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

Seth Yacovone: Burlington, VT, July 20-21, 2012

by Doug Collette
August 10, 2012

Seth YacovoneNectar's and Red SquareBurlington VermontJuly 20-21, 2012A dyed-in-the-wool native of the Green Mountain state and a formidable figure in its contemporary music scene, in particular in the greater Burlington area, guitarist/vocalist Seth Yacovone has created a niche for himself over the past seventeen years that is anything but insular.From opening for Phish with his blues band, touring Europe and most recently his peripatetic activities within Vermont and the greater Northeastern US, Yacovone ...

Album Review

Tom Soloveitzik, Korhan Erel, Kevin Davis: Three States of Freedom

Read "Three States of Freedom" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
August 10, 2012

Eddie Prevost's improvisation workshop has been meeting weekly in London since 1999, with several hundred participants having attended. In that time, some of its long-standing participants, such as saxophonist Seymour Wright, guitarist Ross Lambert and pianist Sebastian Lexer, have built up considerable performance histories and discographies. Lately, there has been an increasing trickle of releases from newer workshop participants such as guitarist James O'Sullivan, French pianist Marjolaine Charbin and Greek zither player Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga. To that list, we ...

Live Review

Jazz Baltica 2012 Opening Night: Niendorf, Germany, June 29, 2012

by Alex T.
August 10, 2012

Jazz Baltica Ensemble / Stefano Bollani with the NDR Big BandJazz Baltica 2012Niendorf, GermanyJune 29, 2012In the course of its 21 years of existence, Jazz Baltica has developed into one of Germany's most important jazz festivals. After a period of uncertainty about sponsors and funding in 2010 and 2011, Jazz Baltica returned in 2012 with a slightly altered concept introduced by its new artistic director, Swedish star trombonist Nils Landgren. Furthermore, the festival relocated to ...

Album Review

Jessica Williams: Songs of Earth

Read "Songs of Earth" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
August 9, 2012

Jessica Williams, with her last four CDs on Origin Records, is like a butterfly coming out of its cocoon. Earlier in her career, Williams--who once held the piano chair in drummer Philly Joe Jones band--wrapped her artistry in the Great American Song on Some Ballads Some Blues (Red and Blue, 1999), along with stellar tributes to departed star pianists Art Tatum and Thelonious Monk.Around the beginning of her teaming with Origin Records--in conjunction with the creation of her ...

Album Review

Bobby Sanabria Big Band: Multiverse

Read "Multiverse" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 9, 2012

Drummer/historian/educator/percussionist Bobby Sanabria is more than the sum of his parts; he's actually the sum of all parts, collected, absorbed and observed over the course of his musical life. The Nuyorican jazz giant is a stylistic sponge, historical repository and bringer of the boom, but he's a true artist above all else. He understands that music is about self expression, tradition, innovation, and the place where all three meet. The pieces that Sanabria presents on Multiverse are ...

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

August 2012

by Mr. P.C.
August 9, 2012

Dear Mr. P.C.:At the end of my gig, the bandleader told me that my playing is “timeless." Is that good? Drummer in Doubt

Dear DID:Does he pay you by the hour? If so, he may be trying to pull a quick one on you. Think about it: If you've just played a gig from 9:00 to midnight, you'd expect him to pay you for the three hours you put in. But by calling ...

Album Review

Marco Cappelli: The American Dream

Read "The American Dream" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
August 9, 2012

Things get lost in translation. It's inevitable, and it's not just words and meaning. Cultural things morph. Take a Venetian or Roman to an Olive Garden restaurant in America and she won't recognize much on the menu, or send an American to Puglia with the task of finding a pizza pocket. Some things just don't translate.Such is not the case with hipness. What is cool in Milano is happening in Brooklyn. When Italian guitarist Marco Cappelli, the Italian ...

Catching Up With

Miles Evans: Two-Part Harmony

by Melanie Futorian
August 9, 2012

Trumpeter Miles Evans, like saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, has faced the plus/minus of being the son of a jazz icon--in this case, legendary composer/arranger/bandleader Gil Evans. But if Ravi's exposure to his father was cut short by the saxophonist's too-early demise in 1967, just shy of the youngster's second birthday, Miles had the opportunity to grow up with his dad--even playing in Gil's bands beginning in the early 1980s on albums like Live at Sweet Basil, Vols. 1 & 2 (Evidence, ...

Album Review

300 Basses: Sei Ritornelli

Read "Sei Ritornelli" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
August 9, 2012

The credits of Sei Ritornelli require some explanation, in order to avoid confusion or unrealistic expectations. Firstly, formed in 2010, 300 Basses is a multinational trio consisting of the Portuguese-born Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Jonas Kocher from Switzerland and Italian Luca Venitucci. Contrary to the mind-boggling images conjured up by the group name, all three play accordion; no-one plays bass. The album title, like the track titles, is in Italian and translates as “six refrains." In fact, the six pieces are ...

Extended Analysis

Dansere

by John Kelman
August 9, 2012

Of all the box sets released so far as part of ECM Records' Old & New Masters Edition series, none have documented a period of such rapid growth and change as that of Jan Garbarek and Dansere, which collects the Norwegian saxophonist's three recordings with Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson: Sart (1971), Witchi-Tai-To (1974) and Dansere (1976). ECM's series of three-and four-disc Old and New Masters sets began with pianist Keith Jarrett's Setting Standards: New York Sessions (2008), celebrating the 25th ...