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.

199

Year in Review

John Kelman's Best Live Shows of 2011

by John Kelman
December 19, 2011

2011 turned out to be the busiest festival year ever, with the first event taking place at the end of January and a trip to the northern-most civilized settlement in the world, Svalbard. The last trip, coming up, is a return to Tallinn, Estonia (after covering Jazzkaar in the spring) for the closing ceremonies of its selection as European Capital of Culture, 2011. In between, along with local coverage in Ottawa, Canada and a return to the ...

125

Album Review

Alexey Kruglov: Identification

Read "Identification" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 19, 2011

Since the advent of the legendary Ganelin Trio, Russia's avant-garde impetus has made significant leaps since the Cold War era of the 1970s. One young artist continuing in this mode is saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Alexey Kruglov. With his fourth date as a leader, he intermittently performs on two saxophones at once, and puts the mouthpieces aside during several movements. Kruglov also switches between piano, percussion and saxophones on the fly, sans any overdubs. But the primary differentiator is that Kruglov ...

178

Year in Review

Mark Corroto's Best Releases of 2011

by Mark Corroto
December 19, 2011

Every year, the task of picking the best releases seems to be quite an onerous assignment. This year was especially difficult because, of the four hundred or so discs I listened to, many kept resurfacing for more attention. As I write, I haven't yet spun the new (yes, new) releases by Albert Ayler (Stockholm, Berlin 1966 (Hatology)) and Evan Parker (At Somewhere There (Barnyard Records)). What I am saying is, I certainly missed a few killer recordings ...

126

Album Review

Larry Brown Jr.: There Can Only Be One

Read "There Can Only Be One" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 19, 2011

Guitarist, composer and educator Larry Brown Jr's debut, There Can Only Be One, has both feet firmly planted in a rich musical past but remains a modern record in its delivery and execution. There are vague hints of Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell in his playing but his style is all his own, and these faint traces are more of an homage than a derivation of their work. The uplifting gospel feel of “Come Home" features Brown's ...

309

Interview

Joey Calderazzo: Improviser in Top Form

by R.J. DeLuke
December 19, 2011

Creative musicians are generally an insightful lot: people that have curious minds but also have a sense of direction--a sense of purpose, if not a search for it. They express what they see, what they experience. Pianist Joey Calderazzo is among those. A man of extraordinary talent at the keyboard, he's held the piano chair in Branford Marsalis' band for some 11 years and also spent a long tenure with Michael Brecker. Both of those men have had ...

157

Book Review

The Parisian Jazz Chronicles

by Joel Roberts
December 18, 2011

The Parisian Jazz Chronicles: An Improvisational MemoirBy Mike Zwerin Yale University PressISBN: 0300108060240 pages2005 The Parisian Jazz Chronicles is an irreverent and highly revealing tour through the Parisian and European jazz scenes of the '80-90s in the company of musician/writer/hipster expatriate Mike Zwerin, who played trombone on Miles Davis' landmark Birth of the Cool sessions as a teenager and later became a respected jazz critic for the ...

194

Year in Review

Troy Collins' Best Releases of 2011

by Troy Collins
December 18, 2011

Compiling end of the year lists is never easy. Considering the quantity of recordings issued during a year, attempting to mention every noteworthy session would result in a list of epic proportions. These few albums are a cross-section of some of the best modern jazz released in 2011, highlighting sophisticated new developments in composition and improvisation--from coast to coast. New Releases Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet ...

167

Album Review

Harry Connick, Jr.: Music From The Happy Elf

Read "Music From The Happy Elf" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
December 18, 2011

"The Happy Elf" is just one of many numbers that Harry Connick, Jr. dished out on Harry For The Holidays (Sony/Columbia, 2003), but this particular song proved to be the seed for cross-marketing manna, which makes it a microcosm of the man himself. Connick has crooned his way into the hearts of millions, proven himself on piano time and again, conquered the silver screen, and taken Broadway by storm, but his most heartwarming talent may be that of “children's entertainer." ...

134

Album Review

August Rosenbaum Trio: Live LP

by Mark Corroto
December 18, 2011

The jazz piano trio survives. With all the changes in music, the birth of sampling, the death of the record store, and the fracturing of jazz genres, the piano trio continues to adapt and transmogrify, making it an evolutionary legacy.Sometimes, an evolutionary variation displays traits of both the new era and its primordial ancestors. Such is the sophomore release by August Rosenbaum's trio. The Danish pianist's music is packaged as an LP and an EP, two things that ...

Live Review

Sophie Milman, Denver, CO, November 27, 2011

by Geoff Anderson
December 18, 2011

Sophie MilmanDazzleDenver, CONovember 27, 2011Jazz is and always has been an amalgam of styles and influences. In fact, that's what keeps it interesting and vital and always moving forward. Musicians from different backgrounds and cultures bring different sensibilities to the music and add new sounds and attitudes. Like the search for a beautiful melody that hasn't yet been discovered, sometimes finding a new combination of experiences or influences can be tough. Vocalist Sophie Milman brings ...