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

Edmar Castaneda: Double Portion

Read "Double Portion" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
April 12, 2012

There is probably a greater chance of winning the lottery and being struck by lightning than building a career as a successful, world-renowned jazz Colombian harpist. Fortunately, Edmar Castaneda was more interested in pursuing his vision than studying statistics and probability. The Colombian-born harp phenom, who arrived in the United States in 1994, didn't have the benefit of following in the footsteps of others when it came to finding his way through jazz on his instrument of choice. He, however, ...

Extended Analysis

Alex Hutton Trio: Legentis

by Chris May
April 12, 2012

Alex Hutton TrioLegentisF-IRE Records2012There has been a flurry of activity around screen composers this spring 2012, all of it good. Warner Jazz has released an anthology of movie theme music written by Nino Rota, Collector Nino Rota; British pianist John Taylor is poised to release a tribute to the film and TV composer Carlo Rustichelli, Giulia's Thursdays (Cam Jazz); University of Illinois Press has published John Caps' Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music.

Album Review

Brian Charette: Music for Organ Sextette

Read "Music for Organ Sextette" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
April 12, 2012

While there've been a few exceptions, many jazz organ-based recordings deliver the same old grind of not deviating too far from the Jimmy Smith or Charles Earland grease and grits format. But not in the case of Brian Charette's Music for Organ Sextette , a release that balances harmonically complex ideas with catchy melodies. The Grammy nominated artist has worked with names from Chaka Khan to Joni Mitchell, is active in New York and has released a ...

Album Review

Lisa Marie Baratta: Summertime Jazz

Read "Summertime Jazz" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
April 12, 2012

Multi-reed player Lisa Marie Baratta's second album as a leader, Summertime Jazz, is a collection of standards that sooth the soul like the languid days of summer. The laidback interpretation of these workhorses creates the relaxing ambience of vacation days at the beach, and although the improvisations are short and succinct-remaining close to the melody--there is superior musicianship and significant variety in the instrumentation that puts this record out of the clichéd easy listening genre and solidly ...

Album Review

WA: Cross The Center

Read "Cross The Center" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 12, 2012

Led by prominent Seattle improvisers--drummer Gregg Keplinger and guitarist Simon Henneman--WA tenders a prime example of the regional avant-garde scene that is heavily influenced by rock and free-jazz. Spanning a few decades (give or take), Seattle's entrepreneurial spirit resides as the West Coast contingent of New York City's infamous Downtown Scene. Here, the bass-less quartet imparts a megalomaniacal viewpoint, pursuing the outside via distortion-laced guitar movements, background electronics and haunting thematic constructions. The musicians' breadth and clear-sighted focus transcends similar ...

Album Review

Mike Levine: Thinking Of You

Read "Thinking Of You" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
April 12, 2012

Presenting his follow-up to the well-received debut, From The Heart (Rhombus Records, 2008), Miami-based pianist/composer Mike Levine offers a lively set of primarily original material on Thinking Of You, full of rich melodies and harmonies in a wonderful artful production of smooth jazz. A first-call and in-demand musician, Levine has performed with many jazz giants in the last 30 years, including saxophonist Tom Scott, harmonicist Toots Thielemans, and trumpeters Randy Brecker and Ira Sullivan, as well as being a part ...

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Live Review

Thailand International Jazz Conference: Bangkok, Thailand, January 27-29, 2012

by Carla Marie Rupp
April 12, 2012

4th Thailand International Jazz Conference Mahidol University College of Music, Salaya Bangkok, Thailand January 27-29, 2012The strong Jazz Studies Department at the College of Music, Mahidol University, makes it possible to host an impressive international annual jazz conference. Committee members literally plan the event throughout the year, and are already working hard on the 2013 schedule.The successful, multifaceted, and well-organized Thailand International Jazz Conference (TIJC) 2012 brought in noted jazz ...

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Cymbalism

Don Alias and Joni Mitchell

by Melanie Futorian
April 12, 2012

[Editor's Note: Cymbalism is an All About Jazz column featuring excerpts from an upcoming autobiography on the late, great percussionist Don Alias, co-written by Melanie Futorian, his companion for the last seven years of his life. This installment covers Alias' collaboration with singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell] Joni and I were living together working on our romance. She was a prolific genius; a woman who wrote about what happened in her life. I had introduced her to my musical world ...

Catching Up With

Catching Up With Lewis Porter

by Jeffery S. McMillan
April 11, 2012

On April 19, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. in Paine Hall on the Harvard University campus, jazz pianist, composer, educator, and author, Lewis Porter's Concerto for Saxophone will receive its world premiere with jazz icon Dave Liebman as the soloist:Dr. Porter was kind enough to answer some questions about the piece and his collaborations with Liebman:All About Jazz: Your achievements as a scholar and educator are tremendous. You have been a Professor of Music at Rutgers University ...

Album Review

Gregoire Maret: Gregoire Maret

Read "Gregoire Maret" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
April 11, 2012

Gregoire Maret's first album under his own name is both more and less than a Music lover following the harmonicist's career might expect. After years of collaborating with the likes of guitarists Pat Metheny and Charlie Hunter, and vocalist Cassandra Wilson, Maret (mostly) wisely but ambitiously places his instrument in a variety of settings that highlight various aspects of his playing.The sum effect of hearing his eponymous debut is to appreciate how much Maret has brought to the ...