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.

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Album Review

Jon Balke Batagraf: Say And Play

Read "Say And Play" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
February 7, 2012

He may be nowhere near a household name in North America, but elsewhere-- in particular in his native Norway--pianist Jon Balke's influence continues to grow. That he's better known for the music he writes--and the contexts in which he delivers it--shouldn't be taken as a negative, either; only that, with projects like the brass-heavy Oslo 13, chamber-tinged Magnetic North Orchestra and culturally and stylistically cross-pollinated Siwan (ECM, 2009), the collaboration-minded Balke simply doesn't opt for contexts where his own playing ...

Mr. P.C.'s Guide to Jazz Etiquette and Bandstand Decorum

February 2012

by Mr. P.C.
February 7, 2012

Dear Mr. P.C.:I'm pretty new as a jazz listener, but there's already something I don't get. People say jazz is supposed to be all about surprise. But I keep hearing this same formula: They play the melody, then the melody instrument takes a solo, then the piano solos, then the bass solos, and then sometimes the drums solo. If it's supposed to be so spontaneous, why do they keep doing it the same order, over and over? Where ...

133

Album Review

Lorraine Feather: Tales of the Unusual

Read "Tales of the Unusual" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 7, 2012

Vocalist Lorraine Feather is first and foremost, a lyricist. The daughter of jazz writer, composer, and producer, Leonard Feather, she has released a mess of recordings, all of which feature finely crafted songs composed from the same brew that gave rise to Tippo, Mississippi's Mose Allison and St. Paul, Minnesota's Dave Frishberg. On Tales of the Unusual, the smart lyric writing, contemporary and current, passes for neither modern Country and Western nor old-time Tin Pan Alley, as ...

155

Album Review

Yuka Mito: Time After Time

Read "Time After Time" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 7, 2012

Time After Time, Yuka Mito's second solo album, shines new light on oft-recorded songs from The Great American Songbook, adding three pop tunes and one original for a tasteful project from a Japanese vocalist with a love for jazz. Now based in New York, Mito divides her performance time between the Tokyo and New York jazz scenes. A gritty contralto and ever-so-slight accent makes her approach even more unique.Latin jazz pianist Chiemi Nakai provides the arrangements for the ...

153

Interview

Sonny Rollins: Mark of Greatness

by R.J. DeLuke
February 7, 2012

Making two trips to the White House within a calendar year, to receive two of the nation's most prestigious awards bestowed upon artists, is more than fairly momentous. Those are significant feathers in the ol' cap--surely reasons to crow or, at the very least, feel pretty satisfied about oneself. So it had to be a hell of a year for Sonny Rollins--had to be. But, with the ever level-headed, realistic and humble Rollins, one wouldn't really notice it. ...

101

Album Review

Misha Tsiganov: Dedication

Read "Dedication" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 6, 2012

Relocating to New York City from Russia in the early '90s, pianist Misha Tsiganov extended his studies at the Berklee College of Music and has since gained steam as a solo artist, session ace and TV composer, among other projects. With prominent Russian artists including bassist/Grammy Award-winner Boris Kozlov and trumpeter Alex Sipiagin also calling The Big Apple home, Tsiganov's band abides by a no-nonsense, '60s-era Blue Note campaign via these tightly arranged works, designed with alternating flows, hard-hitting rhythms ...

107

Album Review

Elephant9: Live at the BBC

Read "Live at the BBC" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
February 6, 2012

Despite the re-emergence of vinyl as a once-again acceptable medium, it's still bigger in some countries than others. In Norway, there are now labels that are releasing vinyl-only editions, including the intrepid Rune Grammofon, which introduced its The Last Record Company a couple years back, with limited-run albums including guitarist Stian Westerhus' Galore (2009) and equally experimental vocalist Maja S.K. Ratkje's Cyborgic (2009). Elephant9's Live at the BBC, on Rune's main imprint, is somewhat more modest--lacking TLRC's 16-page art booklets ...

Album Review

Jose Garcia: Songs For A Lifetime, Live

Read "Songs For A Lifetime, Live" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
February 6, 2012

A truly impressive recording by a jazz singer from a most unlikely place Songs For a Lifetime, Live is the debut by Jose Garcia, from Tecate, Mexico. A self-taught guitarist who grew up exposed to a variety of music including jazz, Garcia was invariably drawn to singers of music from The Great American Songbook. Concentrating on guitar and specializing in Spanish and Flamenco music, he has become a much in-demand professional musician in the Los Angeles area.Songs For ...

158

Race and Jazz

BAM or JAZZ: Part Two!

by Greg Thomas
February 6, 2012

Jazz, an art form given birth in the United States by descendents of the formerly enslaved, has a complicated relationship with race. Although race, as a popular idea, has no basis in biology, many people mentally adhere to the idea of dividing groups of people based on “race" as opposed to understanding how groups of people evolve (or regress) via culture, so very real social dynamics and results exist based on the belief in race. A key purpose ...

152

Interview

Kenny Burrell: Every Note Swings

by Chris M. Slawecki
February 6, 2012

Kenny Burrell has appeared on so many essential jazz recordings that jazz history and his story seem irretrievably intertwined. Billie Holiday's valedictory rumination Lady Sings the Blues (Verve, 1956)? Jimmy Smith's epochal funk throwdown Back at the Chicken Shack (Blue Note, 1960)? Tony Bennett's Carnegie Hall debut? Kenny Burrell played guitar for them all. Even Jimi Hendrix once famously remarked, “Kenny Burrell--that's the sound I'm looking for."Born in 1931 Detroit, Burrell seemed almost destined to become a musician. ...