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.

Live Review

Dida Pelled Trio: Aquebogue, NY, February 12, 2012

by Dan Bilawsky
February 24, 2012

Dida Pelled TrioLong Island WinterfestPalmer VineyardsAquebogue, NYFebruary 12, 2012Long Island's East End is world renowned for it's wine country and high-end lifestyle, but few visitors ever choose to experience either one during the winter. While the wine cognoscenti have come throughout the year, the general public usually waited for the warmer weather to trek out to the vineyards--but that began to change several years ago. The Long Island Winterfest came into existence as ...

Album Review

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

Read "Dark Lady of the Sonnets" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
February 24, 2012

Every few years master composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith surprises with a new outfit that fits wonderfully in his rich and complex musical universe. The Mbira trio is no exception: a timeless, multidimensional trio, inspired by revered ancestors but with its course set for a possible future. In this trio, Smith contextualizes the spiritual veins of the American school of free jazz, the Mbira (thumb piano) music of the Shona culture in Zimbabwe, and traditional Chinese music, all in ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp Trio: Elastic Aspects

Read "Elastic Aspects" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
February 24, 2012

From the sublime introspection of Bill Evans' legendary trio to the unfettered expressionism of Cecil Taylor's various units, the acoustic piano trio has proven to be one of the jazz tradition's most versatile and enduring configurations. Underscored by percussion, the pairing of two chord-based instruments facilitates a wide range of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic freedom, enabling performers to shift between roles, alternating support and lead positions. Having established his reputation as one of today's leading pianists, Matthew Shipp's numerous efforts ...

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Album Review

Joelle Leandre / Phillip Greenlief: That Overt Desire Of Object

Read "That Overt Desire Of Object" reviewed by Mark Redlefsen

by Mark Redlefsen
February 24, 2012

Contrabassist Joëlle Léandre and West Coast woodwind player Phillip Greenlief work out 11 different compositions between their two respective instruments and voices on That Overt Desire of Object. The flexibility and space that each provides the other seems to be reflected in the line note comments about the negative effects of greed. The title is a variation of the Luis Buñuel movie That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), with a playing field that appears a bit more level when compared ...

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Extended Analysis

Chico Buarque: Chico - The Definitive Collection 1970 - 1984

by Chris May
February 23, 2012

Chico BuarqueChico: The Definitive Collection 1970--1984Wrasse Records2012 Still going strong at 67, Brazilian singer and composer Chico Buarque maintains a release schedule of around an album a year, as well as writing books and scripts for film and stage. In Brazil, Buarque has been a star since the early 1970s, when he was a leading figure in the emerging musica popular brasileira (aka MPB) movement and a courageous critic of the ...

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Album Review

The Soul Rebels: Unlock Your Mind

Read "Unlock Your Mind" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 23, 2012

The Soul Rebels trumpet a post-hurricane Katrina sense of optimism and get the party going in full swing on Unlock Your Mind. This New Orleans-based octet implies good cheer via its up-tempo ambiance. Marked by tight horn arrangements, loosely paralleling the likes of Tower of Power or vintage James Brown, the band imparts New Orleans second-line components into a soul, pop, and jazz-centered framework outlined with a festive Mardi Gras-like deportment. With original compositions and pop hits, the ...

Album Review

Ronnie Cuber: Infra-Rae: Ronnie Cuber Meets The Beets Brothers

Read "Infra-Rae: Ronnie Cuber Meets The Beets Brothers" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
February 23, 2012

It is easy to forget an elder statesman such as the magisterial Ronnie Cuber, who continues to give commanding performances on his baritone saxophone. The absence of a sense of history clouds successive generations, who will honor young masters like Brian Landrus but forget the ancestors. The great tones from the bass end of the saxophone family would be nothing without men such as Harry Carney, Gerry Mulligan, Cecil Payne, Pepper Adams, and of course, Cuber. The saxophonist, who was ...

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Cymbalism

Don Alias and Nina Simone

by Melanie Futorian
February 23, 2012

[Editor's Note: Cymbalism is a new All About Jazz column that will feature 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 pays tribute to the sixth anniversary of his death in March, 2006.] Don Alias and Nina SimoneIt was Gene Perla who called me up one day and said, “Hey man, why don't you just try ...

Album Review

Matthew Shipp Trio: Elastic Aspects

Read "Elastic Aspects" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 23, 2012

When speaking of the development of the piano trio, talk inevitably turns to its different lineups, such a the evolution of Bill Evans' trio before and after the Scott LaFaro, or the differing approaches of drummers Paul Motian and Joe La Barbera. For Matthew Shipp, his latest company signals a sort of turning point--perhaps even a milestone.Shipp's trio, first heard on The Art Of The Improviser (Thirsty Ear, 2011) might be the most sympathetic subscribers to the Matthew ...

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Album Review

Hristo Vitchev / Weber Iago: Heartmony

Read "Heartmony" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
February 23, 2012

The meeting between two artists can represent an exchange of ideas and disciplines, as well as a sense of fellowship. Both are evinced in Heartmony, the second duo release from guitarist Hristo Vitchev and pianist Weber Iago; a collaborative follow up to 2009's The Secrets of an Angel on Vitchev's First Orbit Sounds label. With an air that's reminiscent of guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Lyle Mays' simpatico, the eleven tracks include Vitchev's “The Farewell Suite," music ...