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.

119

Album Review

Bryan and the Haggards: Still Alive And Kickin' Down The Walls

Read "Still Alive And Kickin' Down The Walls" reviewed by Dave Wayne

by Dave Wayne
December 26, 2011

With the music of country music legends Merle Haggard and Bob Wills as a starting point, tenor saxophonist Bryan Murray and his band have been creating fresh, iconoclastic, and somewhat noisy modern jazz for a few years. The Haggards' second CD, Still Alive And Kickin' Down The Walls, picks up where their stunning debut, Pretend It's the End of the World (Hot Cup, 2010), left off. Murray and his band are clearly having a lot of fun with Haggard's music. ...

158

Interview

Warren Wolf: The Wizard of Vibes

by R.J. DeLuke
December 26, 2011

Warren Wolf has made his name by playing the vibes, which he does with aplomb. He's as much a virtuoso on the instrument as anyone, even including his jazz elders. That may be, in part, because he was influenced by the sound of Milt Jackson and studied with one of the best in Dave Samuels, while his attack is more influenced by horn players like Charlie Parker. His technique is immense. None other than the great bassist Christian ...

125

Extended Analysis

Laurence Cook: Tragedies of Love

by AAJ Staff
December 25, 2011

Laurence CookTragedies of LoveBlaq Lghtn2011 It is hard to think of a time when tedium was as pervasive in music as it is today. If listening to music hasn't become a chore, it has become the sound track to doing chores--part of the torture of our jobs rather than a relief or refuge from them. Contemporary commodity music holds the same station as the knock-knock joke. There comes a time in all ...

114

Album Review

Duh: In Just

by Nic Jones
December 25, 2011

The method of free improvisation kind of guarantees the sound of surprise in a way that few other musical strains do. While the primacy of the moment and the players' responses in it and to it are the prime motivations for the music this will always be the case. This makes the idea of trying to define just what governs the success of the resulting music a slippery notion, but however it might be pinned down, In Just falls very ...

210

Year in Review

Dave Sumner's Best Releases/Downloads of 2011

by Dave Sumner
December 25, 2011

It's never easy compiling best of lists, but here are twelve albums for which my enthusiasm hasn't ebbed during the course of the year. A free download is available for each of them, except for the Avital (which I'm in the process of obtaining) and the Haarla (which I'll never get). Enjoy! Tunnel Six Lake Superior Origin/OA2 Kekko Fornarelli Room of Mirrors Auand Paul Lieberman Ibeji Self Produced Steven Lugerner Narratives Armored Records Storms/Nocturnes VIA Origin/OA2 Rafal Sarnecki The Madman ...

107

Album Review

Enrico Rava Quintet: Tribe

by Ian Patterson
December 25, 2011

Trumpeter Enrico Rava has enjoyed a sustained late-career, creative high since returning to ECM with Easy Living (ECM, 2004) after an absence of 20 years. With a largely new and exciting lineup, Tribe balances new compositions with reworked older material, all imbued with Rava's trademark lyricism, embracing warmth and melodic strength. As the 2008 Touchstone Series reissue of The Pilgrim and the Stars (ECM 1975) demonstrated, Rava's music from nearly four decades ago still sounds remarkably fresh today, and this ...

141

Album Review

Bill Cunliffe: That Time of Year

Read "That Time of Year" reviewed by Larry Taylor

by Larry Taylor
December 25, 2011

Pianist Bill Cunliffe harkens back to his youth in That Time of Year, recording solos on Christmas songs that he says he fondly remembers. This talented, versatile performer is also an esteemed composer-arranger, having been nominated for Grammy awards three times, winning in 2010 for Best Instrumental Arrangement. A Southern Californian, he currently teaches at California State University, Fullerton, playing local gigs and recording extensively. The 14 songs range from the pious simplicity of “Angels from the ...

130

Album Review

Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble: Watershed

by Dave Wayne
December 24, 2011

Min-Yoh is the newest star in pianist Satoko Fujii's growing constellation of amazing improvising groups. While the presence of her partner in music and life, virtuoso trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, is a given, Fujii's musical interactions with a seemingly endless array of top-drawer improvisers from all over the world are almost as intimate. The pair gives the sense that there are never any sidemen in their groups, only equal partners. Watershed is dedicated to the exploration of Japanese folk music in ...

172

Album Review

David Murray Cuban Ensemble: Plays Nat King Cole En Espanol

Read "Plays Nat King Cole En Espanol" reviewed by James Nadal

by James Nadal
December 24, 2011

Latin music has culturally been intended for dancing and romancing. Any Latin singer or orchestra worth a cover charge has known this, and David Murray the innovative saxophonist absorbing the role of conductor/arranger on Plays Nat King Cole En Español, demonstrates this concept perfectly. In taking on a project that updates the recordings Nat King Cole did in Spanish and Portuguese in 1958 and 1962, Murray maintains the genuine savor of the original compositions, while broadening them ...

Live Review

The Miguel Zenon Quartet: Half Moon Bay, CA, November 20, 2011

by Bill Leikam
December 24, 2011

The Miguel Zenón QuartetDouglas Beach House aka Bach Dancing & Dynamite SocietyHalf Moon Bay, CaliforniaNovember 20, 2011 On a clear Sunday afternoon, alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón brought on his seasoned quartet to play the Douglas Beach House. With a near-capacity audience, it was a rare gift to hear this quartet--also featuring Venezuelan pianist Luis Perdomo, Austrian bassist Hans Glawischnig and Puerto Rican drummer Henry Cole--led by the Puerto Rican saxophonist extraordinaire. The concert, which ...