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

Dialogues Trio: Twinkle Twinkle

Read "Twinkle Twinkle" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
February 15, 2012

Pianist Bruno Heinen formed Dialogues Trio in 2005 with bassist Andrea Di Biase and drummer Jon Scott. The trio has played numerous live concerts in Italy and the UK since its inception, but the three players have also been involved in other projects--including Heinen's work with Palestinian singer Reem Kelani, Di Biase's membership in trumpeter Kenny Wheeler Trio and Scott's activities with the Kairos 4tet. Seven years after the band's formation, Twinkle Twinkle is its debut recording: ten tunes inspired ...

Live Review

Aki Takase / Rudi Mahall and the Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio: London, UK, January 26, 2012

by John Sharpe
February 15, 2012

Aki Takase / Rudi Mahall and the Alexander von Schlippenbach TrioThe VortexLondonJanuary 26, 2012 The last week in January at north London's Vortex was given over to a mini-festival curated by saxophonist Evan Parker, genteelly entitled “Might I Suggest." Sponsored by the Goethe Institute, it showcased several German-based musicians rarely seen in the UK. On paper at least, the highlight appeared to be the double bill showcasing in two contrasting halves, the husband-and-wife team of ...

Album Review

Monsters and Puppets: Monsters and Puppets

Read "Monsters and Puppets" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
February 15, 2012

Monsters and Puppets features two prolific and versatile musicians in the Norwegian jazz scene-- keyboardist Maria Kannegaard and drummer Thomas Strønen, both of whom have been playing together since 1997 in the Kannegaard Trio, with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and, recently, in vocalist Ingrid Lode's outfit Billy Fy. This new duo was formed after the two musicians were asked to play a duo set at Molde Jazz Festival. A few days later this completely freely improvised session was recorded.

Album Review

Triosence with Sara Gazarek: Where Time Stands Still

Read "Where Time Stands Still" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 14, 2012

Half a world may separate Germany's Triosence and California singer Sara Gazarek, but the possibility of making beautiful music together helped to bridge the gap between both parties. When Bernhard Schüler, the pianist in this Cologne-based cooperative trio, contacted Gazarek via e-mail in 2008 to propose a collaboration, this project might have seemed like a long shot, but the wonders of technology and the powers of persistence and determination helped see it through. Schüler and Gazarek exchanged e-mails, wrote and ...

Live Review

Dave Burrell: Philadelphia, PA, January 18, 21 and 30, 2012

by Kurt Gottschalk
February 14, 2012

Dave BurrellThe Rosenbach Museum & Library and Philadelphia Arts Alliance Philadelphia, PAJanuary 18, 21 and 30, 2012 Dave Burrell is something of a renaissance jazzman. He recorded with drummer Sunny Murray and saxophonist Archie Shepp during the halcyon free jazz days of Paris in the late 1960s, and over the last four decades has returned every so often to that fiery, driving jazz. Yet he is also an enthusiastic advocate of the great pianists ...

Album Review

Jim Manley: Brass Poison Too

Read "Brass Poison Too" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
February 14, 2012

Trumpet players who dwell in the altissimo range of the instrument face multiple dilemmas: they must maneuver the purely physical demands of playing in that extreme register (challenging), perform impeccably (difficult) and display musical grace and ease in doing so (incredibly difficult). Complicating matters, there are always the ghosts of Maynard Ferguson, Bill Chase and others lurking to offer the opportunity for fair or unfair comparisons. With Brass Poison Too, Jim Manley again demonstrates that he is ...

Album Review

Tommy Vig: Welcome to Hungary

Read "Welcome to Hungary" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
February 14, 2012

Although not as well-known in the US as his compatriots Attila Zoller and Gábor Szabó, percussionist Tommy Vig is every bit as talented as the two guitarists with a unique vision and unrelenting quest for perfection. Born in Budapest, Vig was a child prodigy, having recorded on drums at the tender age of eight. Political climate forced him into a self-imposed exile to the US where he made a living playing behind other jazz musicians, vocalists and ...

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Catching Up With

Lorraine Feather

by Carl L. Hager
February 14, 2012

Like her contemporary Kurt Elling, Lorraine Feather is that rare jazz vocalist and lyricist who reinvents herself with every project. With the February 2012 release of Tales of the Unusual (Jazzed Media) comes a new self so different that casual fans may not recognize her at first. Some might feel challenged or mystified by these ambitious lyrical statements, but the seductive textures are certain to lure them into the eerie world where Feather embraces life's most entertainingly bizarre and aberrant ...

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Album Review

Matt Wilson's Arts And Crafts: An Attitude For Gratitude

Read "An Attitude For Gratitude" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 13, 2012

Drummer Matt Wilson may be the supreme human confluence of technique, swing, spirit, humor and musicality. Over the past 20 years, Wilson has proven to be one of a select few that can balance an inside/outside aesthetic, often within a single piece of music. He has helped shape the music of Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Either/Orchestra, Lee Konitz, Denny Zeitlin and many others, but his own body of recorded work highlights his unique personality and musical perspective better than any ...

Live Review

Warren Chiasson: New York, January 31, 2012

by Bob Kenselaar
February 13, 2012

Warren Chiasson: A Tribute to George ShearingNew York Bahá'í Center, John Birks Gillespie AuditoriumNew York, NYJanuary 31, 2012 “Joy"--now, there's a word people don't always toss around loosely when talking about music. But it's the perfect word to describe how Warren Chiasson approaches the vibraphone--with great joy and with terrific mastery, too. His performance in a trio setting at Mike Longo's Tuesday night jazz series at the New York Bahá'í Center--with Ed MacEachen on guitar ...