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.

145

Album Review

Neil Cowley Trio: Radio Silence

Read "Radio Silence" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 2, 2012

With this British trio's third album--and perhaps its finest hour to date--a heartwarming assault on the customary jazz piano trio format surges onward. Here, pianist Neil Cowley merges rock, pop sentiment and mainstream jazz into a stylistic enterprise, aided by a highly rhythmic undercurrent. Cowley injects a sense of antiquity into the program, via his slightly rustic sounding piano, shaded with a honky-tonk, full-bodied tone. It's an uncanny dimension that casts an earthy keynote into the grand schema, while enhancing ...

112

Album Review

Arun Ghosh: Primal Odyssey

Read "Primal Odyssey" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
January 2, 2012

Clarinetist Arun Ghosh's debut, Northern Namaste (Camoci Records, 2008), signaled the arrival of a significant musician/composer on the UK jazz scene. Blending Indian and western instruments, Ghosh drew 12 musicians from Indian folk and jazz traditions to create something utterly fresh sounding; lyrical and highly melodic, celebratory and swinging, Ghosh's obvious virtuosity on clarinet was a thrilling bonus. Primal Odyssey sees Ghosh head a leaner quintet. Leaner, too, the instrumentation, with the tabla, sitar, harmonium, dhulak, bayan, piano and strings ...

126

Album Review

Pete Zimmer: Prime of Life

Read "Prime of Life" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 2, 2012

Prime of Life, drummer Pete Zimmer's fifth recording as a leader, has a clean, crisp, soulful sound. The players of the quartet--all top-notch musicians--meld their talents into a polished cohesion. Zimmer is a fine drummer capable of impeccable timekeeping and intricate, though usually subtle percussive flourishes. Zimmer's music, with its tight grooves, sounds like heartland jazz, like the quintessentially American sound of an organ trio--without, in this case, the Hammond B3 breathing into the mix.Guitarist Peter Bernstein, who ...

158

Interview

Rez Abbasi: Thoroughly Modern Marvel

by Lawrence Peryer
January 2, 2012

Guitarist Rez Abbasi is part of a generation of jazz musicians who came of age after the conservative backlash of the 1980s. He and his peers are making their mark on America's art form by contributing their rich and varied cultural backgrounds and with an embrace of popular culture that was heresy in some quarters for far too long. Rez Abbasi personifies several of the attributes on display in his music. He puts forth a quiet confidence, with ...

115

Multiple Reviews

Francois Carrier Trio Live in Russia

by John Eyles
January 1, 2012

Back in September, the review of Inner Spire (Leo, 2011) by the Québec duo of alto saxophonist Francois Carrier and drummer Michel Lambert with Russian pianist Alexey Lapin, closed with the words “This is an impressive debut from a fine trio. Let us hope a sequel follows soon." Shortly after that review appeared, news leaked out of not one but two sequels to Inner Spire, and now they are both released. While Inner Spire was recorded in Moscow ...

127

Album Review

Jimmy Owens: The Monk Project

Read "The Monk Project" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
January 1, 2012

Albums built on the idea of reworking the music of Thelonious Monk have become so commonplace as to risk being seen as old hat before the shrink wrap even comes off the CD, but the success or failure of these projects doesn't rest with the actual recasting of the legendary pianist's work. The manner by which an artist recasts Monk is of greater importance than the act itself, and everybody has their own take on the man and his music. ...

141

Take Five With...

Take Five With Deon Yates

by AAJ Staff
January 1, 2012

Meet Deon Yates: Saxophonist Deon Yates is not new to the music scene, but for the last few years he has been gaining popularity worldwide as a solo performer. Since being named runner up in the 2009 Capital Jazz Challenge in Maryland, Deon has continued to make strides in his music career. Being chosen as one of only 10 artists nationwide to be featured on the first U.S. Smooth Jazz compilation CD, Jazz Infusion Vol. 1, released in ...

129

Album Review

James O’Sullivan: Feed Back Couple

Read "Feed Back Couple" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
January 1, 2012

Guitarist James O'Sullivan is a longstanding member of Eddie Prévost's Workshop, one of the main driving forces of improvised music in London. The Workshop has been running every Friday evening since November 1999, with O'Sullivan attending since 2004. Although O'Sullivan has appeared on disc before--notably on Winterlands (Forwind, 2011), by the innovative songs-plus-improv quartet Clang Sayne--Feed Back Couple is his first solo album. Its six tracks were performed, recorded and produced by O'Sullivan between April and June 2010.

123

Take Five With...

Take Five With Rory Hoffman

by AAJ Staff
January 1, 2012

Meet Rory Hoffman: I was raised in a musical family, playing drums in the country gospel family band by the time I was five. Twice named musician of the year, 2004--2005, by the ICMA, based in Nashville, TN. Moved to Nashville in the spring of 2008. I currently work as a freelance touring and session musician.Instrument(s): Guitar, piano, accordion, saxophone, clarinet, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, and a few other odds and ends.I knew ...

Album Review

Yoni Kretzmer: Overlook

Read "Overlook" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni

by Eyal Hareuveni
January 1, 2012

The third solo release by Yoni Kretzmer, now based in New York, features the young Israeli saxophonist leading the recorded debut of a quartet of close friends who have been working together for few years now. As can be heard on his previous releases, Kretzmer is a highly skilled composer and arranger, and an excellent improviser. On Overlook, it is clear that he was aiming for a delicate balance between the tension-building of composed parts and the cathartic release of ...