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.

104

Album Review

David White Jazz Orchestra: Flashpoint

Read "Flashpoint" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
December 18, 2011

Trombonist, composer and bandleader David White has been building a reputation in New York's vibrant jazz scene since arriving in 1999. The David White Quintet has become a fixture at various venues throughout the New York City area, and in 2007, he formed the seventeen-piece David White Jazz Orchestra, securing a standing engagement at Greenwich Village's Garage Restaurant and Café. Flashpoint is the ensemble's debut recording, presenting nine White original compositions with the leader's arrangement of Duke Ellington's “David Danced ...

203

Year in Review

Dan Bilawsky's Best Releases of 2011

by Dan Bilawsky
December 18, 2011

Another year is in the books, but the music created and/or released during these twelve months is still around, continuing to serve as a reminder of jazz's majesty. While some continue to complain that jazz is stagnant or at death's door, the finest albums released in 2011 say otherwise. I had the distinct pleasure of reviewing approximately 170 recordings released in this calendar year, and the following list represents the best of the bunch (Note: they are not ranked in ...

402

Extended Analysis

Mosaic Select 9: Bob Brookmeyer

by C. Andrew Hovan
December 17, 2011

Bob BrookmeyerMosaic Select 9 Mosaic Records Although he continues to be a valued jazz artist recording occasionally, the state of Bob Brookmeyer's early catalog until recently was inexplicably in a state of disarray. Of course, we still haven't seen CD reissues of such vintage Verve sides like The Blues, Hot and Cold or the Mercury set Jazz Is a Kick, but things have been looking up since the appearance of this new Select ...

126

Album Review

Miguel Algarin and Albey Balgochian: Soul To Sol

Read "Soul To Sol" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay

by Bruce Lindsay
December 17, 2011

Miguel Algarin is a Puerto Rican poet, founder of the Nuyorican Poets Café and Emeritus Professor of English at Rutgers University. Albey Balgochian is an improvising bassist who's worked with guitarist Dom Minasi and Cecil Taylor, in the pianist's trio and big band. Together for the first time on Soul To Sol Algarin and Balgochian spark off each other, words and music combining superbly on a series of duets between double bass and human voice. Algarin clearly ...

Live Review

Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, Huddersfield, UK, November 18, 2011

by Duncan Heining
December 17, 2011

Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic EnsembleBates MillHuddersfield, UKNovember 18, 2011 From tiny sextets do mighty 18-piece chamber ensembles grow. 21 years ago, improvising saxophonist Evan Parker first put together his original Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. Five ECM CD's later--not to mention Set on Parker's own psi label--the Evan-expanding EPEAE premiered Tesserae, its next release, at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. This was Parker's third Huddersfield commission, itself a mark of his stature across a range ...

Live Review

The Allman Brothers Band: Boston MA , December 3, 2011

by Doug Collette
December 17, 2011

The Allman Brothers BandOrpheum TheatreBoston, MADecember 3, 2011 The Allman Brothers never disappoint. At the least, they are the epitome of professionalism in concert, and when they are inspired, as they sounded this fourth night at the Beantown venue, they (deeply) stir their audience and add to their own legacy, as well as that of contemporary blues. In fact, it was on a straight blues number, Elmore James' “The Sky Is Cryin,'" ...

Album Review

Iskra 1903: Goldsmiths

Read "Goldsmiths" reviewed by John Eyles

by John Eyles
December 17, 2011

The years 2010 and 2011 have already been a bumper period for re-releases of '70s improvised music--notably Emanem's Teatime and Life amid the artefacts--plus unreleased Derek Bailey (on More 74, Concert in Milwaukee and Scrutables). Now, after some delay, comes Goldsmiths, which could well be the pick of the bunch. It consists of a 67-minute live concert recording from London's Goldsmiths College made in March 1972, augmented by two shorter extracts of unknown provenance that are no mere extras, but ...

156

Album Review

Benoit Delbecq / Francois Houle: Because She Hoped

Read "Because She Hoped" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 17, 2011

The superior recording quality, tinged with reverb and a capacious aesthetic, serves as a third instrument on this studio recording by French pianist Benoit Delbecq and Canadian clarinetist Francois Houle. Both artists occupy that progressive, cutting-edge space within modern jazz contexts. With their third duo outing, the musicians use extended techniques in an intimate setting. Here, unorthodox treatments coalesce with sublime dialogues, spiking breakouts and melodic intervals, all executed with a sense of intimacy. Ethereal, and at times ...

175

Radio & Podcasts

Charles Gayle: Holiday Selection

by Chris May
December 17, 2011

Downtown veteran, multi-instrumentalist Charles Gayle's style suits all sorts of situations. It works equally well as an irresistible morning wake-up call or an unusual choice of late night, post-coital soundtrack. Whether he is playing tenor saxophone or viola, once heard, Gayle is not quickly forgotten. With the holiday season upon us, the selection below is a great package to gift to in-laws. You may not see them often, but they are in your thoughts! ...

267

Book Review

Bill Bruford: The Autobiography (Signature and Deluxe Editions)

by John Kelman
December 16, 2011

The Autobiography: Signature and Deluxe EditionsBill BrufordHardcover, 304 pagesISBN: 978-1905792191Foruli Limited Edition Books and Records2011 When Bill Bruford--veteran prog rock/art rock drummer turned jazzer--decided to hang up his sticks in 2009, the outcries were loud, passionate and, surprisingly, incredulous. How could this drummer, who cut his teeth with seminal groups such as Yes and King Crimson (with whom he played, in various incarnations, between 1972 and 1997), ...