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

Kathy Kosins: To the Ladies of Cool

Read "To the Ladies of Cool" reviewed by Larry Taylor

by Larry Taylor
March 6, 2012

Singers June Christy, Chris Connor, Anita O'Day and Julie London were prominent in the 1940s and '50s. Christy, O'Day and Connor all spent time with Stan Kenton's band, while the sultry London became a pinup as well as a big record seller. Popular with both jazz and pop fans, these singers could regularly be heard on 78s and radio, singing the siren call for the emerging West Coast cool sound. With her fifth album, To the Ladies of Cool, singer ...

Interview

Matthew Bourne: Montauk, Billy Moon and the Lost Pianos

by Bruce Lindsay
March 6, 2012

"I've accepted that I'm not a traditional composer who sits and scores things out, plays them, learns them. I just have a rough sense of something and go out and do it. It often ends up being completely different," says pianist, improviser and composer Matthew Bourne. It's a characteristically honest appraisal, but it fails to do justice to Bourne's talent as a writer or player. This approach makes him one of the most fascinating of Britain's contemporary performers; it also ...

137

Talkin' Blues

Talkin' Blues with John Scofield

by Alan Bryson
March 5, 2012

John Scofield is one of the world's most influential and respected guitarists, a musician and composer who has worked with many of the greatest names in jazz: Chet Baker, Gary Burton, Billy Cobham, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan and scores of others. His 30 plus solo recordings have taken his fans on a remarkably wide-ranging musical journey--from straight ahead jazz, bebop, and fusion, to funky experimental outings with Medeski, Scofield, Martin, and Wood, and even gospel jazz ...

Album Review

Michael Bates: Acrobat: Music For, And By, Dimitri Shostakovich

Read "Acrobat: Music For, And By, Dimitri Shostakovich" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 5, 2012

To set the record straight: America has not taken a step closer to being more tolerant of any kind of musical rebel. It does not tolerate the one that conforms (for he or she too is a rebel), nor does it tolerate the one who is the objector. Like in every other aspect of life--other than art--America finds the staid and middle of the road and one most likely to sell the most records most acceptable. Dimitri Shostakovich was anything ...

111

Big Band Caravan

Nova Jazz Orchestra / Christian McBride Big Band / NYJO

by Jack Bowers
March 5, 2012

Nova Contemporary Jazz OrchestraWho Sez You Can't Dance to Bebop?Nova Jazz2010 When last heard from, Minnesota's dauntless Nova Jazz Orchestra was performing alongside the legendary Stan Kenton Orchestra--well, not actually “alongside," but as part of the Tantara label's ongoing two-disc salute to Kenton, Double Feature, Vol. 2. On that occasion, Nova was playing (and playing quite well) music written for but never recorded by the Kenton Orchestra, whereas on its eighth ...

159

Album Review

Metta Quintet: Big Drum / Small World

Read "Big Drum / Small World" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
March 5, 2012

While the old adage, “those that can, do; those that can't teach" once had meaning, its verisimilitude in a jazz world where artists are increasingly forced to turn to education as a means of steady income would appear to be in jeopardy. But there have always been artists deftly committed to both teaching and doing.New York City's JazzReach has been promoting jazz to public school students and beyond since 1994, largely through its resident Metta Quintet. Big Drum ...

Album Review

Lloyd Ryan Big Band: Drivin' Force

Read "Drivin' Force" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
March 5, 2012

A straight-ahead, drummer-led big band is one of the most stimulating ensemble formats in jazz. Buddy Rich's groups are perhaps the epitome of such an enterprise. The Lloyd Ryan Big Band, blasting through a selection of standards and pop classics on Drivin' Force, proudly carries on the tradition.Ryan, a British drummer, has been a player and educator for over four decades. He's taught drummers such as Phil Collins, Ralph Salmins, Status Quo's John Coughlan, and Tim Burgess of ...

Album Review

Hiroshima: Departure

Read "Departure" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
March 5, 2012

Departure isn't as much a radical departure as it is the next step in Hiroshima's evolution away from smooth jazz mainstay into a tight unit of skilled players making consistently solid music. The band is still built around multi-instrumentalist Dan Kuramoto and June Kuramoto}'s kinetic koto performances. James “Kimo" Cornwell's keyboard is an underrated strength, as is bassist Dean Cortez, and Danny Yamamoto and Shoji Kameda, on drums and taiko respectively.Hiroshima's previous album, Legacy (Heads Up, 2009) was ...

123

Album Review

Atkins/May Project: Serpents Kiss

Read "Serpents Kiss" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 5, 2012

Improvisation is an element that spans numerous musical genres. The ability to build an effective improvised storyline relies on an artist's creative spark, technical acumen, and communication skills through the looking glass of art. Here, eminent guitarist and producer Paul May displays an authoritative voice and highly imaginative improvisational skills during his summit with vocalist Al Atkins, known for his work with Judas Priest and Holy Rage. Firmly entrenched in the heavy metal format, Atkins' strong vocals, with his gruff ...

105

Interview

Armen Donelian: Consummate Musician

by R.J. DeLuke
March 5, 2012

Consistency of excellence is an extraordinary thing in music--particularly improvised music, where taking chances, however satisfying, can be risky. The daredevil on the tightrope might amaze onlookers. But he also might fall.61 year-old pianist Armen Donelian, a New York City native who now lives in upstate New York but who has traveled the globe as a jazz artist and as Fulbright scholar, is one of those improvising musicians. He's played all kinds of music during his lifetime. He ...