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

Todd Bishop Group: Little Played Little Bird

Read "Little Played Little Bird" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
April 26, 2012

In the twilight days of the compact disc as a sound storage device, the most compelling reason for keeping what still seems a “new" audio media (compared to wax cylinders and 78s) in the face of purely electronic media is “concept" or “thematic" releases. One such example was drummer Todd Bishop's Pop Art 4 album, 69 Annee Erotique (Origin Records, 2009). This excellent release surveyed the music of French pop artist Serge Gainsbourg, music with popularity in Europe, little heard ...

Live Review

Danilo Perez and Friends Celebrate McCoy Tyner: Philadelphia, PA, April 14, 2012

by Victor L. Schermer
April 26, 2012

Danilo Perez QuartetJazz Up Close SeriesPerelman TheaterKimmel Center for the Performing ArtsPhiladelphia, PAApril 14, 2012In the 2011-2012 concert season, the decade-long Jazz Up Close series curated by artistic director Danilo Perez has featured tributes to legendary Philadelphia jazz musicians, including the Heath Brothers, Benny Golson, Lee Morgan, and in this final Spring concert, McCoy Tyner. One might have expected that Tyner himself would perform, but he has limited his engagements recently, ...

Album Review

Sven-Ake Johansson: Die Harke und der Spaten

Read "Die Harke und der Spaten" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
April 26, 2012

Part performance piece, part free improvisation, Die Harke und der Spaten ("The Rake and the Spade") is a musical stage play composed by Swedish jazz legend Sven-Åke Johansson. This recording, made in Malmö, Sweden in 1998, features a Who's Who of European improvisers and proponents of free jazz--a European free jazz that distinguishes itself from American music.Johansson was there at the beginning of the European free scene, recording with founding fathers Peter Brötzmann, Alexander Von Schlippenbach, and Manfred ...

Album Review

Foxes Fox: Live at the Vortex

Read "Live at the Vortex" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
April 26, 2012

Foxes Fox--Evan Parker on tenor saxophone, Steve Beresford on piano, John Edwards on bass and Louis Moholo-Moholo on percussion--first came together as a quartet in 1998. Live at the Vortex is, however, only their third album, following Foxes Fox (Emanem, 1999) and Naan Tso (Psi, 2005). Unlike its predecessors, this release--captured in February, 2007--was recorded live in concert. While the studio recordings on those earlier albums convey the energy and immediacy of the group, this live recording manages to trump ...

Album Review

Boris Hauf Sextet: Next Delusion

Read "Next Delusion" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 26, 2012

Reedman Boris Hauf frequently pushes the envelope. For evidence, one need only look at his longstanding affiliation with the avant-garde, acoustic-electric Austrian band Efzeg, known for subliminal sound-sculpting mechanics and ethereal subtleties. However, his repertoire is quite extensive. Making frequent trips to Chicago over the years, he has aligned with like-minded individuals and noted improvisers, often residing on the same musical plane, similar visions coalescing for unpredictable outcomes. On this release, Hauf merges a three-horn attack with three drummers. Needless ...

105

On and Off the Grid

Anthony and Me

by Dom Minasi
April 26, 2012

When I was asked to write a column for All About Jazz, my question was what should I write about? I was told anything that was music-oriented. I decided that being a professional musician for more than fifty years, I could write about the things I care about, know about, have strong opinions about based on my own experiences that might be worth sharing. In no way do I want the reading public to think this is about ...

Album Review

Brian Charette: Music for Organ Sextette

Read "Music for Organ Sextette" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 25, 2012

Finding an organ in a gathering of more than four in jazz seems to be taboo, yet no logic exists behind this unspoken truth. The organ is constantly making friends with guitars and drums, with the occasional singular horn dropping by to converse with them, but the possibility of a broader social circle always seems to elude this unwieldy instrument. Thankfully, organist Brian Charette is helping to rectify this issue.On Music For Organ Sextette, Charette weaves a unique ...

Album Review

Nico Gori / Fred Hersch: Da Vinci

Read "Da Vinci" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
April 25, 2012

Clarinetist Nico Gori and pianist Fred Hersch both played the North Sea Jazz Festival in July 2010 and struck up a friendship riding together on the bus from the performance site to the hotel. Soon thereafter they began a series of duo gigs in Europe and New York. The studio recording Da Vinci captures the strong element of fellowship between the Italian and the American.Gori is most visible as member of pianist Stefano Bollani's group. Hersch, meanwhile, has ...

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Behind the Lens With...

Behind the Lens With Skip Bolen

by Skip Bolen
April 25, 2012

Meet Skip Bolen: Most of my personal work lately has been photographing jazz and documenting the disappearing historic landscape of old architecture, vintage signs, old water towers, cemeteries and other points of interest in New York City, Los Angeles and across the South primarily in my hometown of New Orleans--a collection of images that embody both a sense of romance and nostalgia.I lived in New York City years ago working as a junior art director in ...

Album Review

Kenny Poole: Heritage

Read "Heritage" reviewed by Jack Huntley

by Jack Huntley
April 25, 2012

Kenny Poole was a guitarist's guitarist. He never sought the limelight that others with his talents achieved, but his much admired jazz chops attracted musicians in the know. He performed with such luminaries as Jack McDuff, Tal Farlow, Joe Pass, Howard Alden and Jack Wilkins. Sadly, Poole lost his fight with cancer in 2006. But with the release of Heritage, a collection of his live solo performances at Cincinnati's Heritage Restaurant, Poole's soulful and sophisticated finger-style arrangements are available for ...