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.

Extended Analysis

Ryan Truesdell: Centennial - Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans

by Dan McClenaghan
July 13, 2012

Ryan TruesdellCentennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil EvansArtistShare2012Composer/arranger/pianist Gil Evans broke new ground in the arena of arranging in the late 1940s with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra, and the 1949-50 singles which later came out as the album Birth of the Cool (Columbia Records, 1957), made up of sessions with trumpeter Miles Davis. He went on the arrange the music for three more of Davis' extraordinary Columbia sets--Miles Ahead (1958), Porgy and ...

What is Jazz?

Free Form Evolution

by Sammy Stein
July 13, 2012

Since free form tentatively emerged during the 1940s and '50s it has evolved with both the times and changing audiences. Now, free form elements cross genre boundaries and many musicians use elements from free form in their works. Because it is music which draws on the spiritual feelings of the players, social dramas and the atmosphere of the time, it is still developing. Long ago, it filled a niche because it was music where musicians took standards, blew them apart, ...

Album Review

Arturo O'Farrill: The Noguchi Sessions

Read "The Noguchi Sessions" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
July 12, 2012

Pianist Arturo O'Farrill has been around the block a few times and is rightly respected for his role in elevating the Latin big band genre, but he has shied away from the idea of recording a solo piano album for a long time. In the fall of 2011, O'Farrill found himself sitting behind a Steinway piano in a museum, ready to finally take the plunge, but he wasn't really alone as he placed his fingers on the keys. He was ...

On and Off the Grid

The Importance of Being Earnest (or What It Takes To Be A Good Teacher)

by Dom Minasi
July 12, 2012

Question: Why write an article about being good music teacher?Answer: Because there are too many bad teachers out there!For some unknown reason people who have been playing their instruments for a few years think they can teach, especially when they don't know some of the basics themselves.Through the years, I have had to teach the basics to guitar players who were playing sometimes up to six years. I have had students tell me that ...

Album Review

Joe Morris/ William Parker/ Gerald Cleaver: Altitude

Read "Altitude" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 12, 2012

Of all the possible combinations and permutations of modern improvising jazzmen, it's a wonder that the trio of guitarist Joe Morris, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver have never worked together as a unit. Luckily in 2011, at the urging of label chief Steven Joerg, the trio got together for two sets at The Stone in New York as part of a two-week AUM curated series.Much like on Cleaver's previous release with Parker and pianist Craig Taborn ...

Big Band Report

June Means Jazz as Festivals Flourish

by Jack Bowers
July 12, 2012

June, as always, is a harbinger of exciting things to come as the jazz festival season springs forth in earnest, causing even the most ardent couch potatoes to bestir themselves and start perusing the calendar to locate interesting events in their neck of the woods. Here in New Mexico, the “outdoor" season comes to life with the annual Jazz, Blues & Salsa Under the Stars series at the Museum of Art and History, which is where Betty and I were ...

Album Review

Gerald Albright and Norman Brown: 24/7

by Jeff Winbush
July 12, 2012

No instruments dominate smooth jazz more than the guitar and saxophone, which is why Gerald Albright and Norman Brown, two of the genre's most dominant players, make such an inspired pairing. Both musicians are on the top of their game and while 24/7 breaks no new ground, it does provide perfect listening for warm summer nights when a cool groove is required.Multi-instrumentalist Albright's array of saxophones and robust tone tends to slightly overshadow Brown's deft guitar playing at ...

Big Band Caravan

James Morrison / Tall & Small / Millennium Jazz Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
July 12, 2012

James MorrisonSnappy TooMorrison Records2012 The first question that arises about Snappy Too, the latest mind-blowing enterprise by Aussie James Morrison, is how is it to be filed: under “big band" or “duo"? The fact is, the album is both, as the personnel consists of Jeff Hamilton on drums and Morrison on everything else, from brass to reeds, bass to piano, even guitar, bass trumpet and banjo. That's no misprint. Morrison, the ...

Album Review

4 Sided Triangle: 4 Sided Triangle

Read "4 Sided Triangle" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
July 11, 2012

4 Sided Triangle offer up a set of tunes that mix jazz, rock, blues and funk on their eponymous debut album. It's an often-quirky set of tunes from an impressive quartet of British musicians led by Bristol-based saxophonist and composer Kevin Figes.Figes also leads the Kevin Figes Quartet, which has released two albums, but 4 Sided Triangle is a different beast altogether: only Figes himself is present in both bands. Two things give 4 Sided Triangle a distinctive ...

Scumbles

Sax Massive

by Sammy Stein
July 11, 2012

Saxophonist and composer Andy Sheppard was asked, a couple of years ago, to come up with an idea for the 200th anniversary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In particular, Bristol City Council wanted an event to start fundraising for lights for the Clifton Suspension Bridge.Being a saxophonist, Sheppard suggested 200 saxophones somehow get together in one place and perform. He said it as a joke at first and initially, members of the council grinned and then laughed--as did Andy--but ...