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

Sylvain Rifflet: Alphabet

Read "Alphabet" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
July 2, 2012

French composer/reed player Sylvain Rifflet is recognized not only for his work in jazz, but also in film music. With his current quartet, he has broadened his palette to include world, rock and avant-garde influences. The resulting Alphabet defies narrow classification as it straddles many styles. It certainly is a very cinematic affair, often resembling a movie soundtrack in its expansiveness. The whimsical “® and Silence" is reminiscent of a spaghetti western theme, with Philippe Gordiani's logically ...

Behind the Lens With...

Behind the Lens With David Bjorken

by David Björkén
July 2, 2012

Meet David Björkén: I was born in Sweden in 1970 and I currently work as a graphic designer and freelancing photographer in the advertising market and with OPUS magazine, Scandinavia's largest magazine about classical music. I also do some landscape and portrait photography.Gear: I mainly use a Canon EOS 5D MkII. My favorite lenses are the EF 70-200 f/2.8L and 135 f/2.0L but I also often use wide angles.Teachers and/or influences?

228

Extended Analysis

Mats Eilertsen: SkyDive

by John Kelman
July 2, 2012

It's significant that, in the personnel listing to SkyDive, Mats Eilertsen lists himself last, despite having composed all its nine tracks, put the group together and produced the recording. It's a simple truth about a humble Norwegian bassist who has, in the past decade or so, been gaining considerable traction, as a co-founding member of the cooperative group The Source, responsible for a number of recordings including the eponymous 2006 recording on Germany's legendary ECM. He's also been a charter ...

285

Album Review

Markku Ounaskari / Samuli Mikkonen / Per Jørgensen: Kuara: Psalms and Folk Songs

Read "Kuara: Psalms and Folk Songs" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
July 2, 2012

While early reference points for jazz and improvised music may have come from the Afro-American tradition, global musicians of the 21st century have increasingly looked to their own cultural touchstones for music that speaks to them at a mitochondrial level. If music is a reflection of who we are and what we experience, then it only makes sense for artists to mine their own backgrounds for a place to start, rather than attempting to bring deeper significance to music they ...

Interview

Delving Into the Deep Blue

by Trish Richardson
July 2, 2012

"Blood may be thicker than water, but you can't live without water." --Novelist Jane Porter While the members of Deep Blue Organ Trio were not brought together by shared parentage, guitarist Bobby Broom, drummer Chris Rockingham and organist Chris Foreman share a closeness, mutual respect, and loyalty that many families would envy. Their bond and brotherhood extends beyond their music. These men love what they do and they love the men that they get to do it with. ...

Extended Analysis

Ryan Truesdell: Centennial - Newly Discovered Works Of Gil Evans

by Dan Bilawsky
July 1, 2012

Ryan TruesdellCentennial: Newly Discovered Works Of Gil EvansArtist Share2012Those who choose to focus their energy on arranging and composing rarely get the attention and praise that comes to their instrument-wielding counterparts, but the cream always manages to rise to the top and get noticed. Such was the case with the great Gil Evans. He expanded and experimented with the sonic color scheme of jazz during his time with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra, ...

Album Review

Randi Tytingvag: Grounding

Read "Grounding" reviewed by Anthony Shaw

by Anthony Shaw
July 1, 2012

Just like Jenny Lind and even Abba's Frida Lyngstad, Randi Tytingvåg is one of the latest of a long line of Scandinavian female singers who have adapted their innate skills to appeal to a market far beyond their native shores. And that is not to mention Norway's clutch of other successful young female jazz singers Rebekka Bakken, Hanne Hukkelberg, and their acclaimed colleague Silje Nergaard.Tytingvåg is a singer who is as capable behind a pen as she is ...

Live Review

Ottawa Jazz Festival, Days 4-8: June 21-23, 2012

by John Kelman
July 1, 2012

Days 1-3 | Days 4-8 TD Ottawa International Jazz FestivalOttawa, CanadaJune 21-Jul 1, 2012With a total of five main venues--the main stage at Confederation Park, the Studio and Fourth Stage in the National Arts Centre, the OLG Stage tent across the street from Confederation Park at City Hall, and, for the Holland/Brahem/Surman Thimar show on June 23, the First Baptist Church, the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival is set to handle ...

Album Review

Steve Barta: Another Life Brazil

Read "Another Life Brazil" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
July 1, 2012

Pianist Steve Barta continues his musical travels through Brazil that started with Blue River (Source Music, 2001), a collaboration with flautist Herbie Mann. Mann joined Barta on Another Life Brazil, performing his valedictory on the title tune shortly before his death at 73, in 2003. None other than Hubert Laws rounds out the wind parts on Another Life Brazil, but it is Mann's contribution that is the most compelling among an otherwise excellent Latin project. “Another Life ...

Album Review

Sandra Marlowe: True Blue

Read "True Blue" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
July 1, 2012

With the plethora of female jazz vocalist turning out new albums almost weekly, it is refreshing to hear an exceptional voice--a diamond in the rough--from a singer whose time has finally come to share her enormous talents with the rest of the world. San Francisco Bay Area native Sandra Marlowe proves she is no ordinary singer, and one sampling of True Blue begs the question: Where has she been? A rare voice capable of caressing the lyrics and reaching high ...