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

Bobby Wellins and Kate Williams: Smoke And Mirrors

Read "Smoke And Mirrors" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
June 21, 2012

A title such as Smoke And Mirrors suggests there's trickery afoot: musical shortcuts, electronic skullduggery and all manner of subterfuge. There isn't: this is simply 45 minutes of beautiful acoustic music from two talented players who are, without wishing to sound too clichéd, in perfect harmony.Tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins has been one of the UK's major jazz instrumentalists for over 50 years (he first recorded in 1956, aged 20). He is still a vital member of the UK ...

Live Review

Longwood Gardens' Wine and Jazz Festival: Kennett Square, PA, June 2, 2012

by Victor L. Schermer
June 21, 2012

Longwood Gardens' Wine and Jazz FestivalThe Meadows at Longwood GardensKennett Square, PAJune 2, 2012After a night of thunderstorms and tornado warnings, the weather cleared at Longwood Gardens, a horticultural conservancy spread over a wide swath of countryside in Kennett Square, Chester County, PA. The day turned out sunny and mild, perfect for “jazz on a summery day" in late spring. A sold out crowd of over 4,000 fans showed up for the music and wine ...

Album Review

MegaOctet: E Total

by Anthony Shaw
June 21, 2012

As the 15-page spread in the May, 2012 issue of French Jazz Magazine demonstrated, Andy Emler is a Frenchman with a special gift. Not only a creative composer and arranger, as well as a broadly talented keyboardist, he is the man who has found ways to harness the redoubtable creative energies of his notoriously temperamental countrymen in a large, though not quite big, band. And he's done this for over 20 years. What's more, these fellow Frenchmen include some of ...

Live From Philadelphia

May 2012: Tony Miceli / Craig Ebner Quartet

by RJ Johnson
June 21, 2012

Tony Miceli/Craig Ebner QuartetChris' Jazz CaféPhiladelphia, PAMay 25, 2012Philadelphia-based vibraphonist Tony Miceli and guitarist Craig Ebner led their quartet through two sets dedicated to the music of the Red Norvo Trio.Norvo's renowned trio included guitarist Tal Farlow and bassist Charles Mingus--both relative unknowns during their time in the vibraphonist's group from 1949 to 1953, but eventually becoming immensely influential figures on their own instruments. With a repertoire comprised mainly of ...

Album Review

Bill Carrothers: Family Life

Read "Family Life" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 21, 2012

Minnesota-born pianist Bill Carrothers made the seemingly obligatory to pilgrimage to New York and spent five years there, doing the hustle and hang for work. That's how it's done in the jazz world. Or not. After five unhappy years in the Big Apple, Carrothers packed up his piano and moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula--not exactly a jazz-centric locale--to resume a life more serene and start a family.Family Life, a solo piano offering, finds Carrothers in a mostly tranquil ...

Album Review

Ben Tyree: Thoughtform Variations

Read "Thoughtform Variations" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
June 20, 2012

In stark contrast to the psychedelic funk rock of re: Vision (2010, Sonic Architectures), Brooklyn-based guitarist Ben Tyree eschews pyrotechnic effects and performs literally naked on his solo acoustic debut, Thoughtform Variations, showing enough imagination and finger-picking stylizations to satisfy both six-string enthusiasts and casual listeners. These original pieces were conceived eight years ago as experiments, and display a virtuosity and breath reminiscent of guitarists Michael Hedges and Alex De Grassi's 1980s-'90s work for Windham Hill Records, ...

Catching Up With

Wayne Krantz: Inspired Transition

by Ian Patterson
June 20, 2012

It's taken guitarist Wayne Krantz the guts of twenty years to pen a CD of songs with lyrics and sing them. Howie 61 (Abstract Logix, 2012) is a departure from the music he has recorded previously, though Krantz, Carlock, Lefebvre (Abstract Logix, 2009) hinted at this new direction. There's less guitar work than might be expected from Krantz on this striking collection of compositions, but that maybe goes hand-in-hand with greater compositional depth. It's certainly got something to do with ...

Album Review

Bill Carrothers: Family Life

Read "Family Life" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
June 20, 2012

Nostalgia, if overused, can be a dangerous drug but, when the dosage is just right, it can serve as a wonderful gateway into an artist's personalized realm. Such is the case with pianist Bill Carrothers' Family Life. Carrothers broke his trio recording habit, which is well-documented on his prior Pirouet releases, and sat down all by his lonesome to produce this pianistic trip down memory lane. While no single mood or ideal defines this work, Carrothers often ...

Extended Analysis

Arild Andersen: Celebration

by John Kelman
June 20, 2012

Arild Andersen Celebration ECM Records 2012 With all the activities surrounding the 40th anniversary of ECM Records in 2009--from a three-day festival-within-a-festival at that year's Enjoy Jazz Festival in Mannheim, Germany, and the budget-priced Touchstone Series reissue of forty essential ECM titles, to the publication of an all-German book of commissioned writing, Die Blaue Klang (Wolke Verlag, 2010), and the follow-up to 1996's much coveted and out-of-print Sleeves of Desire: A Cover Story (Lars Müller ...

Album Review

Sha's Feckel: Greatest Hits

Read "Greatest Hits" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
June 20, 2012

With Stoa (ECM, 2006), the world at large was introduced to Nik Bärtsch and his hypnotic, booty-shaking Zen Funk. But the Swiss pianist's rapid ascendance, thanks to the international reach and reputation of ECM Records, was only the tip of the iceberg. Not only had Bärtsch released six previous albums since 2001, on his own Ronin Rhythms Records--four with his now-longstanding Ronin, plus a solo piano record and the album that started it all, Ritual Groove Music (2001), with his ...