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

Alan Rosenthal: Just Sayin'

Read "Just Sayin'" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
May 3, 2012

There is an over abundance of piano trio albums in the annals of jazz, so recording one that stands head and shoulders above the rest is a challenge in and of itself. Alan Rosenthal and his colleagues, however, have met the challenge effortlessly, resulting in the stimulating Just Sayin'. Though classically trained, Rosenthal is also well at home in the bop vernacular, especially Bud Powell's linear explorations. He pays homage to Powell directly and indirectly. The former ...

Album Review

The Jens Wendelboe Big Band: Fresh Heat

Read "Fresh Heat" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
May 3, 2012

A superb follow-up to his well-received Inspirations, Vol. 1 (Rosa, 2010) ensemble excursion, veteran trombonist, band leader, and award-winning Norwegian composer/arranger, Jens Wendelboe unleashes a little Fresh Heat from The Jens Wendleboe Big Band. The disc features contemporary interpretations of classic compositions by trumpeter Clifford Brown, saxophonist Joe Henderson, and bassist Steve Swallow, along with several originals. Wendelboe--who grew up listening to the energetic sounds of the pop group Blood, Sweat & Tears (of which he is now a member), ...

Album Review

Mary Halvorson Quintet: Bending Bridges

Read "Bending Bridges" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
May 2, 2012

For the sophomore effort from her quintet, guitarist Mary Halvorson reprises the winning formula of Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12, 2010). Again, there is a mix of pieces for the full ensemble and for Halvorson in trio; and, again, the end result defies classification, touching on spidery improv, jazz tradition and avant rock in a cleverly idiosyncratic brew. Only this time out, she is even more successful. Her writing has developed, unveiling appealing tunes enlivened by arrangements which extract the best ...

Album Review

Kenny Werner: Me, Myself and I

Read "Me, Myself and I" reviewed by Larry Taylor

by Larry Taylor
May 2, 2012

Pianist Kenny Werner, though comparatively unsung, has been appreciated by many since forming a trio in 1981. He is also known for his series of stellar duos with harmonica virtuoso Toots Thieleman. Additionally, he has done yeoman duty with guitarist John Scofield, bassist Dave Holland and saxophonist Joe Lovano, all the while--for more than 20 years--working as arranger and accompanist for singer Betty Buckley.Me, Myself and Iwas recorded solo in Montreal, Canada at the small Upstairs Jazz Bar ...

Album Review

Jazz Soul Seven: Impressions Of Curtis Mayfield

Read "Impressions Of Curtis Mayfield" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 2, 2012

Curtis Mayfield's music has always possessed a certain cachet in soul, funk, R&B, pop and rock circles, but it never fully took hold in jazz until now. Pianist Herbie Hancock had some fun with Mayfield's “Future Shock" on the decades-old album of the same name (Columbia 1983), while other jazz musicians may have occasionally taken a stab at one of his songs; but these were merely blips on the musical radar. It was boundary-pushing bassist William Parker's I Plan To ...

Album Review

Moraine: Metamorphic Rock

Read "Metamorphic Rock" reviewed by Mark Redlefsen

by Mark Redlefsen
May 2, 2012

Moraine is a progressive jazz-rock fusion group led by Seattle-based guitarist/composer Dennis Rea. The group's second CD, Metamorphic Rock: Live at NEARfest, from a live show held at the Bethlehem, PA festival in 2010, finds the band growing its sound to a more competitive level, moving beyond ideas covered on its studio debut, manifest deNsity (Moonjune, 2009). Although the set is very much a composed and focused effort, it contains much of the frenzied energy of Rea's free jazz/rock fusion ...

Live Review

Jazzahead! 2012

by John Kelman
May 2, 2012

Jazzahead! 2012Bremen, GermanyApril 19-22, 2012 While folks around the world debate the future of jazz--and, for that matter, what exactly jazz is and even what it should be called--an annual trade show in Bremen, Germany, now in its fifth year, has managed to demonstrate that jazz as a brand may be facing challenges like everything else, but is far from approaching its death bed. Jazzahead! also makes clear that the future of jazz is absolutely and ...

JazzLife UK

Eat Worms Or Be Loved

by Bruce Lindsay
May 2, 2012

The first JazzLife UK article of 2012 has been some time coming: my apologies to anyone who noticed. By way of recompense this edition moves beyond the narrow confines of the British Isles to discuss an international Jazz Quandary: if jazz has gone so horribly wrong, how can we fix it? It's a big question and demands a big answer. In fact, it's two big questions. Has jazz gone horribly wrong? If it has, how can it be ...

Album Review

Miles Okazaki: Figurations

Read "Figurations" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
May 1, 2012

Figurations is the final release in Miles Okazaki's three volume compositional cycle. Its trajectory is based on forward-thinking ideas Okazaki began on his self-produced 2006 debut Mirror, and continued on the nearly sixty-minute Generations (Sunnyside, 2009), which was recorded in the studio in one take. While no less demanding, this recording was commissioned and performed in front of a live and appreciative audience at New York's Jazz Gallery.Methodical yet emotive, there are manifold ideas and theories swirling in ...

199

Album Review

Tom Tallitsch: Heads Or Tales

Read "Heads Or Tales" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 1, 2012

Jazz musicians are often lauded for how different they are from one another, but all of the most notable musicians who wear the jazz label actually have one thing in common: expertise in telling a story. When theory, technique and stylistic divisiveness are all removed from the equation, musicians are left with the not-so-simple task of creating aural narratives worth following, and plenty of them can be found on Heads Or Tales.Tenor saxophonist Tom Tallitsch put together a ...