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.

128

Reassessing

Ornette Coleman: The Missing Years, 1968-1972

by Eric Miller
February 22, 2012

Among Ornette Coleman's periods of relative quiet, the turn of the 1960s into the 1970s may well be the most frustrating. More than three years of musical life--from the final Blue Note sessions of April-May 1968 to the release of Science Fiction on Columbia in 1972--remain shrouded in mystery and obscurity. Every recording made under Coleman's name during this period was done live; worse, all are either unavailable or unauthorized (to slightly varying degrees), forcing fans to hold out for ...

Album Review

Erik Deutsch: Demonio Teclado

Read "Demonio Teclado" reviewed by Florence Wetzel

by Florence Wetzel
February 22, 2012

The title of Erik Deutsch's Demonio Teclado means “Keyboard Demon"--and indeed he is. Raised in Washington, DC and Nashville, Deutsch spent ten years in Colorado honing his craft, receiving a degree from the University of Colorado in piano performance, plus studying and playing with pianist Art Lande and gigging with trumpeter Ron Miles. In the mid-2000s Deutsch moved to New York and jumped into the New Brooklyn Jazz scene; he also started working with a wide variety of musicians such ...

117

Extended Analysis

1982: Pintura

by John Kelman
February 22, 2012

1982PinturaHubro Music2011 In a world where technology is becoming a bigger partner in everything, for better or worse, there are still some artists who strive for purity--at least within certain contexts. The trio that has come to be known as 1982, when it first came together for its self-titled 2010 NORCD debut, was absolutely resolute in its acoustic purity--so much so that when it performed a showcase set at the top ...

111

Album Review

Albatrosh: Yonkers

by John Kelman
February 22, 2012

2012 seems to be a year of change for many artists. Not so for Norway's Albatrosh, the duo first heard while still in school and before they'd made a record at an overnight stop in Rosendal, as part of the 2008 JazzNorway in a Nutshell junket. Paring back to the core duo that first released Seagull Island (Inner Ear, 2009) but expanded to a quartet on Mystery Orchestra with Grenager & Tafjord (Inner Ear, 2011) might seem a step backwards ...

Album Review

Cloning Americana: For Which It Stands

Read "For Which It Stands" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
February 22, 2012

What are the color and the tone and texture of the music of protest and rebellion? Not red, it appears, but red white and tinged with the blues. At least this is what is posited by Cloning Americana, the ensemble that comprises saxophonist/clarinetist Billy Drewes, pianist Gary Versace bassist Scott Lee and drummer Jeff Hirshfield. Their quiet protest is a result of the belief that there is a “decline in the basic social values of respect, compassion and tolerance." This ...

142

Album Review

Johnathan Blake: The Eleventh Hour

Read "The Eleventh Hour" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 22, 2012

Jazz violinist John Blake, Jr.'s son, drummer Johnathan Blake, makes his debut on Sunnyside Records with The Eleventh Hour. While the leader, this recording does not have any of the hallmarks of a drummer-led date. Blake is careful not to crowd his band, making his mark as solid understatement, a seasoning that imparts just the right percussive flavor to the combo's performance. He also paints across an expansive landscape, drawing from a wide expanse of music, summoning the last 60 ...

115

Album Review

Wes Montgomery: Echoes of Indiana Avenue

Read "Echoes of Indiana Avenue" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose

by Raul d'Gama Rose
February 21, 2012

Not since the discovery of the Voice of America tapes of the 1957 Carnegie Hall concert by Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane has there been an event as exciting as the surfacing of this rare first recording by guitar-maestro Wes Montgomery. The Echoes of Indiana Avenue masters, procured by Montgomery fan Jim Greeninger, were offered to producer Michael Cuscuna who, in turn, brought in Zev Feldman of Resonance Records to unravel the mystery of the lost Montgomery tapes. It required ...

On and Off the Grid

What's The Point, Part 2

by Dom Minasi
February 21, 2012

This is the second entry for my new column at All About Jazz. I actually published What's The Point? in my own blog in January 2012. All About Jazz asked if I would be interested in writing for them; I was surprised and honored. I decided to update and rewrite the original article; because of the response and all the emails I received, I wanted to expand and make some of my points longer and clearer. I have increased the ...

104

Album Review

Matthew Shipp: Elastic Aspects

Read "Elastic Aspects" reviewed by Chris Rich

by Chris Rich
February 21, 2012

Elasticity is expressed throughout this Matthew Shipp trio release in the deftness of transitions, the focused investigations of central elements in music and a selection structure that has its own striking cohesion. The piano gets its elaborate discovery expedition with corresponding investigations from bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey. Recorded in July 2011, Elastic Aspects might be heard as a suite, beginning with a stretch toward free improvisation ("Alternative Aspects"), featuring Bisio's emphatic and overt bow ...

Album Review

Johnathan Blake: The Eleventh Hour

Read "The Eleventh Hour" reviewed by Mark F. Turner

by Mark F. Turner
February 21, 2012

The health of an organism is its ability to reproduce and a fine example of jazz's continued vitality is heard on drummer Johnathan Blake's The Eleventh Hour. The debut's excellence comes as no surprise, though. This son of violinist John Blake Jr is already carving his name as a young rhythmic dynamo whose growing credits include work with the Mingus Big Band, trumpeter Tom Harrell and guitarist Russell Malone. With a frenzied schedule of gigs on other ...