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.

115

Album Review

Rani Singam: Contentment

Read "Contentment" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
January 24, 2012

Singer Rani Singam has been a leading figure on the Singapore jazz scene for a number of years, specializing in the jazz standards of yore. Her strong vocals and fine interpretive skills have also made her sought after at festivals in the region, so it is something of a bold move to break the mold and cut an album which has eight originals out of ten compositions. Co-written and arranged by longtime Singam collaborator, keyboardist Kerong Chok, the tone of ...

149

Interview

Chris McNulty: A Siren From Down Under

by Ludwig vanTrikt
January 24, 2012

Chris McNulty emigrated to New York City, from her native home in Melbourne, Australia, in 1988. Since then she's released five recordings, with Waltz For Debby (Discovery, 1991) first introducing the Australian singer to American audiences. On that record, she wrote what would ultimately become the official, published lyrics to Miles Davis' classic “Blue in Green." Since 2004, she has released three records on Elefant Dreams, the independent label she shares with her husband, guitarist Paul Bollenback. Both Dance Delicioso ...

102

Live Review

Josh Ginsburg at An Die Musik in Baltimore

by Bob Kenselaar
January 24, 2012

Josh Ginsburg An Die Musik Baltimore, Maryland January 14, 2012 Josh Ginsburg celebrated the release of his new CD, Zembla Variations (Brooklyn Jazz Underground, 2012), with two special performances, one at the Jazz Gallery in New York on January 12 and the other two days later at An Die Musik, a cozy, loft-like venue in Baltimore. Zembla Variations marks Ginsburg's debut as a leader, after having been an especially active jazz bassist in the New ...

Album Review

Keith Rowe / John Tilbury: E.E.Tension and Circumstance

Read "E.E.Tension and Circumstance" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 24, 2012

If it weren't for the sound of one hand clapping, we would have no resonance at all.That snarky summation might best describe this hour-long duo performance by former AMM ensemble band mates Keith Rowe and John Tilbury. Like the zen koan “one hand clapping," this music evokes an almost instantaneous meditation.Recorded just outside of Paris in December 2010 at Les Instants Chavirés, this duo brings together two legends of British improvisation not heard together on record ...

Album Review

Fattigfolket: Park

by Anthony Shaw
January 24, 2012

While its previous work has been described as both middle-of-the-road and avant-garde, Park sees the Norwegian-Swedish quartet Fattigfolket offering a selection of tunes that again straddles the middle ground of contemporary, instrumental Nordic jazz. Saxophonist Halvard Godal's pieces--which make up the majority of the 11 tracks included here--feature melodies that tend to be linear rather than elliptical or elastic. Named according to parks located in northern Europe, the tunes are meditations on themes, typically enunciated by Godal ...

Album Review

Scotty Alan: Wreck And The Mess

Read "Wreck And The Mess" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
January 24, 2012

The antique sound quality of Scotty Alan's Wreck and the Mess suits the rootsy sound of this guitarist/vocalist's music, as the raggedy dynamic of the opening “Goodbye" suggests he and his accompanists are just barely keeping it together as they play. Still, their precarious interaction is one of the most joyous of musical sensations, the sound of a band discovering its bond with each other and its material. As “Your Hero?" unfolds, a distinctly ironic air emanates from ...

117

Album Review

Lars Danielsson: Liberetto

Read "Liberetto" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
January 23, 2012

With Tarantella (ACT, 2009)--his last studio recording excluding the career-spanning Signature Edition 3 (ACT, 2010) compilation-- Lars Danielsson raised the bar on a string of recordings demonstrating increased evolution on all fronts. If Liberetto doesn't exhibit the same degree of incremental stylistic growth that Tarantella did over previous albums including Pasodoble (ACT, 2007) and Mélange Bleu (ACT, 2007), it does represent its own milestone, one where Danielsson's astute choice of players becomes as important as the music they play.

Album Review

Juhani Aaltonen and Heikki Sarmanto: Conversations

Read "Conversations" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 23, 2012

Many musicians from other countries come to the United States to study their art and then remain to build careers. Others, like saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen and pianist Heikki Sarmanto, both from Finland, attended programs in the US--in both cases at Boston's Berklee College--and then returned home to perform and record.With a history of five decades of musical collaboration, the Finnish legends open an ongoing dialogue with Conversations, a two-CD set of nearly two hours worth of free improvisation--a ...

Album Review

Tom Wetmore: The Desired Effect

Read "The Desired Effect" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 23, 2012

A wide gulf often separates a composer's intent in the creation of his/her work and a listener's interpretation upon hearing it. While musicians try to capture or convey a certain sound, mood, spirit or energy in their recorded work, they can't control the environment and circumstances surrounding a consumer's exposure to it, and pianist Tom Wetmore seems to understand this better than most. Wetmore's self-penned liner notes shrewdly allude to this issue and, rather than spell out what he's trying ...

Album Review

Marvel Machine: Volt / Revolt

Read "Volt / Revolt" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
January 23, 2012

Volt / Revolt brings together three highly gifted Norwegian jazz musicians who wanted to try something completely different. All the music is spontaneously improvised, but its ingredients owe more to raw metal, punk, noise and electronic experimental sounds than to the rich jazz legacy. This is by no means an attempt to create cerebral, forward-thinking music, but to enjoy exploring the sonic options of such free form formats. The trio even declares that “no intellectuals were harmed during the recording ...