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

Dennis Gonzalez - Joao Paulo: So Soft Yet

Read "So Soft Yet" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 30, 2011

Recorded in Portugal, Texas trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez and Portuguese keyboardist Joao Paulo offer a temperate pastoral setting, grounded on the duo's intake of regional sensibilities, ethnocentricities and emotive responses to cultural and spiritual components. With the effective use of space acting as a third instrument, the duo strikes an ethereal balance, spanning open-air panoramas, lush phrasings and resonating micro-themes via a largely unhurried gait. The musicians infuse variable moods amid Paulo's edgy and darkly woven electric keys to ...

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Interview

Mathias Eick: The Lyrical Dimension

by Adriana Carcu
December 30, 2011

Norwegian trumpeter/composer Mathias Eick comes from a musical space that, during the last 30 years, has rightfully earned itself the attributes of a genre. The singularity of his tone, marked by the lyrical quality of his phrasing and underlined by a melancholic solemnity, adds a particular note a the Nordic jazz tradition he shares with Jan Garbarek, Arve Henriksen and Nils Petter Molvær. A complex musician, Eick also plays double bass, guitar, piano and vibraphone--instruments which continuously stimulate his creativity. ...

Year in Review

Eyal Hareuveni's Best Releases of 2011

by Eyal Hareuveni
December 30, 2011

A list that represent only the tip of many excellent releases that I have listened to in 2011. In no particular order... New Releases: Amir ElSaffarInanaPi Another great release by the excellent trumpet player and composer who weaves modal music of the Iraqi maqam with the rhythms and aesthetics of modern jazz KAZERafale #2Libra/Circum Disc Japanese pianist ...

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Album Review

The Eric Ineke Jazzxpress: Jazz XL

by Greg Simmons
December 30, 2011

Straight-ahead and alternatively swinging and blue, The Eric Ineke Jazzxpress' Jazz XL delivers a terrific performance through first-rate material treated with energetic, loving respect. Some of jazz's great composers are represented, with performances of material by Xavier Cugat, Johnny Griffin, and the ubiquitous Thelonious Monk, showing admiration for the tunes, overlain with top-notch individual performances. Culled from three live performances in Holland, recorded in 2008 and 2009, the set supports the notion that good things continue to happen across the ...

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Album Review

Gianluigi Trovesi / Gianni Coscia: Frere Jacques - Round About Offenbach

Read "Frere Jacques - Round About Offenbach" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 30, 2011

On their third duet album, the second dedicated to a single composer, clarinetist Gianluigi Trovesi and accordionist Gianni Coscia use original compositions as launching pads for their improvisational forays. Paying homage to Jacques Offenbach, Trovesi and Coscia preserve the often-overlooked German/French composer's humorous spirit, laced with satire in their interpretation of his work. Many of the tracks have a playful dance theme, like the playful folk tune “Ah! Que les homes sont bêtes / Mon Dieu, mon ...

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Extended Analysis

Femi Temowo: Orin Meta

by Chris May
December 29, 2011

Femi TemowoOrin MetaFemitone Records2011 The British jazz and black music scene started beating a path to guitarist Femi Temowo's door ten years ago. No sooner had he graduated from Middlesex University with a degree in Jazz Studies than he was featured on jazz, rap and samples group Us3's An Ordinary Day In An Unusual Place (Universal, 2001). Then, in 2003, he joined alto saxophonist Soweto Kinch's band, with which he recorded ...

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Album Review

Jakob Bro: Time

by Jakob Baekgaard
December 29, 2011

Hearing music is a journey towards discovering the world anew. If anything, this is a philosophy that the young Danish guitarist Jakob Bro has taken to heart. Throughout a career that has seen him playing in a wide range of constellations, among them groups led by trumpeter Tomasz Stańko and the late drum legend Paul Motian, Bro has never lost his intuitive approach to making music. No matter who he is playing with, there is never a sense of redundancy; ...

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Album Review

Shining: Live Blackjazz

Read "Live Blackjazz" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
December 29, 2011

With Blackjazz (Indie Recordings, 2009), the transformation of Norway's Shining from metal-tinged jazz fusion into something, well, other was complete. An ear-shattering combination of death metal/grindcore growls, crunching guitars, John Bonham-style drums reinvented for the new millennium, outrageous virtuosity and progressive rock complexities, this brainchild of guitarist/saxophonist/vocalist Jørgen Munkeby--here, as with everyone in the group, referred to by last name only--suggests a new kind of expressionism, one that's predicated on a spirit of jazz but with almost no direct references ...

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Year in Review

Hrayr Attarian's Best Releases of 2011

by Hrayr Attarian
December 29, 2011

Jazz is a distinctly American art form with a universal appeal. Rooted in African-American culture, its various branches cover almost every country on earth. For this year end list I have chosen nine albums by international jazz musicians that were released in 2011. Here they are, in alphabetical order. Amina Alaoui Arco Iris (ECM) Tineke Postma The Dawn Of Light (Challenge Records) Ibrahim ...

Take Five With...

Take Five With Quentin Angus

by AAJ Staff
December 29, 2011

Meet Quentin Angus: Australian-born guitarist Quentin Angus is a name to remember. He has performed in Japan, USA, Australia, Europe and New Zealand, including Jazz Hoeilaart (Belgium), and the Adelaide International Guitar Festival. Angus has released one album as a band leader, Retrieval Structure, in 2011, and several as a side man, including recording/ performing with John Abercrombie, Bob Mintzer and Wolfgang MuthspielInstrument(s): Guitar.Teachers and/or influences? John Abercrombie, Gilad Hekselman, ...