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

Andrea Veneziani Trio: Oltreoceano

Read "Oltreoceano" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 19, 2012

Since the advent of pianist Bill Evans' groundbreaking late 1950s/early 1960s group with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Scott LaFaro, piano trios have been largely focused on interplay. On his debut, Oltreoceano, Italian-born bassist Andrea Veneziani employs a trio very much in the Evans fashion, with pianist Kenny Werner (with whom Veneziani studied in the NYU Masters' program) and swinging and interactive drummer Ross Pederson.Werner is a superb choice of pianists for an exploration of the Evans-style piano ...

Album Review

Johnathan Blake: The Eleventh Hour

Read "The Eleventh Hour" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
March 19, 2012

Some debut recordings encapsulate all of an aspiring artist's diverse interests; others are less ambitious, and merely document a particular ensemble or performance. The Eleventh Hour, an expansive tour de force by rising drummer Johnathan Blake, is a prime example of the former. Blake's successful merger of styles should come as no surprise; in addition to sideman gigs for Kenny Barron, Tom Harrell and the Mingus Big Band, he is the son of violinist John Blake—his roots run deep.

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Interview

Maxine Gordon: The Legacy of Dexter Gordon

by Victor L. Schermer
March 19, 2012

Legendary tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon was a focal point of the bebop and hard bop revolutions. Later in his career, he achieved the status of an American icon with his lead role in Bernard Tavernier's 1986 film, Round Midnight, which garnered him an Academy Award nomination. His “homecoming" in New York City, after living in Europe for over a decade, resembled that of the main character in the film, although the scripted role is known to be a synthesis of ...

Extended Analysis

Motorpsycho and Stale Storlokken Present: The Death Defying Unicorn

by John Kelman
March 18, 2012

Motorpsycho and Ståle Storløkken The Death Defying Unicorn Rune Grammofon 2012 Capturing the raw power of a live performance in the studio is no small challenge. When Norway's Motorpsycho--a group that, across the past two-plus decades and over 25 recordings, has gone from metal-tinged indie rock and psychedelic space rock to flat-out progressive rock and everything in between--collaborated with Supersilent/Elephant9 keyboardist Ståle Storløkken at the 2010 Molde Jazz Festival, the result was an electrifying 100 ...

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Album Review

Gabriel Guerrero: Feyas

by James Nadal
March 18, 2012

The mere mention of bop piano icon Bud Powell as an inspiration and major influence should be a justifiable motivation to pay attention to Gabriel Guerrero. The energetic pianist's Feyas displays a recognized reverence to Powell while also exhibiting self-assurance, technical expedience, and compositional proficiency. Guerrero draws deep from the jazz piano idiom as well as his Latin and classical backgrounds. He comes out blazing right from the launching track with “Colombia Tierra Querida," followed by a ...

Extended Analysis

The Doors: L.A. Woman - 40th Anniversary Edition

by C. Michael Bailey
March 18, 2012

The DoorsL.A. Woman: 40th Anniversary EditionElecktra2012 In the end, The Doors were a jazz organ trio playing the blues, what keyboardist Ray Manzarek called “The Modern Jazz Quartet of Rock." Flirting with psychedelia on its first four albums, providing an acid soundtrack to 1967's Summer of Love, and releasing a critical career- killing album in The Soft Parade (Elektra, 1969), the band found its roots and made comeback skid-marks with Morrison Motel ...

Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith's Mbira: Dark Lady of the Sonnets

Read "Dark Lady of the Sonnets" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 18, 2012

In the epic narratives and gorgeous elegies of trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith lies a heart immersed in the spirituality of the blues. His music drinks from an ancient well that predates organized worship and actually resides in one that celebrates the Creator in his awesome glory. This is why Smith is able to make his horn not merely an extension of his lips and tongue, but of his heart and soul. His unique voice is an extension of ...

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Album Review

Teagan Taylor: Wonderland

Read "Wonderland" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
March 18, 2012

Vocalist/trumpeter/cornetist Teagan Taylor displayed a definite influence of vocalist Norah Jones on her debut, I Can't Explain (Jazzomaniac Records, 2010). As a Blue Note Records artist who leans heavily toward popular music with forays into the jazz realm, Jones is an engaging and popular singer/pianist and a very good role model for the young Taylor, who was 19-years old at the time of her debut. Taylor's potential for wider recognition and success in a competitive field seems huge with the ...

Album Review

Nakatani Tiner Drake: Ritual Inscription

Read "Ritual Inscription" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
March 18, 2012

Epigraph Records first release, Ritual Inscription, documents live, improvised creative music in Bakersfield, California, Epigraph's home base. Renowned Japanese percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani meets two local comrades, trumpeter Kris Tiner (the founder of the label) and guitarist Jeremy Drake for two intense improvisations.Chaotic sounds of gongs and assorted percussion merge with serene lines from the trumpet and the rubbing and strumming of the guitar strings on the first improvisation, “Ritual." These elastic, kinetic sounds mutate constantly, coloring a broad ...

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Album Review

Carter Calvert and the Roger Cohen Trio: Carter Calvert and the Roger Cohen Trio

Read "Carter Calvert and the Roger Cohen Trio" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
March 18, 2012

Broadway/jazz vocalist Carter Calvert possesses an impressive set of pipes, fine-tuned by performances in Cats, Ain't Nothing But the Blues and Always Patsy Cline. Her capability goes well beyond the stage, where Calvert displays a certain facility for rubbing some old songs in just the right way, making them catch fire. Closing out what would be a sturdy if ordinary recital of standards by Calvert is an exceptional coupling of the traditional “Sometimes I Feel Like A ...