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

Halie Loren: Heart First

Read "Heart First" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 29, 2012

Though vocalist Halie Loren has made a name for herself by bringing her warm and inviting alto to bear on a mixture of pop and jazz classics, she has received far too little attention in the United States. Much of the praise heaped upon her comes from Japan, where her fan base is strong and plentiful, but this Alaska-born, Eugene-based beauty may finally be able to make major inroads in the U.S. market with Heart First.This fourteen-track program ...

Album Review

Robert Glasper Experiment: Black Radio

Read "Black Radio" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
March 29, 2012

Evoking the fruitful jazz and pop crossover efforts of the 1970s, pianist Robert Glasper's Experiment infuses improvisational sensibilities into an array of contemporary black music traditions, from R&B and neo-soul to funk and hip-hop. Glasper is no stranger to such collaborations; in addition to leading his own acoustic and electric ensembles, he is music director of Mos Def's touring band and sideman to rapper Q-Tip and R&B singer Maxwell.Drawing from an impressive pool of pop music talent, Black ...

Album Review

The Bill Harris Quintet: Inside-Out

Read "Inside-Out" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
March 29, 2012

Portland, Oregon saxophonist Bill Harris is an educator, sideman and member of organist Steve Hall Quintet when not leading his own band. Growing up listening to jazz masters Sonny Stitt, John Coltrane and Phil Woods among others, he began playing woodwinds while in second grade and has favored the alto and tenor saxophones ever since. Though a veteran of the Portland, Oregon jazz scene since 1964, Inside-Out is his first outing as leader, an amazing top-notch recording of post-bop material ...

Album Review

Noel Catura: Soulful Situation

Read "Soulful Situation" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
March 29, 2012

San Francisco Bay Area saxophonist/flautist Noel Catura's debut, Soulful Situation, is about as smooth and soulful a debut as possible. Unlike some smooth jazz recordings--passionless, contrived, and delivered as easy listening jazz for the masses--Catura and crew withhold little in terms of expression and energy on this collection of eight original compositions. The various rhythmic grooves supporting Catura's lead lines are familiar, but, Catura's playing commands and seizes the day. He's focused, swings with a fine rhythmic ...

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Album Review

Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society

Read "Radio Music Society" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
March 29, 2012

When you've been invited to perform for the President of the United States, turned heads as the bass-playing beauty in the Academy Awards house band, toured with Prince and beat out teen dream Justin Bieber for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, you're having a very good run in the spotlight--and it could turn your head. From time-to-time an artist gets dubbed as the new saviour of jazz. Usually this title is handed out by publications with ...

Album Review

Jo-Yu Chen: Obsession

Read "Obsession" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
March 28, 2012

Japanese musicians get most of the ink when jazz sights turn to Asian-born wonders, but pianist Jo-Yu Chen is proof that Taiwan has its fair share of homegrown talent. Chen has been making waves over the past few years, self-releasing her Sam Yahel-produced debut, joining the fold as a Steinway Artist and, most recently, signing with Sony Music Taiwan. On Obsession, she shows no signs of slowing down, on a something-for-everyone program that can keep people guessing ...

Live From Philadelphia

February 2012: Terell Stafford Quintet: The Music of Lee Morgan

by RJ Johnson
March 28, 2012

Terell Stafford QuintetPerelman Theater, The Kimmel CenterFebruary 25, 2012 Philadelphia native, trumpeter Terell Stafford led his quintet through two sets of original arrangements dedicated to legendary trumpeter Lee Morgan in the Perelman Theater, located inside Philadelphia's Kimmel Center. The performance was part of the Kimmel Center's 2011-2012 “Jazz Up Close" Series, which has been designed to expose new audiences to accomplished jazz artists native to Philadelphia.The series has also included tenor ...

Album Review

Chick Corea & Gary Burton: Hot House

Read "Hot House" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
March 28, 2012

With a partnership lasting longer than most marriages, pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton know what it takes to keep things fresh. Since the release of Crystal Silence (ECM, 1973), they have toured virtually every year, but record far less frequently, with only six albums to their credit, most recently The New Crystal Silence (Concord, 2008). With the pianist especially busy these days--his The Continents: Music for Jazz Quartet & Chamber Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon, 2012) just out and a ...

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Album Review

Karavika: Sunrise

Read "Sunrise" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 28, 2012

What are the career choices for a classically trained musician? It's not sitting in an orchestra for violinist Trina Basu and cellist Amali Premawardhana. Instead, they chose the path of creating their own Indo-Western chamber ensemble, Karavika, to explore the sounds of Indian ragas and film songs, along with their original composition, “Sunrise," that blends two different Carnatic (South Indian) ragas.The co-leaders are joined in their debut CD, Sunrise, by tablaist Advait Shah, who pulls the sound in ...

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Album Review

Theo Bleckmann: Hello Earth! - The Music of Kate Bush

Read "Hello Earth! - The Music of Kate Bush" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 28, 2012

Vocalist Theo Bleckmann is a man of numerous modalities and ambitions. He's covered classical composer Charles Ives, teamed with heavyweight guitarist Ben Monder for experimental and improvised sojourns and, more recently, has performed and recorded with the always hip jazz unit, The Claudia Quintet. Here, Bleckmann treks into the pop-rock realm as he imparts a personalized touch to the music of iconic British singer/songwriter, Kate Bush. Bush's use of electronics, layered vocal parts, and futuristic production processes are also noted ...