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

Bob Mintzer Big Band: For The Moment

Read "For The Moment" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 29, 2012

Musicians can consider themselves lucky if they find success in one particular area, but there are a select few that seem to flourish in every music-related environment that they encounter. Bob Mintzer is part of this elite list; his versatility is his greatest virtue but, while he's a world class saxophonist and educator, his legacy will likely be connected to his work as a composer and arranger in the world of big bands. He learned from the best, sitting in ...

Multiple Reviews

Adam Rudolph & Ralph Jones: Sound Travelers on the Cosmic Path

by Jakob Baekgaard
June 29, 2012

Sound is everywhere around us. When we live, we experience life as sound and sight. Words, rhythms and vibrations are part of the way we communicate and perceive the world.Music, at its best, is a special way of communicating through sound. The message cannot and should not be translated into words. Instead, the sounds become their own language, a path into an awareness of being.For a long time, percussionist Adam Rudolph and reedist Ralph Jones have ...

Album Review

David Linx, Maria Joao and the Brussels Jazz Orchestra: A Different Porgy and Another Bess

Read "A Different Porgy and Another Bess" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
June 29, 2012

The French classical label Naive has made a successful foray into jazz with recordings like Mina Agossi's Red Eyes (2012); and Tania Maria's Tempo (2012). A Different Porgy and Another Bess is the first thematic big-band offering from the label. Drawing from the George Gershwin/DuBose Heyward opera, Porgy and Bess (1935), A Different Porgy highlights eleven vocal pieces from the book. The music performed by the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, under the direction Frank Vaganee, features David Linx in the role ...

Extended Analysis

Teresa Salgueiro: O Misterio

by Nenad Georgievski
June 29, 2012

Teresa SalgueiroO MisterioClepsidra2012 When Portuguese singer Teresa Salgueiro sings, there is hardly anything more beautiful to experience; it's not necessary to speak the language to understand the scope and the power of the emotions she conveys. She has a voice with a naturally sensual glide that is simply arresting. That voice was until recently the trademark of Portugal's best ever group, Madredeus. Upon leaving the band Salgueiro released several ...

Album Review

Fly: Year of the Snake

Read "Year of the Snake" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
June 29, 2012

While there are numerous jazz trios, few leave a lasting impression. This is not the case for Fly, consisting of younger but fully established jazz artists-- saxophonist extraordinaire Mark Turner and his equally talented cohorts, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard. At just over ten minutes, the episodic “Kingston," from the trio's sophomore ECM release, Year of the Snake , encapsulates rousing composition and exhilarating improvisation. What begins tentatively, with inquisitive probing--elongated unison lines and gentle ...

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Album Review

Eivind Aarset & The Sonic Codex Orchestra: Live Extracts

Read "Live Extracts" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
June 29, 2012

For his fifth album as a leader, Norwegian guitar phenom Eivind Aarset captures the improvisational power and prowess of his expanded Sonic Codex Orchestra. Live Extracts, culled from six different venues over the course of the past year. With minimal editing and no overdubs, this is as close to experiencing Aarset in performance as many will get, and for that reason alone is worthy of attention.Aarset, interviewed recently at All About Jazz, may be more Guitar Anti-Hero than ...

Behind the Lens With...

Behind the Lens With Victor Engel

by Victor Engel
June 29, 2012

Meet Victor Engel: I was born in Canada and grew up in Guatemala, a child of missionary parent. In 1980 I moved to Texas where I got a degree in math. For most of my career I've been a database programmer, but one of my true loves is photography. In 1992 I moved to Austin for a job and fell in love with the city. Because I've had a stable career as a database programmer, I've ...

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Bill Anschell's Notes from the Lobby

Jazz Jam Sessions: A First-Timer's Guide

by Bill Anschell
June 28, 2012

Ready to check out your first jam session? There's much more to jazz music--and to the “session" in particular--than meets the eye. This primer will help you better appreciate the intense psychodrama being played out on stage. Special “Insider's Hints" ("IH“) highlighted throughout the text will help you make the most of your maiden voyage. IH: Although your food and drink dollars are the lifeblood of the jazz economy, remember that to the musicians, you're irrelevant. Don't make ...

Album Review

Beverley Beirne & Her Quartet: Seasons Of Love

Read "Seasons Of Love" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
June 28, 2012

What gives a song the status of “standard"? One thing might be its popularity with musicians and fans. Most of the dozen songs on Seasons Of Love are standards that range from the popular to the extremely popular. Another characteristic may be a song's malleability: its capacity for almost infinite re-imaginings; a something that often gets forgotten, as singers rarely move outside the comfort zone of familiarity nearly enough. Beverley Beirne sticks to the familiar much of the time, albeit ...

Album Review

Sylvain Rifflet: Alphabet

Read "Alphabet" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 28, 2012

While most people think of the alphabet as a collection of letters which act as the building blocks for words, Sylvain Rifflet probably isn't one of them. The French reed multi-instrumentalist seems to subscribe to the broader definition, which states that an alphabet is really “the basic elements in a system which combine to form complex entities." His Alphabet presents an ensemble using electronics, sound manipulation, minimalism, classical ideals, film score suggestions, trance music--and, yes, jazz--as the “basic elements" that ...