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.

Book Review

Derrick Bang: Vince Guaraldi at the Piano

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
July 31, 2012

Vince Guaraldi at the Piano Derrick Bang 390 pages ISBN: 978-0-7864-5902-5 McFarland Books 2012 Based on Derrick Bang's encyclopedic biography of pianist Vince Guaraldi, you can draw two perhaps surprising conclusions about the subject's contribution to jazz. First, Guaraldi arguably hipped more listeners to this musical form than anyone else since the heyday of the big bands. He did so by means of “Cast Your Fate To The Wind," three minutes ...

Album Review

Chris McGregor: In His Good Time

Read "In His Good Time" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
July 30, 2012

Founder of South African group the Blue Notes and, later in London, the Brotherhood of Breath, pianist Chris McGregor (born in the Transkei to Scottish missionary parents) was among the first musicians to take what became known as “township jazz" beyond South Africa, when he and the Blue Notes went into voluntary exile in 1964. Like pianist Dollar Brand (later Abdullah Ibrahim) and trumpeter Hugh Masekela, who had both left the country in the wake of 1960's Sharpeville massacre, McGregor ...

Album Review

Kerong Chok: Good Company

Read "Good Company" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
July 30, 2012

Though still in his twenties, pianist/keyboardist/composer Kerong Chok has been one of the bright young stars on Singapore's jazz scene for a decade. He stepped into the limelight as co-writer, arranger and deft accompanist on singer Rani Singam's Contentment (Inflexion Lines, 2011), and here makes his full debut as leader, on a Hammond organ-flavored set that evokes the instrument's '60s heyday and the classic Blue Note albums of that era. Nostalgic, perhaps, but these ten tracks are striking originals, and ...

Book Review

Funny Valentine - The Story of Chet Baker

by Chris May
July 30, 2012

Funny Valentine: The Story of Chet BakerMatthew Ruddick828 pages, softbackISBN: 978-1-907732-71-3Melrose Books2012Grippingly written and meticulously researched, Matthew Ruddick's 828-page opus is the definitive biography of trumpeter and singer Chet Baker. More than that, it is a vivid account of the junkie subculture that ran through mid-to-late 20th century jazz, as seen through the incident-packed life of one of its most spectacular participants. The book combines some of the ...

Album Review

Connie Evingson: Sweet Happy Life

Read "Sweet Happy Life" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 30, 2012

Singer Connie Evingson is a master of thematic programming. Her last several recordings have all been predicated on specific themes that showed great consideration in their concepts. Recordings released since the new millennium include: Little Did I Dream: Songs by Dave Frishberg (Minnehaha Music, 2008); Stockholm Sweetnin' (Minnehaha Music, 2006); Gypsy in my Soul (Minnehaha Music, 2005); The Secret of Christmas (Minnehaha Music, 2003); and Let It Be Jazz: Connie Evingson Sings the Beatles (Summit Records, 2003). All are uniformly ...

Extended Analysis

Shannon Whitworth and Barrett Smith: Bring It On Home

by C. Michael Bailey
July 30, 2012

Shannon Whitworth and Barrett SmithBring It On HomeSelf Produced2012 Like musical genre, the release of music has become progressively atomized in the past 25 years. Long gone is the ritual ministry of going to a record store to buy and album. Albums, those often painstakingly conceived collections of songs, are gasping their Chain-Stokes last breath at the hands of a generation used to downloading the newest single mp3 recorded in someone's ...

Interview

Michael Carvin: The Making of a Master

by Bob Kenselaar
July 30, 2012

With a career that spans half a century, master drummer Michael Carvin has plenty to look back on, although he's mostly a forward-looking man. To say he's been prolific puts it mildly. By his own count, he's made some 250 recordings and toured the world five times. He has worked with such major jazz luminaries as Jackie McLean, Dizzy Gillespie, Pharaoh Sanders, and Freddie Hubbard, among many others, in addition to fronting his own bands and recording ten albums as ...

Album Review

Jack Phillips: Cafe Nights In New York

Read "Cafe Nights In New York" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 29, 2012

New York is, and always has been, a study in contrasts when it comes to the jazz it presents. The Big Apple has a reputation as the place to be for those looking to hear, explore and partake in all that's modern in this music, but it also plays home to certain venues that serve as the last vestiges of old world style. Chief among the rooms that traffic in the charm and class associated with cabaret performers, Cole Porter ...

Bailey's Bundles

Roberto Magris’ Journey to the Heart of Hard Bop

by C. Michael Bailey
July 29, 2012

Italian pianist and composer Roberto Magris has carved his name in jazz stone over the past decade with recordings like Check-In (Black Saint, 2005), Il Bello Del Jazz (Black Saint, 2006) and Current Views (Black Saint, 2010) with his ensemble Europlane, and Kansas City Bound (Pami, 2009) and Mating Call (JMood, 2010) (which foreshadows the hard bop of pianist Tadd Dameron) with his various other groups. He is a sturdy mainstream pianist with impressive chops, both instrumentally and compositionally.

Album Review

Luis Perdomo: The Infancia Project

Read "The Infancia Project" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
July 29, 2012

Pianist Luis Perdomo's presence is marked by attributes that include lyricism, depth and adaptability. The onetime member of saxophonist Ravi Coltrane's quartet has worked on many releases for artists like trombonist Steve Turre and saxophonist Miguel Zenón. His visibility is coming more into focus with The Infancia Project, which the New York-based pianist avoided making for many years over concerns of being typecast as “just another" Latin jazz musician. While the project's flavor is influenced by the ...