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

Harris Eisenstadt: Canada Day III

Read "Canada Day III" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 11, 2012

Harris Eisenstadt's Canada Day quintet is evidence that an ensemble can be both disciplined and chaotic. With Canada Day III, the drummer/composer presents eight original pieces that, but for his talented sidemen, probably could not exist elsewhere.As with his previous quintet dates, Canada Day (Clean Feed, 2009) and Canada Day II (Songlines, 2011) Eisenstadt's quintet remains the same except for bassist Eivind Opsvik, replaced here by Garth Stevenson. Although the drummer claims not to write tunes for individual ...

Live Review

Van Dyke Parks: London, England, June 23, 2012

by John Eyles
July 11, 2012

Van Dyke Parks with Britten Sinfonia + special guestsBarbicanLondonJune 23, 2012The most obvious reason for Van Dyke Parks to play this one-off London concert was that his first three solo albums-- Song Cycle (Warner Bros, 1968), Discover America (Warner Bros, 1972) and Clang of the Yankee Reaper (Warner Bros 1975)--had just been rereleased on the London-based Bella Union label. Parks was obviously grateful for this attention from abroad, at one point commenting, with great comic ...

Behind the Lens With...

Behind the Lens With Adriana Mateo

by Adriana Mateo
July 11, 2012

Meet Adriana Mateo: Adriana was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is the daughter of award-winning director of photography Roberto Mateo, who mentored her.Adriana started photographing with a still camera at an early age, and following her family's tradition, started working on feature films and advertising commercials. At age 23, she began working as an art director for Phillip Morris on the Marlboro campaign for TV commercials in South America . Her passion for camera work ...

Album Review

Ryan Truesdell: Centennial - Newly Discovered Works Of Gil Evans

Read "Centennial - Newly Discovered Works Of Gil Evans" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
July 11, 2012

Pianist, band leader and composer Ian Ernest Gilmore Green, or as he is better know, Gil Evans, played an instrumental role in the development of free, modal, fusion and most of all, cool jazz. Evans numbers extensive collaborations with the great Miles Davis and arranging duties for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra in the 1940s among his many accomplishments.To mark the hundredth anniversary of Evans' birth date, 13 May 1912, producer and conductor Ryan Truesdell unveils Centennial: Newly Discovered ...

Interview

Michelle Marie: Two Countries, One Language

by Fernando Rodriguez De Mondesert
July 10, 2012

Michelle Marie is one of the young female guitarists with which to be reckoned with on the jazz scene today. Her original compositions and arrangements create an incredible, impressionistic atmosphere, and when she adds her voice to the mix, they simply add to the ambiance. Combined with her presence and artistic desire, Michelle Marie definitely commands attention.Marie is a simple girl from New York; her father is American and her mother from the Dominican Republic. She grew up ...

Album Review

Dafnis Prieto: Proverb Trio

Read "Proverb Trio" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
July 10, 2012

Walking a tightrope without a safety net is what Proverb Trio is all about. The recording was entirely improvised, and recorded in six hours by percussionist/composer Dafnis Prieto , keyboardist Jason Lindner and Grammy-nominated vocalist/emcee Kokayi (Carl Walker), who have performed together since 2009. Prieto--a one-time member of reedman Henry Threadgill's Make a Move and Zooid ensembles--is a 2011 MacArthur Fellowship recipient and a discernible voice known for his passion and technique on his own recordings, including About The Monk's ...

Live Review

Terence Blanchard: New York, NY, June 21, 2012

by Bob Kenselaar
July 10, 2012

Terence Blanchard The Jazz Standard New York, NY June 21, 2012Terence Blanchard is an important presence in jazz today on a number of levels. He's one of the most accomplished trumpet players around, consistently showing a great command of the instrument, a distinctive voice, and a highly inventive approach to improvisation. The New Orleans native also plays a high-profile role in jazz education; he's served for more than ten years as artistic director ...

Album Review

Kathy Kosins: To the Ladies of Cool

Read "To the Ladies of Cool" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 10, 2012

Okay... first there came Kate McGarry's superb Girl Talk (Palmetto, 2012). Then Sara Gazarek followed her 2012 release with Triosence, Where Time Stands Still (Charleston Square) with Blossom &Bee (Palmetto, 2012). Now, vocalist Kathy Kosins follows up her excellent Mood Swings (Chiaroscuro, 2002) and inventive Vintage (Self Produced, 2005) with To the Ladies of Cool, a tribute to those tacitly LA-associated songbirds of the '40s and '50s: Anita O'Day, June Christy, Chris Connor and Julie London. This has been a ...

Album Review

Virginia Mayhew Quartet: Mary Lou Williams: The Next 100 Years

Read "Mary Lou Williams: The Next 100 Years" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
July 10, 2012

Saxophonist Virginia Mayhew is a rare forward-looking jazz artist who doesn't mind looking back. She leads the Duke Ellington Legacy, responsible for the superb Thank You Uncle Edward (Renma Recordings, 2007) and Single Pedal of a Rose (Renma Recordings, 2012). Now she honors Mary Lou Williams (1910-1983) in this tribute to the groundbreaking pianist/composer/arranger's one hundredth birthday. Williams could be considered underrated, but there are efforts to remedy that: pianist Geri Allen recorded a quartet version of a ...

Behind the Lens With...

Behind the Lens With Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
July 10, 2012

Meet Bruce Lindsay: I live in the UK and specialize in performance photography. I came to jazz after some years photographing musicians in almost every other genre: rock, indie, folk, Americana, metal.My work has been featured in magazines, on album sleeves and in exhibitions. My photograph of bluesman Robert Belfour was chosen to be part of a Royal Photographic Society International Print Exhibition which toured the UK in 2009-10.Gear: An elderly Nikon ...