an innovative music scene has emerged there, especially around the city of Bristol: Massive Attack, Get The Blessing, saxophonist Andy Sheppard, for a start (and singer/songwriter Robert Wyatt was also born in Bristol). Now add Andy Hague to the list. Cross My Palm is a straight-ahead jazz album that bristles with energy, fun and great grooves--and swings like a very swinging thing too.Hague wrote all of ...

Live Review

O.A.R.: Wantagh, New York, August 9, 2012

by Mike Perciaccante
August 25, 2012

O.A.R. Nikon At Jones Beach Theater Wantagh, NY August 9, 2012Rockville, MD's O.A.R. (an abbreviation for the band's full name, Of A Revolution) took the stage at Long Island's Nikon at Jones Beach Theater to the opening notes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' “Can't Stop." Before the first verse of the Chili Peppers' song had finished, O.A.R.'s frontman Marc Roberge, along with guitarist Richard On, drummer Chris Culos, bassist Benj Gershman and Jerry DePizzo on ...

Hardly Strictly Jazz

Los Lobos: Kiko - 20th Anniversary Edition

by Skip Heller
August 25, 2012

Los Lobos Kiko: 20th Anniversary Edition Shout! Factory 2012 Looking over the punk-era rise of Los Angeles roots rock, reveals an embarrassment of musical riches. The prototypical outfit was The Blasters, a literate working class rockabilly-tinged barband whose songs (written by Dave Alvin) were knowing, compassionate stories of real American life, and they inspired a movement of imitators. Then there was X, fronted by the husband/wife team of John Doe and Exene Cervanka, whose punk ...

Album Review

Joey DeFrancesco: Wonderful! Wonderful!

Read "Wonderful! Wonderful!" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 24, 2012

The organ trio is one of the most time-tested aggregations in jazz, and the men who form said grouping on Wonderful! Wonderful! are three of the most treasured musicians to ever play their instruments. Organ giant Joey DeFrancesco, guitar hero Larry Coryell and swinging drum stalwart Jimmy Cobb all set the bar impossibly high on their respective axes and now, they're joining forces on the organist's tenth album for the HighNote label. This high profile threesome references ...