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.

Catching Up With

Chris Potter: The Personal Stamp

by R.J. DeLuke
August 21, 2012

Chris Potter is one of the most visible saxophonists on the scene in recent years. There are reasons for that. Not only does he have incredible chops, inner drive, intensity and the impulse to always be creative--as if that's not enough--he can fit into any musical situation and find a way to contribute. Coming through the ranks, including while he was a still a student at the Manhattan School of Music, he could be found playing in any ...

Album Review

Phil Broadhurst Quartet: Delayed Reaction

Read "Delayed Reaction" reviewed by Florence Wetzel

by Florence Wetzel
August 20, 2012

For several decades now, pianist Phil Broadhurst has been one of New Zealand's most essential jazz musicians. In addition to his active performance schedule, he is head of the Jazz Studies department at the New Zealand School of Music in Auckland, he hosts a weekly nationwide broadcast called “The Art of Jazz," and he is co-author of Kiwi Real Books: Vol. 1 & 2, a collection of several hundred jazz compositions by New Zealand composers. Broadhurst has won New Zealand's ...

Live Review

Pat Metheny Unity Band: Kennett Square, PA, August 9, 2012

by Troy Collins
August 20, 2012

Pat Metheny Unity BandLongwood GardensKennett Square, PennsylvaniaAugust 9, 2012Over the past few years Longwood Gardens, a horticultural conservancy located in Southeastern Pennsylvania, has hosted a wide variety of international musical talent. Situated in a wooded area of Kennett Square, the conservancy offers multiple performance venues in a beautiful, bucolic setting conveniently located near Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Three days before his 58th birthday (August 12, 2012), Pat Metheny brought his critically acclaimed Unity Band ...

Album Review

Nate Radley: The Big Eyes

Read "The Big Eyes" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 20, 2012

Jazz musicians often emphasize the importance of having big ears when finding a place in the music, but big eyes are equally important. Tunnel vision and a general lack of ability to see the big picture have plagued many a musician, but guitarist Nate Radley needs no corrective musical lenses. Radley's panoramic outlook and long range sight give him a unique perspective that's on display for all to hear on his debut recording. Radley has been building ...

Album Review

Jon DiFiore: Patience

Read "Patience" reviewed by Daniel Lehner

by Daniel Lehner
August 20, 2012

Patience is typically defined as the capacity to tolerate delay without getting upset. This works quite well as a debut album title for New Jersey-born drummer Jon Di Fiore. Patience makes an excellent case for being unhurried, the same way a person might wait to speak to say something worthwhile. Di Fiore's compositions, fleshed out by a cast of veterans like trumpeter Joe Magnarelli and tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, and up-and-comers including pianist Billy Test, bassist Adrian Moring and saxophonist ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Will Goble

by AAJ Staff
August 20, 2012

Meet Will Goble: Without fanfare, Will Goble is steadily carving out a unique space for himself as a bassist and bandleader. Driven by a genuine love for group interaction and a positive exchange with audiences, he leads his own bands and supports other musicians with equal energy and enthusiasm. His first album as a leader Some Stories Tells No Lies, features his own trio joined by trumpeter Marcus Printup, who performs alongside fellow trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in the ...

Album Review

Phil Grenadier / Bruno Raberg Duo: Plunge

by Chris Mosey
August 20, 2012

The inspiration for this album was saxophonist Ornette Coleman's “Lonely Woman." It gave Swedish bassist, Bruno Råberg, what he calls an “aural vision": “I 'heard' a rich, erratic, and busy soundscape in which the beautiful melody would live. I saw images of desolate streets and a lonely person's inner turmoil, conflicting emotions and despair." Coleman's hauntingly melancholic composition was first heard on his The Shape Of Jazz To Come (Atlantic, 1959), when free jazz was in its ...

Catching Up With

Pat Metheny: Pulling It All Together

by Lawrence Peryer
August 20, 2012

As the 1970s came to a close, guitarist Pat Metheny was riding high on a wave of well-received albums, from his self-named Group and Trio and as a contributor to works by vibraphonist Gary Burton, bassist Jaco Pastorius and others. In 1980, he went somewhere else entirely and recorded what has come to be regarded as a landmark album, 80/81 (ECM, 1980). Featuring Metheny, tenor saxophonists Dewey Redman and Michael Brecker, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Jack DeJohnette, this double-album ...

Album Review

Aram Shelton: Everything for Somebody

Read "Everything for Somebody" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
August 19, 2012

Currently based in Oakland, California, alto saxophonist Aram Shelton initially rose to prominence as a member of the fertile Chicago jazz scene, where he resided from 1999-2005. His tenure in the Windy City resulted in a number of lasting relationships; one of the most notable is his Quartet with tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson, bassist Anton Hatwich and drummer Tim Daisy. Featuring some of Chicago's finest young improvisers, Everything for Somebody is the group's sophomore release, following These Times, its 2010 ...

Live Review

Big Sam’s Funky Nation: A Lesson at the School of Funk

by Michael Hood
August 19, 2012

Big Sam's Funky NationMain StagePennsylvania Blues FestivalBlue Mountain Ski Area, PAJuly 28, 2012Among other things, Big Sam's Funky Nation is a walking, talking, funking class in the history and myriad styles of funk.Classic funk--that most grooving and gritty stepchild of blues, soul and classic R & B--was deliciously played with love and reverence for its forbears during the group's excellent set at the Pennsylvania Blues Festival at the Blue Mountain Ski ...