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

Leon Foster Thomas: Brand New Mischief

by Dan Bilawsky
July 24, 2012

The sound of steel pans seems to surface at beaches and poolside bars more often than jazz clubs, but that doesn't mean that these sunny-sounding metal melody makers aren't welcome or cut out for the jazz life. Steel pan trailblazers, like Jaco Pastorius-associated Othello Molineaux and jazz-meets-world music giant Andy Narell, established a place for their instrument in the jazz world a long time ago and paved the way for new and emerging pan players from future generations to join ...

Album Review

Greg Lewis / Organ Monk: Uwo in the Black

Read "Uwo in the Black" reviewed by Larry Taylor

by Larry Taylor
July 24, 2012

Uwo in the Black is organist Greg Lewis' second recording based on Thelonious Monk's music--in fact, it is the second in a projected trilogy. Lewis' debut in 2010, Organ Monk, gained high respect from critics. Whereas, the first effort was a trio affair, Lewis expands the group here by adding Reginald R. Woods on tenor saxophone. Woods' hard-edged tone and highly-charged style bring the flavor of Monk's regular tenor man Charlie Rouse to the studio. The sax also adds considerably ...

Live Review

Valby Summer Jazz 2012: Copenhagen, Denmark, July 6-15, 2012

by Jakob Baekgaard
July 24, 2012

Valby Summer JazzPrøvehallen in Valby and The Betty Nansen TheatreCopenhagen, DenmarkJuly 6-15, 2012 Good things tend to grow, at least when there's passion and dedication involved, and Valby Summer Jazz, which primarily takes place at the outskirts of Copenhagen in the suburb of Valby, is indeed a labor of love that has become so prominent that it almost outshines its big brother, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. The first edition of Valby Summer ...

Interview

Daniel Bennett: The Bear Truth

by Ludwig vanTrikt
July 24, 2012

Whether considered a member of Generation X or Y, saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist/composer and bandleader Daniel Bennett's career certainly is indicative of how many young artists' careers are ascending with the advent of the internet. But Daniel has a measured cynicism towards balancing live performance with the wonders of tech.Moreover what is also refreshing about this young musician is his candor. He readily admits to being very raw when his career began in earnest only a few years ago, not even ...

Extended Analysis

John Abercrombie Quartet: Within A Song

by John Kelman
July 24, 2012

John Abercrombie Quartet Within A Song ECM Records 2012 In the jazz world, one thing that keeps a lot of fans coming back for more with their favorite artists is the unpredictability factor. It may well be human nature to subconsciously form preconceptions, but with this music, it's usually best to avoid reductionist pigeonholing as, more often than not, it sets self-limiting expectations. Guitarist John Abercrombie has proven, in a career now well into its ...

Album Review

Black Music Disaster: Black Music Disaster

Read "Black Music Disaster" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
July 23, 2012

The intriguingly titled Black Music Disaster is part of Thirsty Ear's Blue Series, which for over a decade has documented numerous cross-stylistic collaborations between artists from different genres. This live concert recording, taped in February 2010 at London's Cafe Oto, features a virtual indie summit meeting, presenting renowned avant-garde jazz pianist Matthew Shipp playing Farfisa organ, Spiritualized's founding singer/songwriter J Spaceman and Spring Heel Jack co-founder John Coxon on electric guitars, as well as esteemed drummer Steve Noble.Jokingly ...

Album Review

Marc Rossi Group: Mantra Revealed

Read "Mantra Revealed" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
July 23, 2012

Multifaceted Boston-based keyboardist, composer Marc Rossi whets the harmonic palate with a genre-hopping brew of Indo-jazz, fusion and modern jazz. An educator at Boston's Berklee College of Music, Rossi is a staple in the region's progressive-jazz scene, spanning numerous formats and ensemble gatherings. Here, the artist plants his imaginative powers with a hip, upbeat, and tuneful array of works sans any filler tracks. Essentially, these disparate pieces teeter on that fuzzy space, where blithely memorable themes seamlessly coalesce with synchronous ...

Album Review

Baby do Brasil: Geracao Guerreiros do Apocalipse

Read "Geracao Guerreiros do Apocalipse" reviewed by Ernest Barteldes

by Ernest Barteldes
July 23, 2012

Over her four-decade career, Baby do Brasil (formerly known as Baby Consuelo) has constantly reinvented herself artistically. As a member of Brazil's seminal Os Novos Baianos, she helped (with the blessing of Joao Gilberto) shatter genre barriers with their fusion of rock, samba and other sounds. As a solo artist starting from the late 70s, she continued mixing things up by bringing northeastern Brazilian music to the mainstream while introducing new standards to the country's musical canon.

Live Review

Bob DeVos and Don Friedman: Nyack, NY, June 29, 2012

by David A. Orthmann
July 23, 2012

Bob DeVos and Don FriedmanNyack Library Carnegie RoomNyack, NYJune 29, 2012The spate of live performances that expressly pay tribute to various figures from bygone eras of jazz raises a number of complex questions about the music and the business which surrounds it. Do concerts and club dates in honor of musicians ranging from Duke Ellington to Louis Prima represent a marketing ploy to attract listeners who are reluctant to venture out to hear performers with ...

Hardly Strictly Jazz

A Few Frames Of Public Access Art

by Skip Heller
July 23, 2012

Music and television have always worked together, and through the history of the medium, apocolypses have happened because the world was tuned in together. Language quickly becomes hyperbole when people recall Elvis Presley or the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, Ricky Nelson's fantastic weekly performances on his parents' show (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet), any number of jazz artists on the old Steve Allen show, Elvis Costello on Saturday Night Live (although Devo was better), or Michael Jackson moonwalking on ...