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

Eric Alexander / Vincent Herring: Friendly Fire

Read "Friendly Fire" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 2, 2012

For those who long for the time when hard bop reigned supreme, Blue Note and Prestige Records were riding high, and no-holds-barred saxophone cutting contests and unscripted jam sessions were the order of the day, here's a sure cure for any lament that those days are lost and gone forever. From the opening notes of Friendly Fire, recorded live in August 2011 at the New York City supper club Smoke, the it's clear that the album's principal combatants, tenor saxophonist ...

Live Review

Tindersticks: Novi Sad, Serbia, May 11, 2012

by Nenad Georgievski
June 2, 2012

TindersticksPozorište mladihNovi Sad, SerbiaMay 11, 2012Two decades into its career, the British band Tindersticks has plenty to be happy about. It's been 20 years since the band released its first single, which means that 2012 marks its anniversary, and there is the new album, the critically acclaimed The Something Rain (Constellation Records, 2012). While most bands, after an existence spanning at least a decade are, as conventional wisdom states, simply content just to consolidate past ...

Album Review

Marc Copland: Some More Love Songs

Read "Some More Love Songs" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 2, 2012

Pianist Marc Copland--who, oddly, began his jazz career as a saxophonist--took an artistic leap forward with his three New York Trio recordings on Pirouet Records. Employing a rotating crew of bassists with Gary Peacock, Drew Gress, and drummers Paul Motian and Bill Stewart, the pianist rose to a higher profile via his nearly unsurpassed musical excellence. The pianist interpreted standards (and some not-so-standards), along with his own top-flight original compositions, in conjunction with an astute marketing choice of releasing, over ...

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Album Review

Sylvain Rifflet: Alphabet

Read "Alphabet" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
June 2, 2012

There is no suitable title for French composer/reed player Sylvain Rifflet's uartet other than Alphabet, a name that begins to describe the rich contemporary language of this unique quartet. Rifflet mixes influences, from Tom Waits' use of junk percussive instruments and Captain Beefheart's anarchistic sound collages to the sound designs of film composer Cliff Martinez (known for his soundtracks for the films of director Steven Soderbergh), and a shows a deep knowledge of the work of minimalist composers such as ...

The Mort Report

A First-Take Life, With Everything From Hard Times To Hard Rock

by Mort Weiss
June 2, 2012

When I first started doing these articles I gave no thought as to the chronological order in which they occurred. Because of all the response regarding these little tidbits of the various happenings in my life as a jazzman (hey, there's no other name for it is there?) I will endeavor to fill in the blanks as we go forward on this journey of my life in jazz and and other minor obsessions. Who knows? Some of these ...

Album Review

The Black Butterflies: Rainbows for Ramon

Read "Rainbows for Ramon" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 1, 2012

When she was scarcely into her twenties, self-taught saxophonist Mercedes Figueras recorded Elefante (Self Produced, 2007) a duo recording with drummer Martin Visconte. From this initial effort, it was clear that Figueras is as fearless as she is creative. She neither tames her instrument nor lets it run wild and in the process has invented a style of her own. Her subsequent group--The Black Butterflies-- emerged in 2010 with 1 De Mayo (Self Produced, 2010) and the collection was full ...

Multiple Reviews

Music Matters and the Blue Note Oddballs

by Greg Simmons
June 1, 2012

In its heyday, Blue Note records had a relatively stable roster of musicians. Leaders including saxophonist Hank Mobley, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Horace Silver and saxophonist Lou Donaldson all released lengthy strings of records during recording relationships that were measured in years. Some players, like bassist Paul Chambers, became de facto house musicians for the label, appearing on dozens of titles by a myriad of leaders. Musicians liked the sound that Blue Note delivered, and appreciated owner Alfred Lion's dedication ...

Album Review

Veryan Weston / Ingrid Laubrock / Hannah Marshall: Haste

Read "Haste" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
June 1, 2012

Veryan Weston is one of the most creative musicians in recent times--or, perhaps, ancient times would be closer to the truth, for what is new emanates from the old and what is old gives birth to the new. Weston presides over this conundrum like a medieval apothecary concocting brilliant and powerful and magical potions that take the form of musical scores invented on the spot where time and space collide.Weston is an artist who follows the prompts of ...

New York Beat

Marcus Roberts: The Music of Jelly Roll Morton

by Nick Catalano
June 1, 2012

In the midst of Jazz at Lincoln Center's May celebration of New Orleans music, Marcus Roberts and his trio, accompanied by a choir of horns, constructed a tribute to Jelly Roll Morton. The concert featured classic Morton compositions performed with some enterprising improvisations.Morton's importance as a jazz pioneer cannot be overstated, and the extent of his contributions is being studied properly under the microscope of Jazz at Lincoln Center. His breakthrough stride pianism, his introduction of Latin (tango, ...

The Mort Report

Paul Whiteman’s TV show, and spending New Year’s Eve with Ella Fitzgerald

by Mort Weiss
June 1, 2012

I was quite active in the early days of live television, most of which was shot in Hollywood, California. Sometime in the latter part of 1951, I got a call from the director and producer of many teen-oriented TV shows.His name is Al Burton, and he went on to become a mega-dude in the industry. I'll just give one credit from many: He was the executive producer of the show “Charles in Charge." (A friend of mine from ...